AUGUSTA, Ga. -- In the end, when Rory McIlroy had walked up the final fairway not once but twice with a chance to win the Masters, fending off multiple players and overcoming self-inflicted mistakes during an emotional 19 holes of golf, when he had dropped to his knees and let his emotions overtake him, he stood near the Augusta National clubhouse and paused.
He had finally conquered his Mount Everest. Now, there was only one thing to do. Red-faced and teary-eyed, he turned to his friends and uttered the words he had been hoping to say for over a decade:
"I got to go get a green jacket.