\n<\/p>\n
McIlroy’s long wait to complete a career Grand Slam could not have concluded in a more dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n
Having let a four-shot lead slip at the 2011 Masters, history threatened to repeat itself in April.<\/p>\n
He held a two-shot lead going into the final round this time, but memories of recent near-misses came flooding back when his advantage was wiped out on the first with a double bogey. <\/p>\n
Three birdies in seven holes gave McIlroy a four-shot lead going into the back nine before he dropped four shots in as many holes from the 11th.<\/p>\n
However, the drama was far from finished.<\/p>\n
Having missed a putt in regulation to get his hands on the coveted green jacket, McIlroy was taken to a sudden-death play-off after his Ryder Cup team-mate Justin Rose birdied six of his final eight holes. <\/p>\n
With the agony of past heartbreak flooding back, McIlroy held his nerve to birdie the first play-off hole and win his first Masters. <\/p>\n
McIlroy let out a huge roar before collapsing to the ground and weeping tears of joy at the end of an extraordinary day of sporting theatre.<\/p>\n
“A lot of pent-up emotion came out on the 18th green. A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it,” said McIlroy. <\/p>\n
At the Ryder Cup, McIlroy contributed three-and-a-half points from five matches as Europe won on American soil for the first time in 13 years.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old bore the brunt of verbal abuse from a hostile crowd throughout the event at Bethpage Black in New York – and hit out at “unacceptable and abusive behaviour” after his wife Erica was hit by a drink thrown by an American fan.<\/p>\n
Having won six times in his eight Ryder Cup appearances, the world number two is being tipped to captain the side in the future.<\/p>\n
“I would love to be the European team captain at some point,” said McIlroy. <\/p>\n
“But that will be when I’m not good enough to make the team, or I make way for the new generation to come along.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n