McIlroy’s ball tumbled into the creek. He bent his spine in half and threw his hands onto his knees. There had been plenty of triumphant patron responses at that point in the day. Here, in Amen Corner’s final chapter, the gasps returned. They did not stop.

The extent to which he would do so was the only question, a question now answered emphatically by victory in the Masters to complete the career grand slam. McIlroy is the first Eu