The Chicago Bulls don’t make changes to their front office often. So, Monday’s news that the Bulls were firing president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley was surprising — no matter how futile the past six years of Bulls basketball have been.

Since they took over the Bulls at the start of the 2020-21 season, the number of roster errors the duo has committed has only grown. They made transactions that baffled the league, such as trading Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey; misjudged the value of their own players, such as Patrick Williams and his five-year, $90 million contract; and frequently waited too long to trade players who were coveted around the league — most recently, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu at this season’s trade deadline.

All the while, the Bulls weren’t winning. They went 224-254 across six seasons under Karnisovas’ leadership. Their lone winning season came in 2021-22, and the Bulls were quickly dispatched in a five-game, first-round exit to the Milwaukee Bucks. They currently sit at 29-49 and 12th in the Eastern Conference.

​​So, although the change seemed swift with a week remaining in the regular season, team sources said ownership had been mulling the change for weeks, especially in the aftermath of the team’s dismissal of Jaden Ivey and questions about whether the Bulls did enough homework before acquiring him last February, team sources told ESPN.

The front office defended its approach in acquiring Ivey, but one source described the Bulls as having a “credibility” problem around the league and with their own fans.

Bulls team owner Michael Reinsdorf acknowledged fans’ frustrations in a statement released by the team, announcing the news and a commitment to getting it right.

Now Chicago is about to conduct a search for a new head of basketball operations for only the third time since the start of the millennium.

Here’s why the team decided to fire its front office with just days left in the regular season, what these moves might mean for coach Billy Donovan and what Bulls ownership should look for in its next front office. — Jamal Collier

Why did the Bulls decide to make this change now?

Team sources described a “growing disconnect” between the front office and the rest of the franchise, with several people across the organization unsure about the direction of the team after a surprising trade deadline.

“People didn’t know the plan,” one team source told ESPN on Monday. “They didn’t know the process. We needed to move on — with a clean slate and start this thing over.”

The puzzling roster moves also began to stack up over the years. The same team source described the team’s initial trade for Nikola Vucevic in 2021 — the Bulls traded Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round picks for Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu — as the team’s “original sin.”

Team sources said recently Karnisovas has expressed remorse for the move, saying a deal like that to give away two first-round picks should have been the team’s final move toward contention instead of an initial one.

When Chicago did select players in the first round, the results were inconsistent. The Bulls’ highest draft pick was No. 4 in 2020, which they used to select Williams, and they re-signed him to a five-year extension in July 2024 after middling performances.

The Bulls began the 2021-22 season with promise — they were No. 2 in the Eastern Conference by the All-Star break — but clung to their nucleus of Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine for years after, even as the trio became a perennial play-in contender following injuries to Lonzo Ball.

Karnisovas’ failure to pivot from that core quickly enough, and the paltry returns from trading those players, did not leave the team in position to contend. Karnisovas finally made moves at the deadline, attempting to avoid another play-in tournament appearance, but the team’s meandering direction, the embarrassment of the Ivey situation and Karnisovas’ lack of definitive direction left the Bulls looking for new leadership to take the reins. — Collier

Why did it take so long for the Bulls to decide on a direction for their roster?

Karnisovas and Eversley maintained throughout the past few years that they were working under the constraints of ownership, team sources told ESPN. The team’s ownership and coach Billy Donovan were hesitant to “tank” in order to prioritize a high draft pick, which, they said, limited the team’s options.

Karnisovas and Eversley were also victims of their own initial success, however. Chicago was 38-21 before the All-Star break during the 2021-22 season, but Ball’s injuries that season derailed the team’s trajectory and took more than 1,000 days off his NBA career. Ball did not play in another NBA game until the start of the 2024 season, but the front office kept the core of that team intact for two more full seasons without Ball ever appearing in a game. Eventually, the Bulls traded away the top six players (LaVine, DeRozan, Vucevic, Ball, White and Caruso) from their February 2022 team. The only first-round pick they received in return? A return of their own first-round selection in 2025.

“We took too long to pick a lane,” the team source told ESPN. “The Lonzo thing just really messed them up. We saw that success early on and didn’t have the foresight to pivot early.”

Chicago slowly began making changes to its roster, trading away LaVine at the deadline last year; Ball this summer; and then Vucevic, White and Ayo Dosunmu this past February to pivot toward a new core featuring Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue, who was drafted in the first round last season.

The Bulls currently have a record of 29-49, the ninth-best odds in the league in the upcoming NBA draft lottery and more than $60 million in projected cap space this upcoming offseason. With cap space, draft picks and without much money tied up long term going forward, team sources said, the Bulls thought it was the right time for a new direction. — Collier

What is Billy Donovan’s future with the franchise?

Chicago remains high on coach Billy Donovan and plans to meet with him in the offseason to see how the team can retain him, sources told ESPN on Monday. Donovan has been with the team since 2020, and despite a 224-254 record (.469 winning percentage), he is well respected by players and staff alike within the organization.

The Bulls have struggled mightily on the court this season, including four separate losing streaks of at least five games and a roster overhaul at the deadline that had Bulls coaches scrambling with so many new faces.

Donovan had a rough season personally as well. His father, Billy Sr., passed away earlier this year, and then his mother-in-law, Patricia, died eight days later. Donovan missed only one game, on Feb. 19, and a few practices around the funerals, and team sources have in recent weeks wondered whether Donovan would decide to take a step back after the season, especially faced with a Bulls roster almost certain to require a rebuild.

The team has made it clear, though, that it wants him back in the organization as coach or in some capacity going forward, sources told ESPN. — Collier

What characteristics should Bulls ownership look for in a new front office?

Someone who can offer a true vision. Ever since the franchise traded Jimmy Butler III in 2017, Chicago has vacillated between short-circuited rebuilds and a misguided attempt to move into contention. The Bulls’ series of moves in 2021 — notably adding veterans DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic — left them hovering in the middle with no path to relevancy, which is why the team won 39 or 40 games in three consecutive seasons before the 2025-26 campaign.

There are reasons for optimism for whoever takes over. The Bulls have a fairly clean cap sheet, potentially two first-round picks this year (if the Portland Trail Blazers reach the playoffs) and an attractive market for free agents. — Tim Bontemps

What is the Bulls’ draft outlook?

After losing their past seven games, the Bulls will likely finish with the ninth-best odds in May’s draft lottery — a 4.5% chance at the No. 1 pick and a 20.3% chance at selecting in the top four.

That’s gives them a fair, if unlikely, shot at moving up for one of the top-tier prospects in what NBA executives view as an excellent draft class. Chicago still has a chance to add a quality player if it stays put at No. 9, but the options at that spot aren’t necessarily franchise-changing.

Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey had been considered the Bulls’ cornerstone players, but the roster is still far from taking shape. How a new decision-maker views them long term could impact the direction Chicago takes positionally with its selection.

The Bulls also own the Trail Blazers’ lottery-protected first-round pick. If Portland (8-2 in its past 10) makes it out of the play-in and into the playoffs, Chicago would get another first-round selection in the mid-teens. Beyond that Portland pick, which has rolling lottery protection through 2028, the Bulls are light on extra draft capital and have only their own first-round picks.

Landing a stroke of luck on lottery night would be a massive coup for whomever Chicago hires to run the organization next. Drafting well is imperative regardless, but without a friendly bounce, picking a direction will be more of a challenge: A protracted nosedive in 2027 and 2028, two draft classes NBA execs are presently less excited about, will not be the most direct path to a playoff return. — Jeremy Woo

What roster and financial decisions will the new Bulls front office inherit?

The Bulls wiped their cap ledger clean at the deadline, making seven trades that netted them eight second-round picks and former lottery pick Rob Dillingham, as well as Anfernee Simons and Jaden Ivey, who was waived on March 30.

As a result of the trades, Chicago is projected to have nearly $60 million in cap space to use in free agency.

The new front office will inherit a roster that includes Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue. The Bulls picked Essengue in last year’s draft, but he played only two games this season before season-ending shoulder surgery in December.

The free agency path is more unclear and requires a methodical roster-building approach. The Bulls have the spending power to sign players, but they are not at a stage to commit long term, which ultimately takes away flexibility in the future.

Chicago will need a checklist for free agents and trade candidates who fit its identity on the court both now and moving forward. — Bobby Marks

Some of Europe’s top clubs have been sounded out about a deal for Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. this summer, while Madrid are increasingly confident of sealing a move for Manchester City midfielder Rodri. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.

Transfers home page | Men’s winter grades | Women’s grades

TRENDING RUMORS

– Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich have been contacted by intermediaries regarding a possible move for Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. this summer, according to TEAMtalk. Some of Europe’s top clubs have been sounded out about a deal as the winger enters the final year of his contract, while the Saudi Pro League is also ready to move if any opportunity arises. Contract talks with the 25-year Brazil international have stalled for the past few months and sources recently told ESPN that negotiations may not resume until after the 2026 World Cup, though the player has reiterated that he wants to stay.

– Real Madrid are increasingly confident of sealing a move for Manchester City midfielder Rodri this summer, claims TEAMtalk. Rodri, 29, has reportedly held discussions with City about the possible terms for an exit this summer and, while he continues to be linked with a move to the Bernabeu, Real Madrid won’t “pay over the odds” to bring the Spain international to the club. An offer of €60 million will reportedly be enough to do a deal.

– AS reports that Real Madrid are open to a potential exit for Eduardo Camavinga, with PSG monitoring the midfielder’s situation. The 23-year-old has been with Los Blancos since 2021, but has struggled to make himself a regular starter since joining from Rennes. A switch back to Ligue 1 could reignite his career once again, though Madrid would want to make a profit on the €40 million they paid to sign him five years ago.

– Arsenal are soon expected to make a formal approach to sign Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane, according to Christian Falk. The Gunners have been linked with a €65 million move for the 19-year-old, with an offer expected in the coming weeks. The Cameroon international has made 40 appearances across all competitions this season, with seven goals and eight assists to his name, with Bayern Munich also reported be monitoring his progress.

– RB Leipzig are discussing a new contract with €80 million-rated winger Yan Diomande that could include a release clause, amid links with a move to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, says Fabrizio Romano. Diomande, 19, has shot to prominence this season with some fine displays, but Leipzig are keen to let him develop even further.

EXPERT TAKE

ESPN’s Madrid correspondent Alex Kirkland explores the future for Vinicius Junior.

Vinicius Junior’s situation at Real Madrid has, in many ways, changed radically over the course of the season — but the bottom line is that his contract is still due to expire in 2027 and there’s been no progress on an extension.

The first half of 2025-26 was perhaps the most turbulent time of Vini’s career at Madrid, losing his place as a guaranteed starter under then coach Xabi Alonso, going three months without scoring, and becoming the public face of dressing room unrest with his reaction at being substituted early in October’s Clásico.

Since January, and the arrival of Álvaro Arbeloa, it’s been a very different story. Arbeloa has talked up Vinicius at every opportunity and he’s been rewarded on the pitch, with the forward nearing career-best form with back-to-back, decisive braces last month against Manchester City and Atletico Madrid.

But still, the clock is ticking on that contract extension. ESPN reported that a renewal was near impossible with Alonso in charge, but that is no longer an issue. Vinicius loves playing for Madrid and the club would like him to stay; the remaining issue is the gap between Vinicius’ wage demands and what the club are willing to offer.

Madrid would do anything to avoid losing him on a free transfer in 2027, so the situation has to be resolved, one way or the other, this summer. ESPN has reported that a move to Saudi Arabia would not appeal to Vinicius, leaving PSG or the Premier League as the only realistic remaining options.

But at this stage, given his improved form, and Madrid’s desire to keep him and avoid the nightmare scenario of a free transfer, the most likely scenario feels like the club going the extra mile to offer a deal structured with enough variables and bonuses to reach the kind of total package Vinicius and his camp would be happy with.

OTHER RUMORS

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Hutchison doubtful about Arne Slot’s Liverpool future

Don Hutchison believes Arne Slot won’t be Liverpool manager at the start of next season following their FA Cup exit to Manchester City.

– Liverpool could sign Al Hilal forward Marcus Leonardo, 22, to replace Mohamed Salah this summer. (GMS)

– Manchester United are among the clubs keen to sign Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana, 24. (Football Insider)

– Spain forward Dani Olmo is not planning on leaving Barcelona this summer, amid links with a move to the Saudi Pro League. (Fabrizio Romano)

– AC Milan are pushing to sign midfielder Leon Goretzka as a free agent when he leaves Bayern Munich in the summer, ahead of Premier League competition. (Calciomercato)

– Italy midfielder Manuel Locatelli is closing in on a contract renewal with Juventus until 2030. (Tuttosport)

– Liverpool are keen on Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba and Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon as part of a summer rebuild. (Ekrem Konur)

– Manchester City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are all showing interest in Chelsea defender Josh Acheampong, amid his lack of game time for the Blues. (Ekrem Konur)

– Harry Wilson is on Tottenham’s shortlist of transfer options this summer, as he looks set to become a free agent at the end of his contract at Fulham. (Ekrem Konur)

– Antonio Rudiger is progressing in talks to extend his contract at Real Madrid, as he nears the final 12 months of his deal with Los Blancos. (Nicolo Schira)

– Barcelona and PSG are both interested in 16-year-old Mali wonderkid Aboubacar Maiga, who plays for Academy Africa Foot, as an option for the future. (Sport)

HOLYWOOD, Northern Ireland — Tucked away on a steep hillside high above County Down, overlooking Belfast Lough, sits the 6,100-yard parkland runway from which Rory McIlroy took flight.

And no matter how high he soars or how far his reach extends or how many days pass until he returns, Holywood Golf Club will always be home.

Here in the Emerald Isle, golf is more than a game. It is a connector. Families. Friends. Generations. Here, there’s a different reverence for history. You just … feel it.

Locals explain that the game’s origins in Northern Ireland reach back 145 years to Royal Belfast, just down the hill from here. Holywood came along in 1904. And in 1994, it realized it had a prodigy on the premises.

“I worked very closely with a professional in the juvenile section, and he told me about this young lad who was going to be very good,” said Eddie Harper, a gentleman nursing a recent knee replacement, who for decades oversaw Holywood’s junior program. “[Rory] was 5 or 6.”

That pro he mentioned was Michael Bannon, who went on to become Rory’s longtime coach. In 1996, Bannon approached Harper with a plea: Admit the kid to the club. He’s too good to deny it. The minimum age for admittance was 10. Rory was 7.

“I had Rory in for the interview; dark suit, red tie, white shirt, sat down in front of me, very polite,” Harper said. “We talked about behavior, etiquette, and he piped up, said, ‘Mr. Harper, if you let me into this club, I’ll not hold anybody up. I know all the rules of golf and I’m a very quick player.’ He got in. And the rest is history.”

As golf goes, possibly the rarest history. Just six men have completed the career glam slam, winning all four major championships: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and — as of April 2025 — Rory McIlroy.

IN MARCH 2026, McIlroy strides into the dimly lit living room of a rental home at Bay Hill. There are three rooms in the house, each of which is stuffed full of television crews and equipment. ESPN goes first.

We share pleasantries, but I quickly request to get started. McIlroy is invariably honest and considerate to the media, thoughtful in response and genuinely curious. He often gives time he doesn’t have. And he doesn’t have much today. I get 10 minutes.

He starts by succinctly detailing his major championship experience.

“I found the first three pretty quickly and pretty easily in my career,” McIlroy says. “That last one was my kryptonite.”

After shooting 80 in the final round of the 2011 Masters to give away a four-shot lead, McIlroy rebounded and won the 2011 US Open at age 22, running through Congressional Country Club in historic fashion. He added the Open Championship and the PGA Championship by 25. Nothing, it seemed, could stop him.

But each year in early April, as the azaleas bloomed at Augusta National, McIlroy consistently wilted.

“I just couldn’t — I couldn’t figure out a way to get it done,” McIlroy says. “And I kept trying. And I kept coming back. And, probably since 2011, driving out of Augusta National every Sunday night disappointed, and …”

He pauses.

“Gutted?” I suggest.

“Gutted,” McIlroy confirms.

There were some bright spots. He specified 2022, when he shot a Masters Tournament career-best 8-under 64 and holed out from the right greenside bunker to post a runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler.

“That was probably the least disappointed I felt at any one time going out of there,” he said.

For 16 years, Holywood and all of Ireland watched their boy anguish at Augusta. Time and again, they shared and felt his heartbreak.

“It was like a cloud had come down, we were all very depressed about it,” Harper said, leaning against a who-knows-how-old brick wall across the cart path from the Holywood first tee. “It took so long before he won something, word started to get around — will he ever win another major? People began to doubt.”

McIlroy had been so close so many times. There was the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club when he finished second to Wyndham Clark after failing to card a birdie during the final 17 holes. And the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, when he held a two-shot lead with five holes to play and missed a pair of short putts over the final three holes, allowing Bryson DeChambeau to win.

But as painful as those moments were, Augusta was always worse. Final hurdles have a way of feeling higher, especially when they represent the obstacle toward the finish line of a childhood dream.

“I’ve always been a dreamer, big, big dreams, big ideas. I’ve never lost that,” McIlroy said. “I’ve never let the world take that from me. I think the world can turn you into a pretty cynical person, if you let it.

“I’d say [the Masters] was the — burden’s not the right word — but I was carrying this lifelong dream of winning all the majors, you know? I said that to anyone that would listen, when I was 7 or 8 years old.”

IN 1998, WHEN McIlroy was 9, he won the junior under-10 world championship at Doral. That was the moment everything changed.

“Well, his fame, if that’s the right word, had spread around the club,” Harper said. “He won the world under 10 and that put him in the spotlight. He appeared on [Gerry Kelly’s show] in Belfast hitting golf balls into a washing machine, and that created widespread interest. So then word got ’round the whole of country about Rory, and it put a lot of pressure on him because people were expecting him to do well.”

“The club basically said, look, we have to look after this guy because there is something there,” club president Tony Denvir said. “Obviously, his father, his uncle, his grandfather was a superb player. So it’s in the genes of the McIlroy family, obviously. “

As a little boy Rory was here, hitting plastic golf balls up and down hallways, often to the chagrin of the members. He was here as a 9-year-old, winning tournaments on far-away continents. He was here a teenager causing trouble. He was here as a 22-year-old major champion. And he was here last April when he completed the grand slam.

And that’s the reason I’m here: to find the how behind the who. Within a few hours you understand why Rory is Rory.

Part of that is his parents’ work ethic, and his appreciation for how deeply they sacrificed for his dream.

“Gerry and Rosie kept the feet firmly on the ground; they showed him such a tremendous work ethic with what they had to do,” Ruth Watt, HGC lady captain, said. “They worked nonstop, and yes, traveled the length and breadth of the country.”

The McIlroys gave so much to Rory’s career. His mother, Rosie, worked a graveyard shift at a factory in Bangor, stuffing rolls of tape into cardboard shipping boxes. His father, Gerry, was a barkeep at multiple watering holes, including the one at which I sat with Denvir and former HGC club president Stephen Tullin, small-talking the weather.

The bar is polished granite, positioned just inside the door from a parking lot reserved for dignitaries. Rory has his own designated parking spot, positioned closest to the pro shop. Denvir and Tullin meet here daily to toss back 5 o’clock pints of crisp lager. Three months have passed, they tell me, since they last saw the sun.

“Thanks for bringin’ the good weather with ya!” they howl.

We cheers and nod. It’s Ireland.

Today they welcome an outsider in, one of the estimated thousand-plus in the past year who traveled from far and wide to immerse in an historical experience unique to them: Rory’s root system.

Midway through a half-hour conversation that quickly transitions from rain to identity, they teeter on an emotional seesaw. One moment it thrusts skyward towards belly laughter and fist-pumping, beer-spilling euphoria. The next, it plummets into misty-eyed reminiscence. They were accustomed to heartbreak.

McIlroy is the fulcrum on which these emotional extremes hinge. He is the pride and joy of this establishment, this town — and in some contexts this country.

Denvir is seated to my left, Tullin to his left. Denvir has short gray hair, a wry smile and a contemplative mind. Tullin is quick with a joke and sprinkles morsels of Irish gold into his sentences. As I teach them the proper usage of “y’all,” they regale me in Rory stories.

Tullin: “Used to be a table tennis table in here, and I played him for a tenner. He beat me, so I had to give him a tenner. That’s my claim to fame — playing Rory at anything.”

Denvir: “Meeting him for the first time. Whenever he won his first major, [the 2011] U.S. Open at Congressional, he came back here, and I didn’t know what to expect. But he was just such a genuine guy, and I shook his hand, and had a quick chat with him. I thought, ‘I’m talking to one of the best golfers in the world. This is fantastic!’ He’s just such a good guy.”

Everyone here, it seems, has a Rory story. Bellied-up beer sippers at the cash-only Maypole Bar. The rental car attendant at Belfast City Airport, who asks why we’re here and instantly jumps into the fine detail of a round he once played against the Grand Slam champion. The teachers at Rory’s secondary school, Sullivan, remember well the shaggy-haired kid with big dreams and unprecedented talent.

“Rory’s story shows people that with dedication and hard work, they can get somewhere,” Sullivan golf organizer Andy Cave said, as his students peeked curiously from the hallway, through the small square windows in the door at this odd American camera crew sitting at the desks in their history class. “And it doesn’t need to be from a hugely privileged background. And I think the fact that he’s done that, but then also that he remembers those people that helped him to get to where he is, is something which should inspire a lot of people.”

This includes “The Girls,” a collective moniker Gerry bestowed on them, a fivesome of ladies who convene often for glasses of wine and golf rounds.

“I remember once when we were sitting having a meal in the restaurant, and we were looking down on the 18th green, and Rory was there with a number of his friends chipping onto the green — and of course, not allowed to do that,” chuckled Eileen Patterson. “Gerry never said anything, but he disappeared. He realized that [Rory] was breaking the rules, and he didn’t try and make a difference for Rory. He took away the clubs for 10 days. That was the worst thing that could happen.”

McIlroy’s presence is everywhere here. Ball markers, towels, even the Wi-Fi password (sorry guys, might have to change it now). After he secured the Grand Slam, fans from across the globe flocked to experience it. So many, in fact, the club added a Rory Tour.

On a glorious Friday morning, I met lady captain Watt at the Holywood entrance to take in the tour. She pointed out the names of generations of McIlroys on the Club Champion placard, myriad photographs from Rory’s youth, and replica trophies from three of Rory’s major championships. Representing The Masters title was an autographed yellow Augusta pin flag.

“It would be lovely to have a miniature of the Augusta clubhouse, but I believe that’s not done,” Watt said. “When he won the Masters was magical. The clubhouse was just electric for days. Really and truly. It was a late night here, after midnight, whenever it was finished.

“Tears were first. Because after dropping all those shots and getting to a playoff, which we never expected. We thought he was just going to sail through. But that’s golf.”

“It was the most stressful 5½ hours of my life,” Cave said. “Midway through the round, he kind of pulled away a little bit — and we were almost believing.”

THAT SUNDAY, PAIRED once again alongside DeChambeau, McIlroy walked to the 13th tee with a two-stroke lead. Following a quality tee shot and a precise second shot, McIlroy was 86 yards from the pin, with Rae’s Creek guarding the green in front of him.

“I wouldn’t say I let my guard down, but maybe relaxed a little bit,” he said.

His third shot landed short and shot back into the water. He carded a double bogey, opening the door for the competition. That included Justin Rose, who, up ahead, would ultimately card a 66. (Rose later surmised that that Sunday at Augusta may have been the best round of his life).

“After 13, it helped me snap back into the mindset of, ‘nope, you’ve not won this yet,” McIlroy said. “You are nowhere close to winning this, yet. I snapped back into not letting myself think that I was going to win the Masters.”

He would bogey the 14th to hand Rose the outright lead. Then on 15, he pulled his drive left, setting up one of the greatest golf shots of his life. Facing a daunting right to left draw around a row of Georgia pines, McIlroy held an 8-iron. The wind picked up, and after DeChambeau hit his shot in the water, McIlroy adjusted to a 7-iron. The ball moved high and left, landing quickly on the green and rolling out to 6 feet. CBS’ Jim Nantz enthusiastically called it “the shot of a lifetime.”

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‘Shot of a lifetime!’ Rory hits majestic fairway shot

The crowd just loves this shot from Rory McIlroy at Hole 15, eventually leading to a birdie for the Northern Irishman.

A birdie at 17 on the strength of a blistered approach shot meant McIlroy walked to the 18th tee as the outright leader. He missed a par putt just under the hole and scored a bogey, setting up a playoff with Rose. He walked off the 18th green and kissed his wife, Erica, and daughter, Poppy, and strode to the clubhouse stone-faced through thousands of screaming patrons.

“The roller coaster of the shot on 15, the shot on 17, a five in regulation on the last,” McIlroy remembered earlier this year at Bay Hill, slouching a bit in the chair. “And that time between signing your card and getting back to the 18th tee. I had a big wait on 18, Justin Rose, the whole thing.

“I had to work hard on staying present and not listening to the roars up ahead of, like, what does that mean? What did he do? Looking at the leaderboard. I’m really proud of myself, just staying in my own little — my own little world.”

On a golf cart ride back to the 18th tee for the playoff, McIlroy’s caddie and best friend, Harry Diamond (whose 2002 Ulster Boys Championship photograph adorns the wall at Holywood as well) said simply, “Well, pal, we’d have taken this on Monday morning.” It was a mental reset McIlroy needed.

“When I look back at that day, and everything that I had to go through, I’m proudest of myself because I didn’t let the moment get to me, either way, if that makes sense?” McIlroy said.

In the playoff, McIlroy was brilliant. He stuffed the approach to 3 feet, then walked up the 18th fairway to raucous cheers of “Ror-y! Ror-y!” Rose narrowly pushed his birdie putt. McIlroy made his to finally earn the title: Masters champion.

When the putt dropped, McIlroy tossed his putter into the air, began to weep and fell to his knees.

“The release was my expectations, everyone else’s expectations, the narrative that had been built around me at that golf tournament for 15 years,” he said. “And remembering who I was as a little boy in Holywood, with this dream and making it a reality.”

IN THAT MOMENT, the folks back in Holywood were partying and cheering and sobbing right along with him.

“It is emotional, because he’s one of us,” Denvir said. “Born and bred in Holywood. If you think about the size of this country, it’s s a tiny country. Holywood’s a very small place. And his whole family, they’re just so down to Earth. They’re just normal, down-to-Earth people.”

Stephen Tullin nodded with his pint.

“It just does feel like it’s one of us. We’ve not done it, but certainly to be associated with what he’s achieved is amazing for this golf club and for the town and the country,” Tullin said. “Rory is just Rory. He’ll not change. He comes up and he talks to everybody. He gives everybody time. And he’s very generous to the club.”

Beyond the countless donated clubs, bags, flags and trophies, the sterling example of McIlroy’s generosity is the state-of-the-art workout facility he donated, complete with five golf simulators, three of which include Trackman shot data technology. The gym created a new revenue stream for the club. As Ruth Watt explained, dozens of new members joined HGC just to use the workout room. Meanwhile, the sim room allows members to congregate for nine-hole rounds when the weather outside is sour.

The prevailing guestimate by members at Holywood Golf Club is that McIlroy gave £750,000 (nearly $1 million) of his own money to help build the facility.

“We all love Rory, and we’re very, very proud of him,” Helena Campbell, one of The Girls, said. “And he’s brought such a name to Holywood Golf Club and to Holywood itself. There’s not a person in Holywood [who] wouldn’t speak well of Rory McIlroy and his family.”

Days after Scottie Scheffler ceremonially placed the green jacket across his back, McIlroy boarded a private jet with Poppy and brought it home to Holywood. His parents, who Rory explained were busy moving into a new home in Ireland, weren’t in attendance to see their only child walk into history at Augusta.

“I just desperately wanted to see my folks, just to give them a hug, just to show them the jacket,” McIlroy said. “I wanted to share it with them. I wanted to celebrate it with them. As I get a little bit older in my life — and I’m a parent now — you sort of see your parents’ mortality a little bit more. And appreciation and the gratitude I had that they were still on this planet, on this Earth to see what I had done, that meant a lot to me.”

From mum, there were “loads of tears.” “With my dad, it’s a little bit different,” he laughed. “He’s a 66-year-old man that tries to keep stuff in. But when I come into their house and I’ve got the green jacket there, his whole face and his eyes just lit up. It was very, very emotional.”

Right before we chatted in March, McIlroy took Gerry back to Augusta to play a round with Chairman Fred Ridley. It feels different now. It feels earned.

“It’s not that I never felt accepted, but I just felt a little more accepted,” McIlroy said with a laugh. “I think there is a different feeling when you go back there and you are a past champion, and they present you with your green jacket as you walk into the clubhouse.

“And you can go upstairs to your locker, and change your shoes. I just feel like I’m a little more a part of the club, which is an amazing feeling I’ll be able to cherish for the rest of my life.”

Back at Holywood, while “conducting market research,” I ordered a(nother) pint of Guinness. And listened. As I watched the sandy froth dive and the chocolatey brew rise in the glass, laughter and pride pervaded. Rory stories. Joy for time together at twilight, reliving a day immersed in the adoration and addiction of hitting a small white ball around a field sometimes.

And it was beautiful.

“He gives us so much to hope, because golf is our thing and he’s the one putting us out there on the international stage,” Callum McGreevy, a young Irishman sitting on the first tee at Holywood, said in a setting sun. “It’s just amazing to see that it’s possible coming from such a small country to do so much.”

INDIANAPOLIS — In its vast basketball history, Illinois has teased winning a national title throughout the years.

The Fighting Illini’s Final Four appearance Saturday marked their sixth in program history, yet they remain without a national title in men’s basketball. Only Houston, with seven Final Four appearances, has more without a title.

And as 3-seed Illinois exited the NCAA tournament after a 71-62 loss to second-seeded UConn, the tenor of the defeat matched the program’s tortured high-end history at this stage — achingly close yet not enough.

In a locker room filled with wet eyes and low voices, the consistent theme from Illinois players was the number of shots that danced on the rim but didn’t convert into points. The Illini shot just 6 for 26 from 3-point range, and the night was filled with shots that assistant coach Orlando Antigua called “toilet bowls” that swirled around and out of the rim.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Illinois senior Kylan Boswell said of the near misses. “I’ve never personally shot layups, and they bounce in and out like how they did today. But I mean, [stuff] just happens. Can’t make excuses, but end-to-end today, they beat us.”

The Illini entered the game with the country’s No. 2 most efficient offense, per KenPom.com. But they were anything but efficient. Along with its struggles from 3-point range, Illinois also shot just 13 for 30 from 2-point range.

“We fought, we fought, we fought, and had a very tough shooting night, especially at the rim,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “We missed some shots that we normally don’t miss. It’s part of this game. The ball has to go in.”

The Illini played well defensively, holding the Huskies to just 35.5% shooting from the field. But Underwood acknowledged that UConn guarded them well.

“We’ve had the No. 1 offense in the country all year, and again, give UConn credit,” Underwood said. “They forced some of those misses.”

Illinois’ history includes losing an epic title game to North Carolina by five points in 2005 under Bruce Weber, a two-point semifinal loss to eventual title winner Michigan in 1989 and a pair of two-point Final Four losses in 1951 and 1952.

The Illini used their geographic proximity to Indianapolis — nearly 130 miles — to flex the most dominant fan base at the Final Four. And that crowd roared to life as Illinois went on a 10-0 run in the second half to cut UConn’s lead to four points with just over five minutes remaining.

The Huskies were scoreless for nearly five minutes, and the Illini clawed back into the game thanks to a flurry of free throws and a putback by Andrej Stojakovic.

But with the crowd engaged and UConn’s offense slumping, Underwood called a 30-second timeout after an Illinois make that cut the Illini’s deficit to four points. Antigua said the point of the timeout was to warn the Illini that UConn would pound the ball to star forward Tarris Reed Jr., who had been scoreless in the second half to that point.

UConn drew up a play for Reed, as expected, as Alex Karaban found him deep in the post with his defender sealed. Reed finished with his left hand, and the Huskies quickly scored again to push their lead to 61-53 with 4:08 remaining.

Illinois cut the lead to four points two more times — including Keaton Wagler‘s 3-pointer with 44 seconds left that answered Braylon Mullins‘ 3-pointer — but never got closer. UConn stayed composed and made its free throws.

Wagler finished with 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, but was just 2-for-10 from 3-point range. Tomislav Ivisic had 16 points but finished just 4-for-11 from the field.

“I feel like we missed a lot of shots at the rim that we usually make,” Ivisic said. “I don’t know how other way to call it than bad luck.”