How big a deal is the career Grand Slam?
Considering that only five players had ever accomplished the feat in the history of professional golf until Sunday, I’d say it’s a pretty big deal.
With his playoff win at Augusta, Rory McIlroy joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Note that Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson are not on the list with most missing one major title.
Palmer and Watson are missing the PGA Championship, Snead and Mickelson the U.S. Open and Trevino the Masters.
Bobby Jones’ winning the original Grand Slam, which consisted of The Open Championship, U.S. Open and British and U.S. amateur championships, deserves a mention, especially considering his accomplishment was not over a career but a single year, 1930.
As you listened to McIlroy on Sunday night after getting his green jacket, you could hear and see the pressure of the ordeal — both winning the Masters and accomplishing the Grand Slam — fall away from him like a long-haired dog preparing for summer.
When the relief valve was finally opened, over a decade of pressure was released in the playoff on the 18th hole, and McIlroy dropped to his knees and buried his head in his hands.
The tears never flowed when he lost majors, at least not in public, but they came with a win that everyone expected but was still unsure would happen.
The career Grand Slam is the pinnacle of the game of golf.
I could compare it to Mount Rushmore, but there presidents who deserve to be alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy are all worthy, but only four slots exist.
The slots for the career Grand Slam are unlimited, but the feat is difficult, as evidenced by the fact that only six players have achieved it.
Two players, Jordan Spieth and Mickelson, need one more victory to join the club. Spieth, a PGA Championship; Mickelson, a U.S. Open.
This year’s PGA Championship is at Quail Hollow, and the U.S. Open is at Oakmont, but neither will go into those events as one of the favorites, as McIlroy did at the 89th Masters. Still, funnier things have happened, like making four double bogeys for the first time in a Masters and winning.
Or recording six 3s at the start of the third round for a Masters record.
McIlroy has accomplished a rare feat, and now he can sit back and relax. It will be someone else’s burden to carry.
Related: A Blow-by-Blow of McIlroy’s Masters Win
Related: Rory McIlroy and a Green Jacket Are a Match Made in Heaven
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