Forgotten moments from Rory McIlroy’s Masters Sunday: A losing gesture, Bryson’s frustration

One year ago, Rory McIlroy took everyone on a dizzying ride around the back nine of Augusta National as he tried to achieve his Masters dream and join the career Grand Slam club.

McIlroy’s winning putt and his hooking 7-iron into the 15th green will be played on repeat for as long as the Masters exists. So too will his shocking wedge into the 13th green that he blocked right and dumped into Rae’s Creek, turning a coronation into a fight to avoid a collapse that would have been nearly impossible to get over.

But while there are a few moments from McIlroy’s winning day that are burned into our memories, there are several events that got washed away in the pandemonium of McIlroy’s meltdown and furious fight to hold onto the green jacket.

With the Masters arriving next week, we went back and watched every minute of last year’s final round to find moments that got lost as the chaos unfolded that Sunday at Augusta National.

Bryson’s WWE entrance

Bryson DeChambeau finished his third round by pouring in a lengthy birdie putt to set up a highly anticipated Sunday clash with McIlroy.

McIlroy would start with a two-shot lead on DeChambeau and a four-shot cushion over Corey Conners, who was in third place. Justin Rose, who would wind up being the final obstacle in McIlroy’s quest, started the day at 5 under, seven shots back of McIlroy.

Masters Sunday was billed as a boxing-esque bout between McIlroy and DeChambeau, with Rory looking for revenge following Bryson’s win at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

“It will be the grandest stage that we’ve had in a long time, and I’m excited for it,” DeChambeau said on Saturday ahead of his final-round clash with McIlroy. “We both want to win really, really badly. … It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”

McIlory vowed to stay “in his own little bubble,” while DeChambeau looked to feed off the crowd and embrace the major electricity that enveloped Augusta National to start that Sunday.

As they arrived at the first two, their contrasting entrances told the story.

First came McIlroy, who briefly acknowledged the fans but kept his gaze on the task at hand, trying to wash away everything outside of himself, caddie Harry Diamond and the course.

With McIlroy waiting on the tee, DeChambeau took his time to sign some autographs by the putting green before walking down the path to the first tee with his arms spread wide to high-five fans on both sides.

Rory flips scripts, Bryson’s frustration

Even with eventual contenders Ludvig Åberg and Justin Rose creeping up the leaderboard slowly on the front nine, Sunday was supposed to be about Rory vs. Bryson.

DeChambeau drew first blood as McIlroy got off to the shakiest of starts. He put both of his first two tee shots into the fairway bunker, missing his spot by a yard each time.

After two holes, McIlroy went from up two to down one against DeChambeau. But everything changed on the third hole. DeChambeau elected to lay back with an iron to give himself a full club into the green while McIlroy blasted driver to the front of it. McIlroy pitched up and made birdie while DeChambeau three-putted for bogey. McIlroy had the lead back and would pick up two more shots on the fourth hole to go up by three.

Then came the ninth green, where McIlroy and DeChambeau faced putts of similar length for birdie. After an argument over who was away, McIlroy went first and holed his birdie putt. DeChambeau missed, which put his Masters hopes on life support and led to the frustration coming out a few holes later.

After doubling 11 and bogeying 12 to exit the championship, DeChambeau pummeled his drive on 13 and offered some commentary to his caddie Greg Bodine.

“I’m just playing so bad,” DeChambeau said.

After he pulled his second shot left into 13, the discussion continued.

“I’m just over drawing it,” DeChambeau said. “I’m trying to hold it off, and I can’t hold it off. It’s what I was talking about on the range.”

And with that, DeChambeau’s role in the proceedings was over.

But McIlroy was about to bring others back into the picture.

Ludvig’s missed opportunity

After a runner-up finish in his Masters debut in 2024, Ludvig Åberg started his 2025 final round at 6-under par, six shots back of McIlroy.

He birdied the first and the sixth to move to 8 under, but then had a birdie putt at the seventh lip out. He followed that by missing a makeable birdie at the par-5 8th to stay five back of McIlroy, who was then at 13 under. Aberg birdied 10 and 13 around a bogey at 12. When McIlroy doubled the 13th, Åberg was just two shots back. When he birdied the 15th and McIlroy and Rose both dropped shots on 14 and 17, respectively, Åberg was tied for the lead standing on the 16th tee.

Åberg made a ho-hum par at the par-3 16th and then hit a laser into the 17th green, giving him a shot at birdie. But Åberg’s Masters chances unraveled after that. As McIlroy was making birdie at the 15th to regain the lead, Åberg ran his birdie putt on 17 past the hole and missed the lengthy comebacker to drop two shots back with one to play.

Needing to hole out on 18 to have a chance, the Swede went for it from the fairway bunker and wound up making a triple-bogey to end his tournament. He finished in seventh, but Ludvig Åberg had several moments down the closing stretch to steal the Masters from McIlroy.

Rose’s gestures

It’s hard to overstate how great Justin Rose played on the back nine on Sunday. He parred the 10th hole and then made six birdies and two bogeys coming home, including a 20-foot birdie putt at the last to post 11 under and send roars back to McIlroy, who was on the 16th.

When Rose’s closing putt dropped, he tipped his cap to the crowd, gave a fist pump and then looked to the sky in honor of his late father.

Everyone knows how the story ends.

Both McIlroy and Rose stripe their tee shots in the playoff and Rose nearly dunks his approach, but it bounds past the hole and stops on the ridge. McIlroy stuffs his approach to four feet. When Rose’s putt slides past the hole, McIlroy, who had seen the same putt the week before when watching the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, rolls it in and crumples to the ground in celebration.

McIlroy on his knees is the lasting image from the 2025 Masters, but it’s easy to forget what happened next.

There was Rose, standing at the back of the green smiling and waiting for a teary-eyed McIlroy. He gave him a hug and offered a message to the newest member of the career Grand Slam club.

“I just said, listen, this is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it, someone who achieves the career Grand Slam,” Rose said after the defeat. “I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today, but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”

Rory McIlroy then made his way down the walkway and to the clubhouse, where he was congratulated by numerous people, including Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose’s wife, Kate.

And with that, Rory McIlroy officially donned a green jacket and put the finishing touches on one of the most unforgettable Masters Sundays in history.

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