After Ovechkin Breaks Gretzky’s Record, More Historical Achievements in Sports

Rory McIlroy reacts after winning in a playoff against Justin Rose in the final round at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., on April 13, 2025. AP Photo/Ashley Landis

Commentary

Just last week I had the pleasure of writing about Alex Ovechkin setting the career record for regular-season goals in the National Hockey League. Little did I dream that a week after Ovechkin made history, two more sports figures would also make history.

Basketball

On April 11, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets basketball team became only the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double over the course of an entire regular season. The other two players to reach this rare summit are Jokic’s Nuggets teammate, Russell Westbrook, who has achieved the milestone four times, and the all-time great Oscar Robertson, who did it once in the early 1960s.

For the uninitiated, a triple-double in a game means that a player has amassed a double-digit total in three of the four most important individual statistics that teams and the league keeps track of: points, rebounds, assists, and blocked shots. Jokic, like Westbrook and Robertson, has averaged at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists per game for the season.

When one considers the many brilliant stars of the past—Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, to name a few—and realize that Jokic has accomplished something that none of those superstars ever did, one begins to appreciate the magnitude of the accomplishment.

Golf

The 89th playing of the Masters Tournament at the world-famous golf course in Augusta, Georgia, concluded on Sunday, April 13, and once again sports fans were able to witness history being made. Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland won the Masters to become only the sixth golfer in history to complete a career Grand Slam—that is, to win the championship of all four of golf’s major tournaments.

Indeed, the previous five career Grand Slam winners are all esteemed today as all-time legends of the game, occupying the ultimate pantheon of golf greatness: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Niklaus, and Tiger Woods. Now Rory McIlroy has joined the ranks of golf’s immortals. But it almost didn’t happen.

Some background: McIlroy last won a major tournament in 2014. This year was his 17th attempt to win at Augusta, with every year placing even more pressure on him as he began to wonder if he would ever complete the elusive Grand Slam. Indeed, he had more than his share of ups and downs during this year’s tournament.

McIlroy went in the last round on Sunday with a two-stroke lead. Hot on his tail was American Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau had gained ground on McIlroy at the end of the third round on Saturday by getting birdies on three of the last four holes. He had “Big Mo”—momentum—on his side. That momentum carried over to Sunday, and McIlroy, perhaps due to a case of nerves, carded a double bogey on the first hole (which points to a more dubious record that he set: He became the first golfer to win the Masters while carding four double bogeys). Meanwhile, DeChambeau birdied the second hole to erase the two-stroke lead McIlroy had started the round with and turning it into a one-stroke lead.

However, as athletes and sports fans know, the Big Mo is fickle and capricious. It quickly abandoned DeChambeau, who lost several strokes to par during the round and ended up tied for fifth place. By the time McIlroy was on the 10th hole, he had a five-stroke lead and was in position to coast to victory.

Alas, a few dreadful shots caused DeChambeau to lose several strokes to par, even as a couple of other players were gradually catching up. The quiet, smiling Swede pulled to within one shot of the lead, only to fade at the end and fall out of the top five by carding a triple-bogey on the last hole. Englishman Justin Rose, who had led the field by three strokes after the first round only to tail off in Rounds 2 and 3, came back strongly on Sunday. While McIlroy carded one-over par in the final round, Rose went six-under. He took the lead briefly with just two or three holes to go, then fell one stroke behind McIlroy. Then, on the 18th green, he holed a long putt for a birdie while McIlroy, when he got to 18, missed a much shorter putt for bogey, resulting in a tie with Rose at the end of 72 holes, necessitating a playoff.

The playoff started right there on that same 18th hole. This time, though, while the setups on the green were similar to what they had been during regulation play—that is, with McIlroy having a much shorter putt than Rose—Rose two-putted while McIlroy drained his putt for a birdie to win the championship.

What followed was a highly emotional scene of joy and relief, as Rory McIlroy got the proverbial monkey off his back and secured his spot in golf immortality. It was another peak moment in sports.

College Hockey

One final word: While it may not rank up there with the mind-boggling achievements of Nikola Jokic and Rory McIlroy, congratulations are due to the Western Michigan Broncos men’s hockey team for winning the first NCAA hockey championship in their school’s history. Bravo! It was part of another memorable week in sports.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.