Resilient Rory finally achieves the Grand Slam

Ten birdies not enough for Rose as he falls to McIlroy in Masters playoff

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 five-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, hitting a wedge shot to just under three feet for birdie in a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose to — finally — become a Masters champion and take his place in golf history as the sixth player with a career Grand Slam.