McIlroy’s dramatic Masters’ win

Posted by ReyFort Media (AL S. Mendoza, Guest Writer)

AS usual, there was heart-rending drama in the Masters ending yesterday, Monday, April 13 PH time.

 I had to set up my alarm clock at dawn for four straight days beginning on Friday, April 10, to watch the year’s first of golf’s four majors—almost a ritual I had passionately subscribed to since I covered the event in 1991, the year our very own Frankie Minoza saw action as only the third Filipino to get invited to the tournament after Luis “Golem” Silverio (+) and Ben Arda (+).

 Minoza scored a modest 75-78 at the par-72 Augusta National to miss the cut like Greg Norman.  But they were decent rounds since Frankie played with swollen eyes after contracting pollen allergy on the eve of tournament blast-off.

 If not for the words of encouragement to play on “for flag and country” by delegation head Rod Feliciano (+), then the top honcho of DHL Philippines, Minoza would have quit.

 It was one coverage I would relish forever, especially after seeing Welshman Ian Woosnam, called “Golf’s Popeye” for his extra-large arms, sink a nerve-wracking eight-footer on the 72nd hole to win the tournament’s 55th edition in Augusta, Georgia.

Lito Tacujan, then the Phil Star’s sports editor who had just passed on, was with me in the trip and we had such fond memories to latch on to for a lifetime.  Rest in peace, Tolits.

 Yes, North Ireland’s Rory McIlroy won the 90th Masters in wire-to-wire fashion, in the process making himself the first back-to-back champion in 24 years of the tournament often referred to as the Vatican of golf for its sheer drawing power and illustrious history.

 With his victory, the 36-year-old McIlroy became only the fourth man to successfully defend his crown after Jack Nicklaus in 1965-1966, Nick Faldo in 1989-1990 and Tiger Woods in 2001-2002.

 But to win it two-in-row, he had to survive grinding pressure especially in the last nine holes of the so-called Masters Sunday where the true test of character is always at play.

 McIlroy anchored his win on his 67-65 in the first two rounds for a 6-shot bulge, the biggest halfway lead in Masters history. 

 And although he took a shaky third-round 73 for a share of the 54-hole lead going to the last round, McIlroy brushed aside all his challengers on the final day—having the luxury of a last-hole bogey after his last tee shot found the trees to defeat by a single shot the surging, two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.

With his closing 71 to Scheffler’s 68 for a 12-under-par total, McIlroy pocketed $4.5 million from the record pot of $22.5 million.  Scheffler’s 11-under was worth $2.43 million.

 Did I hear Jake P. Ayson say, “We are in the wrong business, bro!”?