Four holes that helped Rory become the story and seal career grand slam glory

Rory McIlroy produced a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous on his way to beating Justin Rose in a play-off to win the Masters and complete the career grand slam.

Here, the PA news agency looks at four key holes from McIlroy’s final round of 73 at Augusta National.

McIlroy pulled his tee shot on the difficult seventh into the trees running down the left side of the hole, but took on a dangerous escape shot up and over the tall pines and hit a stunning approach to eight feet. “I knew where the pin was [and] I knew that the front bunker wasn’t bad,” McIlroy explained later.

“I could have chased it up into the front bunker, but I saw a gap, and I was like, I can actually get this on the green, and if it goes in that little bowl, it could go close. It was actually a very similar shot to the shot I played yesterday on seven from the right trees, just opened up a 9-iron and hit it as hard as I could. To be able to pull it off was pretty cool even though I didn’t hole that putt either!”

McIlroy’s pushed drive finished behind a tree, but even with a five-shot lead at that point he opted to take on a risky approach shot which hooked around the tree and pulled up just inches short of rolling into the water to the left of the green. “I rode my luck all week, and you need that little bit of luck to win these golf tournaments,” McIlroy admitted.

“I didn’t see the ball on 11, but I heard the sort of groan of the crowd as it was rolling towards there and then the cheer when it stopped. Actually, Bryson (DeChambeau) hit his shot in the water and I was looking at my ball thinking, like, ‘should I run down and hit out of turn to make sure it doesn’t roll in’? But I got down there, and it was on a little flat spot, so it was OK. But yeah, was quite fortunate.”

One of the worst shots of McIlroy’s entire career came at the worst time as he pushed a pitch shot into Rae’s Creek on the par-five 13th. “I thought I played the 13th hole smartly, at least for the first two shots,” McIlroy was able to joke later.

“3-wood off the tee, laid it up into a good position. I had 82 yards to the pin. It went into a little valley and it was on the upslope. And usually when I hit (a) wedge shot off upslopes they come out a little bit left on me. I gave myself like a couple of yards of room to the right. I wasn’t aiming at the creek, but it came out, you know, a little weak and a little right.”

Following a double bogey on the 13th and another dropped shot on the next, McIlroy needed to take advantage of the par-five 15th and gave himself a short eagle putt with a stunning hooked approach. “15 was an advantage,” he explained.

“I had 8-iron in my hand, and Bryson hit first and hit it in the water. The breeze had freshened up, so I switched back to a 7 and then hit that shot. It was one of those where I knew it was enough to cover [the water], and if it turned, great, and if it didn’t, you’re sort of in that right trap and it’s a decent miss.”