Slumped on his membership, head buried in his arm, Rory McIlroy seemed on the verge of tears.
The then-21-year-old had simply watched his ball sink into the waters of Rae’s Creek at Augusta Nationwide and with it, his dream of profitable The Masters, a dream that had seemed so tantalizingly shut mere hours earlier.
As a four-time main winner and one of the vital embellished names within the sport’s historical past, few gamers would flip down the possibility to swap locations with McIlroy heading into Augusta this week.
But on Sunday afternoon of April 10, 2011, not a golfer on this planet would have wished to be within the Northern Irishman’s footwear.
A fresh-faced, mop-headed McIlroy had touched down in Georgia for the primary main of the season with a popularity because the main gentle of the following era of stars.
A wonderful 2010 had marked his greatest season since turning professional three years earlier, highlighted by a primary PGA Tour win on the Quail Hole Championship and a vital contribution to Workforce Europe’s triumph on the Ryder Cup.
But regardless of a pair of spectacular top-three finishes on the Open and PGA Championship respectively, a disappointing missed minimize at The Masters – his first at a significant – served as ominous foreshadowing.
McIlroy shot 74 and 77 to fall 4 strokes in need of the minimize line at seven-over par, a efficiency that involved him sufficient to take a short sabbatical from competitors.
However one yr on in 2011, any lingering Masters demons seemed to have been exorcised as McIlroy flew around the Augusta fairways.
Having opened with a bogey-free seven-under 65 – the primary time he had ever shot within the 60s on the main – McIlroy pulled forward from Spanish first spherical co-leader Alvaro Quirós with a second spherical 69.
It despatched him into the weekend holding a two-shot cushion over Australia’s Jason Day, with Tiger Woods an extra stroke behind and again within the hunt for a Fifteenth main after a surging second spherical 66.
And but the 21-year-old chief seemed completely comfortable with having a goal on his again. Even after a tentative begin to the third spherical, McIlroy rallied with three birdies throughout the closing six holes to stretch his result in 4 strokes heading into Sunday.
The teenager was out on his personal forward of a bunched chasing pack comprising Day, Ángel Cabrera, Okay.J. Choi and Charl Schwartzel. After 54 holes, McIlroy had shot simply three bogeys.
“It’s an excellent place to be in … I’m lastly feeling snug on this golf course,” McIlroy instructed reporters.
“I’m not getting forward of myself, I understand how leads can dwindle away in a short time. I’ve to go on the market, not take something without any consideration and exit and play as onerous as I’ve performed the final three days. If I can try this, hopefully issues will go my manner.
“We’ll see what occurs tomorrow as a result of 4 photographs on this golf course isn’t that a lot.”
The reality can harm, and McIlroy was about to show his evaluation of Augusta to be true in essentially the most excruciating manner possible.
His fourth bogey of the week arrived instantly. Having admitted to anticipating some nerves on the first tee, McIlroy sparked a booming opening drive down the golf green, solely to overlook his putt from 5 toes.
Three consecutive pars steadied the ship, however Schwartzel had the wind in his sails. A blistering birdie, par, eagle begin had seen him draw degree on the summit after his third gap.
A subsequent bogey from the South African slowed his cost, as McIlroy clung onto a one-shot lead on the flip from Schwartzel, Cabrera, Choi, and a rampaging Woods, who shot 5 birdies and an eagle throughout the entrance 9 to ship Augusta right into a frenzy.
Regardless of his dwindling benefit and the raucous Tiger-mania din forward of him, McIlroy had responded nicely to a different bogey on the fifth gap, draining an excellent 20-foot putt on the seventh to revive his lead.
The fist pump that adopted marked the high-water level of McIlroy’s spherical, as a sliding begin accelerated into full-blown free-fall on the par-four tenth gap.
His tee shot went careening right into a tree, ricocheting to settle between the white cabins that separate the primary course from the adjoining par-three course. It supplied viewers a glimpse at part of Augusta hardly ever seen on broadcast, adopted by footage of McIlroy anxiously peering out from behind a tree to trace his follow-up shot.
Although his preliminary escape was profitable, yet one more collision with a tree and a two-putt on the inexperienced noticed a surprised McIlroy finally faucet in for a triple bogey. Having led the sphere one gap and 7 photographs earlier, he arrived on the eleventh tee in seventh.
By the point his tee drive on the thirteenth plopped into the creek, all ideas of who is likely to be the recipient of the inexperienced jacket had long-since switched away from the anguished teenager. It had taken him seven putts to navigate the earlier two greens, as a bogey and a double bogey dropped him to five-under – the rating he had held after simply 11 holes of the event.
Mercifully, the final 5 holes handed with out main incident. A missed putt for birdie from 5 toes on the ultimate gap summed up McIlroy’s day, although he was given a rousing reception as he left the inexperienced.
Mere minutes earlier, the identical crowd had erupted as Schwartzel sunk his fourth consecutive birdie to seal his first main title. After beginning the day 4 photographs adrift of McIlroy, the South African completed 10 photographs forward of him, and two forward of second-placed Australian duo Jason Day and Adam Scott.
McIlroy’s eight-over 80 marked the very best rating of the spherical. Having headlined the leaderboard for many of the week, he completed tied-Fifteenth.
Tears would circulation throughout a cellphone name together with his dad and mom the next morning, however at his press convention, McIlroy was upbeat.
“I’m very disenchanted on the minute, and I’m certain I will likely be for the following few days, however I’ll recover from it,” he stated.
“I used to be main this golf event with 9 holes to go, and I simply unraveled … It’s a Sunday at a significant, what it could possibly do.
“That is my first expertise at it, and hopefully the following time I’m on this place I’ll be capable of deal with it just a little higher. I didn’t deal with it significantly nicely at the moment clearly, but it surely was a character-building day … I’ll come out stronger for it.”
As soon as once more, McIlroy could be confirmed proper.
Simply eight weeks later in June, McIlroy rampaged to an eight-shot victory on the US Open. Information tumbled in his wake at Congressional, as he shot a event document 16-under 268 to turn out to be the youngest main winner since Tiger Woods at The Masters in 1997.
The historic victory kickstarted a golden period for McIlroy. After coasting to a different eight-shot win on the PGA Championship in 2012, McIlroy grew to become solely the third golfer since 1934 to win three majors by the age of 25 with triumph on the 2014 Open Championship.
Earlier than the yr was out, he would add his fourth main title with one other PGA Championship win.
And far of it was owed to that fateful afternoon at Augusta. In an interview with the BBC in 2015, McIlroy dubbed it “a very powerful day” of his profession.
“If I had not had the entire unravelling, if I had simply made a few bogeys coming down the stretch and misplaced by one, I’d not have realized as a lot.
“Fortunately, it didn’t take me lengthy to get right into a place like that once more after I was main a significant and I used to be in a position to recover from the road fairly comfortably. It was an enormous studying curve for me and I wanted it, and fortunately I’ve been in a position to transfer on to larger and higher issues.
“Trying again on what occurred in 2011, it doesn’t appear as dangerous when you’ve got 4 majors in your mantelpiece.”
McIlroy’s contentment got here with a caveat: it might be “unthinkable” if he didn’t win The Masters in his profession.
But as he prepares for his Fifteenth look at Augusta Nationwide this week, a inexperienced jacket stays an elusive lacking merchandise from his wardrobe.
Regardless of seven top-10 finishes in his previous 10 Masters outings, the trophy stays the one factor separating McIlroy from becoming a member of the ranks of golf immortals to have accomplished golf’s profession grand slam of all 4 majors within the trendy period: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Participant, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.
A runner-up end to Scottie Scheffler final yr marked McIlroy’s greatest end at Augusta, but arguably 2011 stays the closest he has ever been to victory. A sluggish begin in 2022 meant McIlroy had begun Sunday’s deciding spherical 10 photographs adrift of the American, who teed off for his ultimate gap with a five-shot lead regardless of McIlroy’s good 64 end.
At 33 years previous, time continues to be on his facet. Although 2022 prolonged his main drought to eight years, it featured arguably his greatest golf since that golden season in 2014.
And as McIlroy is aware of higher than most, issues can change shortly at Augusta Nationwide.