Rory McIlroy joined even more elite company at the Masters on Sunday, taking his place in Augusta National history as only the fourth back-to-back champion.
He pulled away with a pair of birdies around Amen Corner, but, as usual, saved a little drama for the end.
In a final round where three players had a two-shot lead, McIlroy seized control for good with a bold shot over Rae”s Creek to seven feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then he blistered a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead.
There were a few dicey moments, including a shot over the par-3 16th green that required him to use the slope to get in close for par, having to get up-and-down for par on the 17th and a wild drive on the 18th that wound up closer to the 10th fairway.
He tapped in for bogey and a one-under 71 for a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler.
A year ago, his playoff victory over Justin Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. With another Green Jacket, McIlroy joined Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only back-to-back winners of the Masters.
“I just can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one Green Jacket, and I get two in a row,” McIlroy said. “I think all of my perseverance at this golf tournament over the years has really started to pay off. It was a tough weekend. I did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday.
“But, I’m just so, so happy to hang in there and get the job done.”
McIlroy stood tall when he tapped in the final putt to finish at 12-under 276. There was no outpouring of relief after going 17 years trying to win the Masters like last year. This was pure joy. And for the first time since 2002, when Woods went back-to-back, it was up to the Augusta National chairman, Fred Ridley, to help him into the Green Jacket.
“It still fits, which is nice,” McIlroy said at the trophy presentation.
US President Donald Trump congratulated McIlroy on social media.
“With each year, Rory is becoming more and more a LEGEND!” Trump wrote. McIlroy’s next tournament is likely to be the Cadillac Championship in two weeks at Trump Doral outside Miami.
It was more heartache for last year’s runner-up Rose, and frustration for the others who had a chance.
Rose had a two-shot lead that evaporated around Amen Corner with two bogeys and a three-putt par. He couldn’t make up enough ground the rest of the way and had to settle for a third close call at the Masters.
Cameron Young lost his two-shot lead much earlier with a long three-putt bogey on the par-3 sixth, before he took bogey on the next hole when he hit a wedge from the fairway into a bunker. One shot behind going to the back nine, Young closed with nine straight pars.
“There is no negative to take away other than, obviously, I would’ve loved a different result,” Young said.”I pretty much had a birdie chance on every hole and didn’t make any. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
As for Scheffler, the world’s No 1 player was in position to shatter the Masters record with the largest 36-hole comeback in history. He was 12 behind going into the weekend. He was two shots behind as he approached the turn, but he ran off 11 straight pars — that wasn’t going to cut it during a final round with accessible pins to create excitement.
Scheffler had to settle for his third runner-up finish in the majors to go along with his four titles. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta.
“I put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said.
Rose, at age 45, trying to become the second-oldest Masters champion behind Nicklaus (46) in 1986, made it feel as though this was going to be his time. He made a most improbable birdie with a shot out of the trees to a foot on the seventh. That was the start of three straight birdies to close out the front nine and give him the lead.
But his approach to the 11th was well to the right and he failed to save par. His tee shot on the 12th was long, and his delicate chip didn’t reach the green, leading to another bogey. And then, his 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th ran eight feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt.
“It was a chance that got away,”Rose said. “I was by no means free and clear, and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position. I was really in control, and the mentality was to run through the finish line, not just try and get it done.
“I was playing great, but momentum just shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”
That’s where McIlroy thrived. No shot at Augusta is more terrifying than the par-3 12th with the deceptive, swirling wind. McIlroy said he thought back to a practice round at his first Masters in 2009, when Tom Watson told him to wait for the right wind and hit.
His three-quarter 9-iron aimed at the middle bunker drifted more to the right than he hoped, but it turned out perfect, seven feet away, closer than anyone all day.
“That was a really good golf shot at the right time,” he said. “Huge shot in the tournament.”
And the on the 13th, where he had put his drives into the trees right of the fairway on the first three days, he came up with one of his best swings of the week, leaving him an 8-iron to the green.
McIlroy, once tormented by his chase for the Green Jacket, is now a two-time winner.
The Northern Irishman, so ecstatic a year ago, asked the media when it was over: “What are we going to talk about next year?”
Now the topic is easy. Nobody has ever won three in a row.
