Masters champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts with Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of ... More the United States during the Green Jacket Presentation Ceremony after winning the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (Photo by Simon Bruty/Augusta National/Getty Images) Augusta National/Getty Images It took him 17 tries, but Rory McIlroy has achieved golf’s career Grand Slam—the sixth man to achieve the magnificent feat and the first since 2000, when Tiger Woods won the British Open, amassing all four of golf’s crown-jewel trophies in his career. After starting the season in style with a pair of victories, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship, McIlroy kept the momentum going through the first major of the year, finally cracking the code at Augusta National. Following an emotional rollercoaster of a final round, McIlroy defeated Englishman Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff that lasted just one hole. The Irishman not only slipped on the fabled green jacket but also punched his ticket into golf’s most exclusive club—the career Grand Slam. It was McIlroy’s 11th attempt at completing the slam. He is now only the sixth man to conquer all four of golf’s majors in his career. Not long after last year’s champion Scottie Scheffler helped McIlroy slip on the sport’s most coveted jacket, McIlroy made his way to address the assembled media, fielding questions in a facility as plush as the club’s fairways. McIlroy broke the ice with a gem, poking fun of the fact that talk of clinching the Grand Slam has been a recurring storyline for so long. “I’d like to start this press conference with a question myself. What are we all going to talk about next year?” he joked. “You know, there were points in my career where I didn’t know if I would have this nice garment over my shoulders, but I didn’t make it easy today," McIlroy said. "I certainly didn’t make it easy. I was nervous. It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever had on the golf course. In a funny way, I feel like the double bogey at the first sort of settled my nerves,” McIlroy noted, before adding that on the walk to the second tee he remembered that Jon Rahm started the Sunday round of his Masters win with a double bogey as well. MORE FOR YOU Netflix’s Best New Show Nabs A Perfect 100% Critic Score Fed Official Confirms Trump Tariff Bailout Is Ready Amid $30 Trillion Market ‘Panic’ Warning Gmail And Microsoft 2FA Security Bypass — Take Action Now, Users Told Full Circle Moment For McIlroy Heartbreak at Augusta had been a very familiar feeling for McIlroy, who has had many close calls at the Masters—the most painful comeuppance being when he was making the turn on the final round in 2011 with a three-shot lead before a badly pulled shot by the cabins led to a gnarly sequence, evaporating his lead. “What came out of me on the last green there in the playoff was at least 11 years, if not 14 years of pent-up emotion. I got to my locker this morning and I opened it up, and there was a note in there from Angel Cabrera, and just wishing me luck. And Angel Cabrera was the player I played with on the final day in 2011, it was a nice touch and a little bit ironic at the same time. It’s been 14 long years, but thankfully I got the job done,” McIlroy said. Asked where the Masters win ranks amongst his career accomplishments, McIlroy said the achievement was, “the best day of my golfing life.” “I’m very proud of myself. I’m proud of never giving up. I’m proud of how I kept coming back and dusting myself off and not letting the disappointments really get to me.” Follow me on Twitter. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades