Golf's Mount Rushmore is Within Reach for Rory McIlroy

Friday night was the most conflicted I’ve felt in recent memory. I sat in an Atlanta airport hotel room, pondering the possibilities Rory McIlroy and Augusta National had in store for us—God knows we’ve seen it all.

Disastrous 10th in 2011. Final group gaffe in 2018. Back-door silver medal in 2022.

But the demons were (supposedly) put to bed after last year, when he became the sixth player in history to win the Career Grand Slam. He canceled disasters with magnificence, eventually overcoming a red-hot Justin Rose in overtime.

The Green Jacket was finally his—the scars could finally fade.

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So, when he walked off the 18th green six shots ahead of the field—the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history—on Friday night, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility we’d see him blitz the field as he did as a curly-haired, care-free kid at Congressional and Kiawah. Somewhere inside him, that was still there.

But as someone who’s watched McIlroy’s every shot for almost two decades, I knew the opposite was in there, too. A meltdown so catastrophic that those healed blemishes of the past would once again be ripped wide open.

Saturday wasn’t quite the latter, but a sloppy, third-round 73 brought him back to the field, and Cameron Young took advantage. On Sunday, two players who spent the first two days of the tournament walking side-by-side would play in the final group tied at 11 under—with plenty of big names lurking not too far behind.

After missed birdie putts of 11 and nine feet on the first two holes, it was clear that whatever happened today wasn’t going to be easy. A runaway wasn’t going to happen. But a birdie at No. 3 was a small indication of confidence. A small glimpse of the freed-up McIlroy we had seen earlier in the week.

It didn’t last long, however.

On four, he pulled an iron left of the green, pitched it to six feet, and pre-Masters-champion McIlroy came out to play—a foreshadowing moment of things to come. A three-putt followed and all of a sudden he was two shots back of Young, who had played the first four holes in 1 under.

And after a soft bogey at the sixth, he dropped to 9 under for the tournament and three shots back.

Then he flipped the switch, again.

Birdie at seven. Birdie at eight. Pars at 9, 10, and 11. Another birdie at 12, one of his best swings of the day, and another at 13, giving him a three-shot lead.

As soon as it looked like it was going to be a comfortable stroll to the clubhouse, it wasn’t. Shades of 13 a year ago flashed with his third into the 15th, a wedge that barely covered the front edge. But this time, it hopped to safety, somehow avoiding disaster.

On 16, the switch flipped again. After airmailing the green, McIlroy dove into the archive, leaning on the memory of his hero’s pitch from 2006 to get up and down.

Following another up-and-down par on 17, a near replica of his stunner from Friday, McIlroy stood on the 18th tee two swings away from a second Green Jacket. But again, it’s never that easy with the Northern Irishman.

His tee shot sailed right, nearly making its way to the 10th fairway. But like 15, he caught a break—he had a shot.

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An iron shot, bunker splash, and two putts later, he once again stood on the 18th green as a Masters champion, this time with his parents awaiting his arrival.

He was no longer a 21-year-old chasing a dream. He was a 36-year-old man with six major championships and the resume of the greatest European golfer of all time. But it’s deeper than that.

McIlroy said it himself that he wanted to come back this year to prove that 2025 wasn’t a fluke—that he was ready to win major championships again. The greatest European to touch a club is quite the accomplishment, but something bigger is now within reach: Mount Rushmore.

Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus’ faces are etched in stone, but one of the two other spots is McIlroy’s to have. He’s already tied for 12th for the most major titles, but with two more, he’d be tied with Tom Watson at eight, a player not part of Club Slam. That leaves Walter Hagen (11), Ben Hogan (9), and Gary Player (9).

At 36, McIlroy is showing no signs of slowing down. Playing at the top of the world into his mid-40s seems like a foregone conclusion.

With 40 more opportunities left, the kid from Holywood has the chance at a Hollywood ending.