Wow, what a Masters Tournament!

Sometimes big sporting events don’t live up to the hype. Sometimes the build-up is greater than the reality.

That would most assuredly not be the case for the recently completed Masters golf tournament, held April 9-12. This one was pretty special.

The Masters is golf on its grandest scale. It is, as they say, "the grandaddy of them all," the most prestigious and the most coveted of all the golf majors. It’s where the winner is rewarded with the wearing of the famed green jacket.

It doesn’t get any sweeter than that if you are a professional golfer. Many great golfers have gone their entire careers having never won a Masters. The Green Jacket Society is indeed an elite one.

A quick recap of this year’s just-completed Masters Tournament:

Days one and two of the tournament could have been called “the Rory and everybody else” story.

Last year’s Masters champion, Rory McIlroy, was on fire the first two days, running away from the rest of the field and leading by a whopping (and, some thought, insurmountable) 6 strokes over the rest of the field.

Day three, however, was much different. Saturday was where things really got interesting. McIlroy cooled off, shooting a pedestrian 1 over par, while the rest of the field surged ahead!

Cameron Young lead the surge with a red-hot 65 score, tying McIlroy for the day three lead. Sam Burns closed strong and was 10 under, Shane Lowry got a hole-in-one and checked in at 9 under. Justin Rose and Jason Day both stayed close and were at 8 under, while Li Haotong and tournament favorite (and current best player) Scottie Schefler got hot and went from non-contention to within 4 strokes of the lead at 7 under. Even Patrick Reed, Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay were 6 under and still very much in the running.

It set the table for a classic final day. Anticipation for Sunday’s tee-off times was off the charts.

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In the end, though, it was Rory McIlroy who pulled away for the victory and his second Masters win in a row.

It was not without drama, though, as at one point McIlroy was struggling and fell a couple of strokes back of his competitive nemesis, Justin Rose. But McIlroy smoothed his game out in the back nine, and while others struggled to make key closing shots, McIlroy hit shot after shot—all under intense pressure—and at one point, even had a three-stroke lead.

When he tapped in to win on the 18th green, the crowd—and Rory—went crazy.  A remarkable four-day performance for sure, and a celebration worthy of his accomplishment ensued.

Coming in second place and charging hard down the backstretch? None other than Scottie Scheffler, who checked in with a bogey-free day and a final 11-under score.

Close, but no cigar, went to a group of third-place finishers at 10 under, including Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Tyrell Hatton, Justin Rose, and Cameron Young—all of whom played brilliantly over the four-day span.

Next year? Nobody has ever won three Masters in a row. Can Rory do it again? We will have to wait another 365 days to find out.