The Masters Tournament is one of the most prestigious events in golf. The first of four major championships on the PGA Tour calendar, it’s held during the first full week of April at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. The tournament was first held in 1934, with Horton Smith winning the $1,500 first-place prize. The now highly coveted green jacket, awarded to the winner, wasn’t introduced until 1949.
In 2025, Rory McIlroy became the sixth golfer to earn the career Grand Slam after winning the Masters in a playoff against Justin Rose. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods are the only others to win the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. McIlroy, who squandered a four-shot lead at the 2011 Masters, had to wait more than a decade to complete the career Grand Slam.
Here’s a closer look at how McIlroy won the 2025 Masters and some of the top finishers by country.
1. Rory McIlRoy (Northern Ireland)
A teenage golf prodigy, McIlroy had immediate success on the PGA Tour, winning the U.S. Open in 2011 and holding a four-shot lead in the final round of the Masters that year. The Northern Irishman shot a final round 80 to finish tied for 15th, but didn’t let that derail his momentum. McIlroy won the PGA Championship in 2012 and again in 2014 and completed the third leg of the career Grand Slam by winning the 2014 Open Championship. He had top 10 finishes at the Masters in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and was runner-up in 2022. Yet, he missed the cut in 2023 and was never really in contention in 2024, finishing tied for 22nd.
McIlroy didn’t have a great start in 2025, either, finishing tied for 27th after shooting even par 72 in the first round. However, he stormed up the leaderboard in round two with a 6-under 66 to tie for third with Corey Conners. He had a two-shot lead after another 6-under 66 in the third round. In the fourth round, McIlroy had a 5 foot par putt on the final hole to win his first green jacket, but he missed and settled for a bogey, forcing a playoff with Rose.
McIlroy hit an incredible iron shot to 4 feet of the cup on the first playoff hole and made a birdie to make history. Immediately after, he fell to his knees in jubilation, letting out more than a decade of pent-up emotion.
“I would say it was 14 years in the making, from going out with a four-shot lead in 2011, feeling like I could have gotten it done there,” McIlroy commented after the win. “Yeah, there was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green. A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
2. Justin Rose (England)
Whereas McIlroy played his best in rounds two and three, Rose posted his best scores in the first and fourth rounds. The 44-year-old Englishman was the first-round leader by three strokes after shooting a 7-under 65. However, he had fallen to a tie for sixth place with seven shots behind McIlroy after scoring 71 and 75 in the second and third rounds. Rose had six birdies in the final eight holes on Sunday and made a 20-foot birdie on the final hole to force a playoff.
Rose was also looking to win his first green jacket. Instead, he settled for runner-up at Augusta for the third time in his career and lost for the second time in a playoff. He won his lone major at the 2013 U.S. Open and also has a pair of runner-up finishes, in 2018 and 2024, at The Open Championship.
3. Patrick Reed (United States)
Patrick Reed was the highest-ranking American at the 2025 Masters, finishing third at 9-under par. Unlike McIlroy and Rose, Reed had a consistent week, shooting 71-70-69-69 to stay in contention throughout the tournament. He won the Masters in 2018 with a score of 15-under par, one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler.
4. Sungjae Im (South Korea)
Seeking to become the first player from South Korea to win the Masters, Sungjae Im finished tied for fifth with Bryson DeChambeau. He moved up from T10 in round three after shooting 69 in the final round. Im was runner-up at his first Masters in 2020, becoming just the sixth player to finish second in their debut at Augusta.
5. Ludvig Åberg (Sweden)
Playing in just his second Masters, Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg finished in seventh place at 6-under par. He was tied for second with Conners after the first round and tied for fourth with Reed after the third round, but shot a final round 72 to drop down the leaderboard. Åberg was runner-up in his Masters and major championship debut in 2024. Nobody from Sweden has ever won the green jacket.