AUGUSTA, Ga. — What a week for Rory McIlroy.
What a week.
He arrived to Augusta National as the defending Masters champion, a year removed from completing the career Grand Slam.
He left on Sunday night a two-time Masters winner after what had to be the most volatile week of emotional swings of his life … right down to the final hole on which he nearly made a colossal mess by sailing his tee shot into the right trees.
McIlroy had the tournament won on Friday night, was leaking more oil than a downed tanker on Saturday and he seized control like the defending champion he was on Sunday.
Finishing on 12-under par, McIlroy won by one shot after his bogey-save on 18, not needing a playoff to win as he did last year over Justin Rose.
McIlroy, of course, made history last year because he completed the Grand Slam. He made history on Sunday, too, because he became just the fourth player in Masters history to defend the title.
Jack Nicklaus did it in 1965-66. Nick Faldo did it in 1989-90. And Tiger Woods did it in 2001-02.
McIlroy staved off a spirited late run by two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler, who birdied two of the final four holes. Scheffler finished 11-under par.
He staved off Cam Young, with whom he shared the lead at the start of the day. Young finished 10-under.
He staved off Rose, who had a two-shot lead at the turn but finished 10-under.
He, too, staved off Russell Henley and Tyrrell Hatton, both of whom also finished 10-under.
On Saturday, after he’d lost his six-shot lead, this is what McIlroy said when asked what he expected of himself on Sunday.
“I’d like to think that I’ll play a little bit freer and I’ll play like I’ve already got a green jacket, which I do,’’ he said.
He did just that.
McIlroy hosted the annual Champions dinner and enjoyed all the baubles given to Masters winners, a dream come true for him.
There was talk before the tournament about how liberated he was after having finally won his Masters. He was as relaxed and engaging in pre-tournament interviews as he’d ever been.
Then he went out in the first two rounds and looked like he was going to boat-race the field, building a six-shot 36-hole lead, a Masters record.
Then came Saturday.
It was a moving day on which every one of the chasers on the leaderboard made a move except McIlroy, who posted a pedestrian 1-over-par 73 to let the world back into the tournament.
Now, his six-shot lead had evaporated, leaving McIlroy and Young the co-leaders entering Sunday’s final round.
On Sunday, McIlroy, not doing anything spectacular for the first couple hours, hung in and hung in … and then he pounced at Amen Corner, the place where he’d become unglued on Friday with a water-ball double bogey on 11 and a bogey on 12.
McIlroy hit a brave tee shot over the front greenside bunker on 12 and birdied it to take a two-shot lead over Young, Hatton, Rose and Russell Henley.
His tee shot on 12 was the closest to the hole of any player all day. His birdie was only the third made on the hole all day.
Then, on the par-5 13th hole, the place where McIlroy nearly threw last year’s tournament away when he flared a weak wedge shot into Rae’s Creek, he essentially put the tournament away.
He piped a 350-yard drive (longest of the day) down the right side of the fairway, leaving himself 8-iron for his second shot. He got up-and-down from the back of the green for birdie to get to 13-under.
That left him with a three-shot lead over Scheffler, Young, Hatton, Rose and Henley with five holes to play.
It, too, left McIlroy five shots better around Amen Corner than he was on Saturday.
Scheffler, the world No. 1, would not go away, carding birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to get to 11-under par, two shots behind McIlroy.
Scheffler, who won in 2022 and 2024, got off to a strong start with birdies on Nos. 1 and 3 and then he seemed to stall until the birdies on 15 and 16.
He simply could not reach down and find the extra gear, something he addressed on Saturday, when he said, “That’s what great players and great competitors do is they’re able to rise to the occasion.’’
But Scheffler failed to birdie 17 and came up short with his approach on 18 and settled for par to finish 11-under.
Still, he played the final two rounds bogey free, going 11-under par over the weekend after his slow start Thursday and Friday.
