[Photo: Getty images]
Jason Day has praised the character of Masters champion Rory McIlroy for completing the career grand slam after more than a decade of “gut punches” and heartache while attempting to capture golf’s holy grail.
McIlroy was the first golfer to achieve the historic slam since Tiger Woods won the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews.
The 35-year-old Northern Irishman ended an 11-year drought at the majors and cemented victories in all four championships on Sunday in the US, when he defeated Justin Rose in a nail-biting sudden-death playoff at Augusta National. After the two were tied in regulation at 11-under-par, McIlroy and Rose played the 18th in sudden-death, where McIlroy put the championship to bed with a wedge to three feet for a winning birdie.
McIlroy already had a US Open (2011), Open Championship (2014) and two PGA Championship titles (2012 and 2014). He slipped on the green jacket 10 years after he became eligible for the career slam, when he won the 2014 Open at Royal Liverpool. Since the 2015 Masters, McIlroy has faced questions about whether each edition of the April major was going to be the year.
Exacerbating the pressure was the fact that the Masters was the major that had eluded McIlroy the most, ever since a meltdown at the 2011 Masters when he led by four going into the final day only to shoot 80.
“It was a heavy weight to carry,” McIlroy said of the slam, while wearing the green jacket in his winner’s press conference.
Moments earlier, he choked back tears when addressing his daughter, Poppy, and spoke about the ability to keep picking himself up.
“Every year to come back, I just had to keep trying and trying again,” McIlroy said. “To my daughter Poppy over there, never, ever give up on your dreams … keep coming back and keep working hard. If you put your mind to it you can do anything.”
Former world No.1 Day, who finished T-8 behind McIlroy, anointed McIlroy as the greatest player since Woods to have played the game.
“Rory is the greatest player of our generation and he has had 11 cracks at the grand slam since winning the (2014) PGA Championship,” Day told Australian Golf Digest. “He’s had a lot of gut punches and he has shown perseverance and resilience to keep kicking on.”
Day believes golf worldwide will enjoy the spotlight given McIlroy did something only five other players had achieved in history – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods.
“Yeah it does,” Day said when asked if this moment would take golf to new heights. “He’s carried the tour for a little while, as well as Tiger. Winning the slam, what an unbelievable career. He’s won all four majors, won the Players Championship twice, and he’s now got 29 wins on the PGA Tour and goes down as one of the best to ever play the game.”
