The closer Rory McIlroy came to fulfilling his lifetime dream — winning the Masters — the more it kept slipping away. Sunday at Augusta National felt like his last 11 years in the majors, blunders mixed in with sheer brilliance. A two-shot lead gone in two holes. A four-shot lead gone in three holes with a shocker of a mistake. A 5-foot putt on the final hole to win narrowly missed. And then McIlroy turned what could have been another major collapse into his grandest moment of all when he hit wedge to 3 feet for birdie in a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose to become — finally — a Masters champion and take his place in golf history as the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. The six players who have the career Grand Slam in golf and the year they won each of the four professional majors: Rory McIlroy U.S. Open: 2011 PGA Championship: 2012 British Open: 2014 Masters: 2025 Tiger Woods Masters: 1997 PGA Championship: 1999 U.S. Open: 2000 British Open: 2000 Jack Nicklaus U.S. Open: 1962 Masters: 1963 PGA Championship: 1963 British Open: 1966 Gary Player British Open: 1959 Masters: 1961 PGA Championship: 1962 U.S. Open: 1965 PGA Championship: 1946 U.S. Open: 1948 Masters: 1951 British Open: 1953 Gene Sarazen U.S. Open: 1922 PGA Championship: 1922 British Open: 1932 Masters: 1935 McIlroy went 11 long years without any major, knowing the Masters green jacket was all that kept him from joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only winners of golf’s four professional majors. Nicklaus and Player spoke on Thursday how they thought this was his time. Woods was among those to congratulate McIlroy and welcome him to the club. So wild was this Sunday at Augusta National that McIlroy set a Masters record as the first champion to make four double bogeys — two in the first round that put him seven shots behind, two in the final round that turned this into a thriller. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who beat McIlroy at Pinehurst No. 2 last June, had the lead after two holes when McIlroy opened with a double bogey. DeChambeau crashed out with a pair of three-putts and two shots into the water on the back nine, closing with a 75.