It was nearly definitely not the way in which he drew it up, and he positively added some stress and drama for himself, however Rory McIlroy joined considered one of golf’s most unique golf equipment on Sunday along with his second consecutive Masters championship.
McIlroy overcame some rocky moments all week, together with a doubtlessly disastrous drive off the 18th tee, to complete the day with a 71 and end the match 12-under, edging out world No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler by only one stroke.
Rory McIlroy joins uncommon checklist of back-to-back Masters
The checklist of two-time Masters winners is an extremely quick checklist, now consisting of simply 19 golfers.
The checklist of golfers to win it in consecutive years is even shorter, and it now consists of solely McIlroy (2025 and 2026), Jack Nicklaus (1965 and 1966), Nick Faldo (1989 and 1990) and Tiger Woods (2001 and 2002).
McIlroy is the primary to do it in additional than 20 years.
It provides to his already spectacular resume that now contains six main championships, together with two every on the Masters and PGA Championship.
General, it was a curler coaster of every week for him. He gave the impression to be in full management of the match by means of the primary 36 holes, opening up a six-stroke lead going into Saturday. Traditionally, that kind of lead has been insurmountable at Augusta. However due to a 73 on Saturday, his lead fully evaporated and despatched him into Sunday’s ultimate spherical tied for the highest spot.
One of many largest points for him all weekend got here on his drives, the place he struggled to hit the golf green and constantly discovered himself within the tough. He went into Sunday having hit the fewest fairways of any leader through the first 54 holes.
That pattern appeared prefer it might have been an issue for him on the 18th gap, the place he entered with a two-stroke lead. That was the place he shanked his tee shot deep into the woods and left himself in a reasonably undesirable place with the championship on the road.
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