McIlroy Claims Back-to-Back Masters, Joins Nicklaus and Woods
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy joined the most familiar names in golf Sunday at the Masters, pulling away with a pair of birdies around Amen Corner and surviving the kind of late-round chaos Augusta National always seems to save for the finish.
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 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then, he crushed a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th, which set up another birdie and moved him three shots ahead. There was plenty that could have gone sideways—especially when he had to use the slope to get close for par from off the par-3 16th green, scramble for par on the 17th, and then land a wild drive on the 18th that ended up closer to the 10th fairway than you’d like.
Still, he tapped in for bogey and posted a 1-under 71 for a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler. When it was over, the moment didn’t feel like relief so much as payoff. For a second straight year, McIlroy lifted the green jacket—again—and for the first time since 2002, it was back-to-back champion territory. The walk to the trophy felt like it carried that familiar Augusta hush, even as the clubhouse kept buzzing—somebody near the rail had coffee breath and excitement, and there was a faint clink of plastic cups from the stands.
A year ago, his playoff win over Justin Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. With this Masters win, he added his name to the short list of repeat champions: Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus are the others who’ve managed it. “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 just so, so happy to hang in there and get the job done.”
At the trophy presentation, he also joked that the jacket still fit. “It still fits, which is nice,” McIlroy said. It’s hard not to see how Augusta changes you after you’ve waited that long. Last year, he went through the full grind—17 years of chasing the green jacket—and this time he didn’t have that same ache. This was pure joy, and apparently even the chairman had a job to do again: for the first time since 2002, it was up to Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley to help him into the jacket.
Rose’s weekend ended with more heartache. He started Sunday with a two-shot lead that evaporated around Amen Corner, where two bogeys and a three-putt par turned the story. He couldn’t make enough ground after that and had to settle for a third close call at the Masters. Cameron Young’s lead didn’t last either—he lost momentum early with a long three-putt bogey on the par-3 sixth and a bogey on the next hole, when he hit wedge from the fairway into a bunker. Young finished with nine straight pars, but he still couldn’t convert the birdie chances that seemed to keep showing up.
Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player, had a chance to make history and also to shatter the Masters record for the largest 36-hole comeback. He was 12 behind going into the weekend, two shots behind at the turn, and he ran off 11 straight pars—an impressive streak, but not quite enough when the pins were accessible and the finish demanded more. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta. Afterward, he said he “put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance.”
There was a particular story in Rose’s attempt to become the second-oldest Masters champion behind Jack Nicklaus (46) in 1986. Rose made an improbable birdie out of the trees to a foot on the seventh, and it kicked off three straight birdies to finish the front nine and give him the lead. But the approach to the 11th went well to the right, he couldn’t save par, and then the tee shot on the 12th was long before his chip didn’t reach the green—bogey again. On the par-5 13th, his 30-foot eagle putt raced past the hole by 8 feet and he missed the birdie putt. “Chance that got away,” Rose said, adding that he was right in position and feeling in control, then the mentality shifted—“momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”
That’s where McIlroy thrived. The par-3 12th—swirling wind, deceptive look—always tests anyone. McIlroy said he remembered a practice round at his first Masters in 2009 when Tom Watson told him to wait for the right wind and hit. It played out for him: his three-quarter 9-iron drifted right of what he imagined, but it ended up perfect, 7 feet away, closer than anyone all day. Then on 13, after drives into the trees right of the fairway the first three days, he found one of his best swings of the week and set up an 8-iron into the green.
He ends it like a man who knows this place better now. His love for the Masters has only deepened, and his sixth major puts him alongside Faldo. One more and he can tie Harry Vardon for the most majors by a European. Last year, so ecstatic he asked the media when it would be over, “What are we going to talk about next year?” Now, there’s an obvious answer. No one has ever won three in a row—at least not yet. And somehow, that’s the thought that lingers as the green jacket sits there, again, perfectly familiar.
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