The Northern Irishman turns into the primary participant to repeat at Augusta Nationwide since Tiger Woods again in 2001-2002.
Revealed On 13 Apr 2026
Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, and now, Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman emerged from a decent pack of contenders to win the ninetieth Masters Match on Sunday, becoming a member of the trio of golf icons as the one gamers in historical past to overcome Augusta Nationwide in back-to-back years.
Beneficial Tales
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McIlroy mentioned earlier this week that profitable one Masters would make it simpler to win a second, and he dug deep into that perception on Sunday to rally from a three-shot deficit on the entrance 9 to put up a one-under-par spherical of 71 for the profitable rating of 12-under 276 – one higher than Scottie Scheffler.
“I can’t imagine that I waited 17 years to get one inexperienced jacket, and I get two in a row,” McIlroy instructed CBS in Butler Cabin. “I feel that every one of my perseverance at this golf match through the years has actually began to repay.”
McIlroy’s sixth profession main additionally tied him with Faldo for essentially the most by a European participant within the trendy period, and they’re tied for Twelfth-most all-time by any participant.
Cameron Younger, Russell Henley, England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose completed one other shot again at 10 beneath.
McIlroy rallies
McIlroy started the ultimate spherical tied for the 54-hole lead at 11 beneath with Younger, who birdied the second gap to achieve 12 beneath and take the outright lead. It appeared that McIlroy’s repeat quest would possibly unravel when he went three over on the 2 par-threes on the entrance 9 to fall to 9 beneath for the match.
Abruptly, McIlroy’s identify was wanting up on the leaderboard at Younger and Rose, who reached 12 beneath with 4 birdies in a five-hole stretch by No 9. Scheffler was additionally making a run a number of holes forward, and Henley reached 10 beneath by eight holes.
That is when McIlroy kicked it again into gear for the primary time since closing with six birdies over his last seven holes on Friday. A birdie on the seventh gap obtained McIlroy again to double digits beneath par, and he pulled inside one shot of the lead with one other on the par-five eighth.
Whereas Scheffler’s rally stalled for an extended stretch with 11 consecutive pars, and Rose and Younger struggled to gap putts on the again 9, McIlroy stored ratcheting up the stress. He birdied the Twelfth and thirteenth holes to go 2 beneath by “Amen Nook” and construct a two-shot lead.
Scheffler stored it fascinating with birdies on numbers 15 and 16 to get to 11 beneath. One other birdie try on 17 stayed on the lip of the cup, and Scheffler parred out to put up a 4-under spherical of 68, with McIlroy on the course with three holes to play.
The 2-shot cushion proved useful for McIlroy when he pushed his drive on the 18th gap nicely proper into the bushes. He was in a position to punch the ball ahead right into a greenside bunker and put it on the placing floor along with his third shot.
From there, McIlroy simply transformed the two-putt bogey, and have become the fourth participant in historical past to efficiently defend on the Masters.
“It’s good to have that two-shot cushion as a substitute of the one [shot] like I had final 12 months,” McIlroy mentioned. “I appeared on the [leader]board after I made the bogey on six, and I went again to 9 beneath at that time. And I mentioned, ‘If I can get to 14 beneath, I feel I’ve obtained a extremely good probability of profitable this match.’
“I didn’t fairly get there, I obtained to 13, however 13 was ok standing on the 18th tee.”
After setting a Masters file with a six-shot lead after 36 holes, McIlroy performed the ultimate 36 holes in even par. That introduced a number of gamers again into the combination, with not less than 4 completely different gamers main in some unspecified time in the future throughout the last spherical.
McIlroy admitted that he stored a detailed eye on the leaderboard after falling again to 9 beneath to know the place he stood within the match.
“It was a troublesome weekend,” he mentioned. “I did the majority of my work on Thursday and Friday, however simply so joyful to hold in there and get the job accomplished.”
