Sunday’s final round of the Masters set up as a day with a lot of focus on Rory McIlroy. McIlroy, who needed only a Masters win for a career Grand Slam, entered the day with his first lead after three rounds of a major since 2014. And CBS was understandably focused on him throughout, which led to them capturing an amazing array of great successes and crushing failures. Here’s how that finally ended, with McIlroy’s birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to beat Justin Rose producing a “McIlroy has his masterpiece” call from announcer Jim Nantz:
“THE LONG JOURNEY IS OVER! MCILROY HAS HIS MASTERPIECE!”
Jim Nantz with the CBS call of Rory McIlroy winning the Masters. ⛳️🏆🎙️ #themasters pic.twitter.com/UnphlFKXbq
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2025
But we only got to that playoff thanks to McIlroy missing a par putt from six feet on 18, which led to announcers Nantz, Trevor Immelman, and Dottie Pepper just staying silent until he tapped in for bogey:
“Going to a playoff!” – Jim Nantz on the CBS call.
Rory McIlroy bogeys No. 18 and will face Justin Rose in a playoff. ⛳️🎙️🚨 #themasters pic.twitter.com/GxI4oTWpjH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2025
And that did come with a bit of a graphic jinx:
“For Career Grand Slam” was diabolical pic.twitter.com/iJ4zfImuRM
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) April 13, 2025
There were some higher points for McIlroy before that. That included “The shot of a lifetime,” as Nantz described McIlroy’s fairway shot on the 15th hole:
“THE SHOT OF A LIFETIME!” – Jim Nantz on the CBS call for Rory McIlroy’s incredible shot ⛳️🔥🎙️ #themasters pic.twitter.com/GN5cuFUNxw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2025
Another notable broadcast moment came on the 17th, where CBS captured audio of McIlroy yelling for his shot to go (which it did do):
Rory McIlroy: “GO! AH! GO! AH! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!”
Success. ⛳️🔥🎙️ #themasters pic.twitter.com/c7Y0pKBvkQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2025
Of course, McIlroy had plenty of spectacular shots all day:
That Rory McIlroy shot through the trees. ⛳️🔥 #themasters pic.twitter.com/IBDnA3i6V3
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) April 13, 2025
But he also had some notable misses. And that allowed Rose, who received much less broadcast attention all day, to take him on in this playoff. Here’s one of the moments where CBS did spotlight Rose, on his final putt of the regular round:
“Got a chance!.. OH WOW WHAT A PUTT! JUSTIN ROSE! AT THE 72ND! NO LEAD IS SAFE AROUND HERE! Tied for the low round on Sunday.” – Jim Nantz with the CBS call ⛳️🎯🎙️ #themasterspic.twitter.com/RtKgwhGWEC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 13, 2025
McIlroy’s spectacular successes and failures made for quite the final round, and CBS was all over every part of his roller coaster round.
