Controversial returnee left Rory McIlroy a message after serving 30-month sentence ahead of Masters win
Rory McIlroy officially won his first green jacket on Sunday (April 13). A former champion and domestic abuse convict left him a note before the final round in which McIlroy had to cement his legacy. He had to overcome a ton of pressure from a lot of different angles to win.
Angel Cabrera, a former champion who just spent 30 months in jail for domestic abuse, played with McIlroy in 2011, a year the Irishman led and could've won but melted down in the final round.
Cabrera then left him a note in his locker that served as an omen for what McIlroy would go on to achieve hours later. McIlroy said later via Golf Digest:
"You know, since 2011, I think it's so ironic, as well. I got to my locker this morning and I opened it up, and there was a note in there from Angel Cabrera, just wishing me luck. And Angel Cabrera was the player I played with on the final day in 2011, it was a nice touch and a little bit ironic at the same time. It's been 14 long years, but thankfully I got the job done."
That was one of the most high-profile misses McIlroy has had at Augusta National, one that could've prevented this decade-long journey for a career Grand Slam. It is fitting then that Cabrera was the one who reached out to McIlroy ahead of his crowning moment.
Rory McIlroy reflects on finally winning the Masters
It was never an easy win, and it often looked in severe doubt. Rory McIlroy entered the Masters with a two-stroke lead, but he choked that away to US Open rival Bryson DeChambeau in the first two holes. The familiar struggles in crunch time had returned.
Then McIlroy rebounded and it was DeChambeau who fell down the leaderboard. At one point, McIlroy was up by five strokes. After a nightmare turn of events, Rory McIlroy was tied and then briefly trailed by one.
He passed Justin Rose, whose birdie on the 18th cemented a tie before McIlroy would play his final holes, with a birdie on the 17th. A bogey on the 18th, which was after a missed five-foot putt, prompted a playoff, where a birdie won it all for the Irishman.
He said afterward via ESPN:
"This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time. I think the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that, yeah, I'm sort of wondering what we're all going to talk about going into next year's Masters."
Rory McIlroy's win made him the sixth player ever to win all four Majors during his golf career. He has now won the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open Championship.