The US Masters, Redemption and Rory McIlroy
- PG Geldenhuys
- Apr 8
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 10
Every April, the golfing world turns its attention to Augusta National – a cathedral of sporting tradition where the past lingers in every pine needle. The US Masters is golf’s most iconic Major, played at the same sacred venue every year. It is both a playground and a crucible, the most exclusive battleground in the sport, where legends are made and myths are born.
I was 14 years old when I first tuned in. It was 1989, and the contest was compelling. The extraordinary beauty of the course, the drama of the battle, and the underlying history and context of what was unfolding totally absorbed me and started a love affair with the game. Given the time difference between South Africa and the US, it was a late-night mission, but I was not fazed. Not one bit.
Nick Faldo would beat Scott Hoch in an absorbing playoff, and become my first hero. I felt for Scott Hoch, the American who missed the shortest of pressure putts to cede the contest and a great player who would never redeem himself on the greatest of stages. Reputations are made and lifelong narratives – good and bad – are established in these moments.
Later that year, Europe would retain the Ryder Cup, with Faldo in the centre of the action. And another obsession would take root, this time for the wonderful possibilities of golf as a compelling team spectacle. But back to the Masters, a tournament that has been kind to us in South Africa.
This Thursday, a global audience will once again follow the drama. For millions, especially young boys swinging clubs in their backyard, the Masters is where their love of golf first took root. And for South Africans, it has been a place of poetic and personal triumph:
In 1978, Gary Player produced one of the greatest final rounds in Major history to win his third green jacket. That day, his playing partner, a 21-year-old Seve Ballesteros, learned that even outsiders could conquer Augusta. The unlikely mentorship and friendship between these two very different men would resonate through the ages, and most prominently at Augusta and the Ryder Cup.
In 2008, Trevor Immelman defied all odds to hold off Tiger Woods and claim victory. I knew Trevor as a junior, and the way his career derailed after that is the greatest of pities. But he had done, from a South African perspective, all that there was to be done in the sport, with the Green Jacket the pinnacle of success.
My dad was on a golf tour in 2011 when Charl Schwartzel birdied the final four holes to steal the green jacket in dramatic fashion. He was another young player who was not fancied to succeed. The bigger story, as these things happen, was the last-round collapse of a young Rory McIlroy, the next great superstar.
McIlroy’s collapse that Sunday was brutal. A triple bogey on 10. A four-putt on 12. A final-round 80. In a matter of hours, Rory went from golden boy to cautionary tale. The green jacket he seemed destined to win slipped through his fingers – and it has never returned. McIlroy would shrug it off, and go on to become World no 1, win multiple Majors (but never the Masters), and be a European talisman in the Ryder Cup.
In 2014, McIlroy seemed unstoppable. Two Major wins. World no 1. Dominant in the Ryder Cup. But subsequent years would be defined by his continued success and consistency, and prominent roles in the Ryder Cup and on the golfing political stage… and over a decade in the Major wilderness. From 2014 to 2024, McIlroy has played brilliant golf, won prestigious events, carried the European flag, but has not added a single Major to his name.
In the media, his biggest moment was his memorable contest in the Ryder Cup with Captain America Patrick Reed in 2016… which he lost, despite his excellent golf. He had become an amazing player, but not a winner on the biggest of stages.
And then came 2024. Another golden chance, his best in a decade. The US Open, Pinehurst, the 72nd hole. All he needed was a solid par to win. But Rory missed a short putt. And then another. The trophy was gone. The bad guy of golf, LIV defector and Ryder Cup outsider Bryson DeChambeau, walked away with the spoils. Another Major, another scar.
Yet this April, as he walks the fairways of Augusta again, there’s a different energy. He is playing some of his best golf in ages. He is a multiple winner this year, and if anyone has something to prove, it’s him. This Masters is his for the taking. It’s time for a resurrection.
Augusta is good that way.
In 1983, Seve Ballesteros won his second Masters. Inspiring his European teammates later that year, Europe nearly stole the Ryder Cup at PGA National. Seve was incandescent – not with failure, but with fire. He stormed into the team room and delivered one of the most famous speeches in Ryder Cup history.
“We don’t come to America for a holiday. We come to win.”
That narrow loss became the seed of future glory. Two years later, Europe finally won the Ryder Cup off the back of German Bernhard Langer’s Masters victory, and the tide of modern golf shifted.
In a way, Rory’s 2011 Masters collapse and 2024 US Open heartbreak echo that same narrative. So close. So painful. So defining.
But just like Seve and Langer in the early ‘80s, Rory stands on the edge of a turning point. Bernhard Langer missed the most famous of putts in the '91 Ryder Cup, and yet returned to win many more cups with the team, and capped his history in the game with a famous and unprecedented romp on American soil in 2004. It’s not that you fall. It’s how you get up that counts.
This is the year he can rewrite the story – not just for himself, but for Europe.
⛳️ A South African Legacy, a European Future
South Africa has always punched above its weight at Augusta. Gary Player, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel – all reminders that belief, resilience, and timing matter more than fame or form.
And now, in 2025, Europe needs a new talisman.
The Ryder Cup heads to Bethpage Black later this year, where a hostile American crowd awaits. What better launchpad than Augusta? What better symbol of redemption than Rory? What better parallel than Seve?
McIlroy’s career has come full circle. From the boy who broke down in 2011… to the man who now leads Europe with purpose, fire, and perspective.
PG’s PRO TIP:
"Failure is just a stepping stone to ultimate success.”
That’s the lesson McIlroy embodies in 2025. Not that champions don’t fail – but that they rise again. Stronger. Wiser. Hungrier.
Seve turned heartbreak into fuel. So did Gary. And now Rory must do the same.
Whatever you’re chasing this year – know this: the path to greatness is paved with mistakes, missteps, and near misses. What matters is what you do next.
Rory’s next step might just lead him to the green jacket – and spark another European conquest on American soil.
Let the ghosts of Augusta whisper his name.
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