Masters Parting Thoughts: Rory's Memory, A Bad Broadcast, And The Passage Of Time

And just like that, another Masters is gone. 

If you're like me, there is a moment every Masters Sunday, amidst all the inevitable and glorious chaos, when a brief feeling of dread takes over. The golf is phenomenal, the scenes are familiar, the leaderboard is tight, but you know you're running out of time.

Running out of time to watch the best golfers in the world play the greatest golf course in the world, and running out of time in the game called life. In the grand scheme of things, golf is just a sport that doesn't matter, the Masters is just four days on a calendar, and Augusta National is an adult version of Disney World. At least, that's the cynical way of looking at it.

When you look at the Masters on a slightly deeper, more meaningful level, it's still just a golf tournament, but it's also a clock, and one that never stops ticking.

Rory McIlroy hugs his father after sliding on the green jacket for the second time.(Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

Author and ESPN writer Wright Thompson put it best during a recent appearance on ‘Golf Stuff' while describing what the Masters truly is: "The winners come and go, but the ability to mark the passage of time is the thing to me."

Simple, but powerful. So much happens in life between each playing of the Masters. You lose people, you gain people, you struggle, you thrive, you have wins, and you have losses. Then, that first full week of April arrives. All feels right for four days despite the clock still ticking, and while the feeling of dread always comes late on Sunday, the feeling of appreciation defeats it every single time.

Alright, now that you've unknowingly allowed me to get all emotional, we can get into the golf. Rory McIlroy won the Masters, again. He's now not only a legend of the game, but a Masters legend as well.

READ: No More Questions, Only Overwhelming Comfort In Rory McIlroy’s New Augusta Era

We also have to talk about the CBS broadcast on Sunday, because for the first time in my lifetime, I think ‘bad’ is the proper word to describe it.

You can find Mark Harris on X @itismarkharris, and you can also email him at mark.harris@outkick.com.

Rory's Memory Helps Him Go Back To Back

Among the handful of players who began Sunday's final round with a chance of winning a green jacket, Rory McIlroy had them all beat in the category of experience on the grounds of Augusta National. This year marked his 18th appearance in the Masters, and it goes without saying that winning the tournament a year ago was another tool in his toolbox. 

Having experience and using it are two separate things, however. It should come as no surprise that the career grand slam winner knew how and when to use it during the final round.

During his round of 73 on Saturday, McIlroy played Amen Corner 3-over par. On Sunday, he played it five shots better, and it was jump-started with a birdie on the Par 3 12th hole, a stage he conquered by leaning on a tip he was given more than 15 years ago.

"It was in off the left. That was where the wind was," McIlroy explained. "I waited -- this is going back to one of my first-ever practice rounds here. I played a practice round with Tom Watson in 2009, and he said to me on the 12th tee he always waited until he felt where the wind should be and then just hit it. You know, just hit it as soon as you can.

"That's what I did on 12. It was all over the place. When I stood up on the tee, it felt like it was off the right, and I looked at the 11th flag, it was blowing right to left. But I was patient, and I waited to feel where the wind should have been coming from, and I knew it was just a perfect 3/4 9-iron."

Rory McIlroy puts on the green jacket for the second time. Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Perfect, indeed. McIlroy hit his tee shot to inside eight feet and rolled in the birdie putt. 

We can talk about his speed and distance off the tee, his list of career accomplishments, and abilities with a club in his hand, but McIlroy possesses the wherewithal to think back on a moment from a 2009 practice round may legitimately be a one-of-one characteristic. 

Not My Masters Broadcast!

Complaining about the broadcast is the typical, cliché thing to do each week throughout the PGA Tour season. While I personally think the criticism is overblown when it comes to the broadcasts of regular PGA Tour events, the Masters and CBS typically put together the best broadcast of the year, and any complaints in the past are just doing too much.

However, this year's broadcast was noticeably bad.

The early coverage of the final few groups on Sunday was legitimate minutes (plural) behind the online leaderboard, and even the leaderboard on the broadcast jumped the gun occasionally before even showing the player finish the hole they were on. 

We missed multiple shots from Sam Burns on the second hole until CBS finally showed him airmailing the green; Scheffler's birdie attempt on the second hole wasn't shown live; and Justin Rose's bogey on the third hole was a mere mention. Those are just the immediate examples that come to mind.

The broadcast did manage to settle in throughout the afternoon, but then came the abomination on the 72nd hole.

Cameron Young hit his teeshot left off the tee while McIlroy blocked his tee ball about 100 yards right of the fairway, and it was as if CBS had never seen two players on opposite sides of the finishing hole.

Viewers had no idea where McIlroy's second shot ended up. While the focus has largely been on that specific camera and broadcast blunder, the fact that we also had no clue where Young's approach shot finished was even more inexplicable. Young simply hit his second shot left of the green, yet viewers didn't know that until the broadcast showed him approaching his golf ball.

For a solid 30 seconds, viewers didn't know where the golf balls of the two players in the final pairing of the Masters were as they were playing the final hole.

On-course analyst Dottie Pepper was fantastic as usual, and Jim Nantz did make up for the broadcast's many blunders with an emotional moment after McIlroy closed things out, but wow, nobody could have seen that type of afternoon coming from the CBS crew.

You can find Mark Harris on X @itismarkharris, and you can also email him at mark.harris@outkick.com.