MCILROY IN A PLAYOFF, COMPLETES THE CAREER GRAND SLAM

It looked like a collapse, turned into a coronation, then morphed into a dogfight.

- 

The career Grand Slam had been such a stubborn goal for Rory McIlroy that when the quest finally came to fruition, he had been pushed to the max.

In the 89th Masters, on his 11th attempt to complete the Grand Slam with a Green Jacket, during one of the most turbulent final rounds to be contested in the long history of Augusta National, McIlroy succeeded in joining a handful of legends in winning all four modern major championships.

A wild and woolly 18 holes wasn't enough to decide the outcome. The playoff was short and, for the champion and so many who had been in his corner while he sought for a decade to capture an elusive missing link in his career, wonderfully sweet.

On the par-4 18th - which shortly before he had bogeyed on the final hole of regulation to drop back into a tie at 11-under 277 with the fast-closing Englishman - McIlroy hit a 125-yard gap wedge that landed on a slope behind the pin and rolled back down to four feet. After Rose missed a 15-foot birdie attempt, Mcllroy sank his putt and dropped to the ground, a decade-long burden at last replaced by opportunity seized.