AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods and now Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman emerged from a tight pack of contenders to win the 90th Masters Tournament on Sunday, joining the trio of golf icons as the only players in history to conquer Augusta National in back-to-back years.
McIlroy said earlier this week that winning one Masters would make it easier to win a second, and he dug deep into that belief on Sunday to rally from a two-shot deficit to post a 1-under-par round of 71 for the winning score of 12-under 276 — one better than Scottie Scheffler.
Cameron Young, Russell Henley and England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose finished another shot back at 10 under.
McIlroy began the final round tied for the 54-hole lead at 11 under with Young, who birdied the second hole to reach 12 under and take the outright lead. It appeared McIlroy’s repeat quest might unravel when he went 3 over on the two par-3s on the front nine to fall to 9 under for the tournament.
Suddenly, McIlroy’s name was looking up on the leaderboard at Young and Rose, who reached 12 under with four birdies in a five-hole stretch through No. 9. Scheffler was also making a run several holes ahead, and Henley reached 10 under through eight holes.
That’s when McIlroy kicked it back into gear for the first time since closing with six birdies over his final seven holes on Friday. A birdie on the seventh hole got McIlroy back to double digits under par, and he pulled within one shot of the lead with another on the par-5 eighth.
While Scheffler’s rally stalled for a long stretch with 11 consecutive pars and Rose and Young struggled to hole putts on the back nine, McIlroy kept ratcheting up the pressure. He birdied the 12th and 13th holes to go 2 under through “Amen Corner” and build a two-shot lead.
Scheffler kept it interesting with birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to get to 11 under. Another birdie attempt on 17 stayed on the lip of the cup, and Scheffler parred out to post a 4-under round of 68 with McIlroy on the course with three holes to play.
The two-shot cushion proved helpful for McIlroy when he pushed his drive on the 18th hole well right into the trees. He was able to punch the ball forward into a greenside bunker and put it on the green with his third shot.
From there, McIlroy easily converted the two-putt bogey and became the fourth player in history to successfully defend at the Masters.
