Stressful, successful sequel: Rory McIlroy goes back-to-back at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy is the Masters champion again, this time without falling to his knees on the 18th green and sobbing over finally achieving his lifelong dream. That didn't make Sunday at Augusta National any easier. McIlroy coughed up a six-shot lead in the third round. He fell two shots behind Cameron Young and Justin Rose in an electric final round. Then he delivered two big birdies around Amen Corner to join more elite company. A year ago, his playoff victory over 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 repeat winners of the Masters. "I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, and then this year I realized it's just really difficult to win the Masters," McIlroy said after holding on for a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler. "Just incredible." As usual, he kept everyone on edge until the very end. His wedge barely cleared the false front of the par-5 15th, a shot that could have been disastrous. His putt from behind the 16th green made a sharp turn down the slope to inches away save par. He saved par with a tough chip on the 17th. Staked to a two-shot lead, his tee shot on the 18th wound up closer to the 10th fairway. "I'd say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was, that was the moment of greatest stress," McIlroy said. He drilled 8-iron around the trees into a bunker, blasted out to 12 feet and took two putts for bogey and a 1-under 71. He thrust both arms in the air and made good on a promise. "My parting message last year was I can't wait to come back and put the jacket on myself," McIlroy said at the trophy presentation. "I wasn't quite correct." For the first time since Woods won back-to-back in 2002, it was left to the Augusta National chairman — Hootie Johnson for Woods, Fred Ridley for McIlroy — to do the honors. "It still fits," McIlroy said. Better than ever. He now has six majors, tied with Faldo, Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson, and that sense of freedom he brought back to Augusta National as a champion carried him to the finish line. 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 blistered a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th — he had been in the trees the previous three rounds — that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead. He finished at 12-under 276. President Donald Trump congratulated McIlroy on social media as he flew back to Washington from Florida. "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 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 had to settle for a third close call at the Masters. Young lost his two-shot lead much earlier with a long three-putt bogey on the par-3 sixth and taking bogey on the next hole when he hit 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, and 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 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 Jack Nicklaus (46) in 1986, 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 his 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th ran 8 feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt. "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 playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner." That's where McIlroy thrived. No shot at Augusta is more terrifying that 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 that he imagined, but it turned out perfect, closer than anyone all day. "That was a really good golf shot at the right time," he said. "Huge shot in the tournament." Once tormented by his chase for the green jacket, McIlroy is now a two-time winner whose love for the Masters only deepens. He was so ecstatic a year ago that he asked the media when it was over, "What are we going to talk about next year?" Now the topic is easy. No one has ever won three in a row.