RORY MCILROY FOURTH PLAYER TO WIN CONSECUTIVE MASTERS

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 on the front nine to post a 1-under-par round of 71 for the winning score of 12-under 276 — one better than Scottie Scheffler.

“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the (career) grand slam, and then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters,” McIlroy said with a laugh. “I tried to convince myself it was both.”

McIlroy’s sixth career major also tied Faldo for the most by a European in the modern era and are tied for 12th-most all-time by any player.

Cameron Young, Russell Henley and England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose finished at 10 under to tie for third place. For Henley, his best career finish in a major came on his 37th birthday.

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.

McIlroy’s birdie on the 12th was one of only four all day to the tough traditional Sunday pin placement on the iconic par-3 that played to an average of 3.26 shots in the final round.

“Historically, I think I’ve played the 12th hole pretty well,” he said. “It’s not a hole that you’re trying to birdie. It was a bonus that I did birdie it.”

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 putting surface 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.

“I thought, if I could get to 14-under, I thought that everyone else would struggle to get to that score,” he said. “So, that was the number I had in my head. I got to 13 on the last and had that two-shot cushion.”

After setting a Masters record with a six-shot lead after 36 holes, McIlroy played the final 36 holes in even par. That brought a host of players back into the mix, with at least four different players leading at some point during the final round.

McIlroy admitted he kept a close eye on the leaderboard after falling back to 9 under to know where he stood in the tournament.

“I obviously did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday. I don’t think I would have believed anyone if they said to me all you have to do is shoot even-par for the weekend and you’ll win,” he said. “I definitely thought I was going to need to go out there and at least shoot a couple of under-par scores.”

Scheffler became the first player since at least 1942 to go bogey-free over the weekend at the Masters, according to CBS, but ultimately came one shot short of forcing a playoff that would have given him a chance at a third green jacket. Scheffler was 12 shots off the lead after posting his second-worst score at August National with a 74 on Friday before posting 65-68 over the weekend.

“Overall, I’m not going to hold too many regrets, but yeah, definitely a bit disappointed now,” Scheffler said when asked if there was a specific shot from Sunday he wishes he had back. “But I started the weekend 12 shots back and ended up only one shot back. If I am going to blame anything, I should probably blame the first two rounds before I start looking at stuff from the last couple.”

With six majors now on his resume, McIlroy said it is “cool” to be in the conversation as to who the best European golfer of all time is. And while he still declined to provide specifics, he insists the motivation is strong to continue to add on to his legacy.

“I said at the start of the weekend here I felt like the grand slam was the destination, and I realized it wasn’t. I’m on this journey to — I don’t know, I just won my sixth major, and I feel like I’m in a really good spot with my game and my body,” McIlroy said.

“I don’t want to put a number on it, but I feel like this win is just — I don’t want to say a stop on the journey, but yeah, it’s just a part of the journey. I still have things I want to achieve, but I still want to enjoy it as well.

“I’ve waited so long to win the Masters, and all of a sudden I win two in a row. So I still want to enjoy it. I’ve got a couple of weeks off before I go back to play competitive golf, but I don’t think I’ll go through that lull of motivation or the sort of things that I was feeling last year post winning this tournament.”

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MASTERS MUSINGS: 5 TAKEAWAYS FROM 2026 AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL

AUGUSTA, Ga. — After spending seven days roaming virtually every yard of Augusta National Golf Club, from the historic clubhouse to hours at “Amen Corner” on the other side of the expansive property, here are five takeaways from a memorable 2026 Masters Tournament.

SCHEFFLER’S FLOCK GROWING

Scottie Scheffler created an enormous buzz around Augusta National on Sunday by coming out with two birdies through his first three holes to get within two of the lead early in his round. When he pumped his fist with a clutch par save on the par-3 sixth hole, it appeared a dramatic run by the world’s No. 1-ranked player might be unfolding.

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That charge stalled for a few hours with 11 consecutive pars, but it didn’t stop the throngs of Scheffler fans from following him and providing the loudest roars on the course. He rewarded their faith with another spark by rolling in a lengthy putt for his first birdie of the week on the par-5 15th hole, and followed it with another on No. 16. Ultimately, Scheffler’s rally fell a shot short, but he has built a tremendous following.

Scheffler doesn’t have Arnie’s Army, and it wasn’t close to the mass of humanity that followed Tiger Woods and climbed trees to get a glimpse of him in his prime. But it was abundantly clear that he was the people’s choice on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose had strong followings as well, and Cameron Young gained some support as the top American to begin the day, but none of them drew the dedicated fan pack that Scheffler enjoyed.

It was fun to see Scheffler and playing partner Haotong Li sharing a laugh walking off the 10th tee, with the Chinese star looking at Scheffler and saying, “Dude! Dude!,” followed by a comment about a fan interaction over a golf glove.

KNAPP TIME?

Jake Knapp’s yardage book reads “Knapptime,” and the 31-year-old might be on the precipice of becoming a breakout star on the PGA Tour. Known for his streaky ability to go really low, including a 59 in the first round of last year’s Cognizant Classic and a course-record 61 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Knapp has often struggled to put four solid rounds together.

He was one of the last players to qualify for this year’s Masters when he slipped into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking on the final cutoff week last month. Playing in only his second career Masters, Knapp closed with a 70 on Sunday to snag an 11th-place finish.

Not only does that stamp Knapp’s ticket back to Augusta National next year, but the former bouncer is starting to build a following with his smooth swing and Southern California swagger. Knapp also earned praise from someone who knows a thing or two about Augusta National.

“I think Jake Knapp can win here. I really do,” said Fred Couples, the 1992 champion who played his practice rounds with Knapp this week.

AN AUGUSTA LIKE NO OTHER?

Determining how Augusta National will play is always a challenging task. This year provided an extremely rare mix of zero rain, very little wind and warm temperatures. The course had more brown spots than normal, and the famous camera-friendly azaleas weren’t in bloom.

After the players struggled to find birdie opportunities on Thursday afternoon, Ireland’s Shane Lowry speculated that it might be the most difficult Masters we have seen in a while considering the forecast called for even warmer temperatures. But those conditions never materialized, despite the browned-out spots and firm greens.

The fairways were hard and rolled out further than normal, leaving players with shorter shots into the green and better opportunities to spin the ball. After the course yielded a scoring average of 72.85 on Friday, the 70.63 average on Saturday was a record low for the third round of the Masters.

Sunday proved to be slightly more difficult as one would expect, but the greens remained receptive for the most part. The final round scoring average was only a tick over par at 72.09.

“Have you ever seen looking down the property how yellow the patron areas and how brown and purple parts of the greens and fairways are?” Spain’s Jon Rahm asked rhetorically. “It will be a long time until we see it like this. Definitely have some things in mind for future editions where it gets to this level.”

DOES RORY’S SUCCESS POSE A PROBLEM?

McIlroy’s quest for an historic Masters repeat was the No. 1 story all week, and deservedly so. He said that he didn’t begin 2026 with a singular drive to win consecutive Masters and that he remains motivated to accomplish new goals in his career.

When pressed on what those are, McIlroy declined to provide specifics other than to say the goalposts continue to “keep nudging a little bit further and further out of reach.”

But listening to McIlroy talk throughout the week, I’d be concerned if I were PGA Tour commissioner Brian Rolapp.

In discussing his preparation for the Masters, McIlroy said that he has been practicing for weeks at Augusta National. There were days he would drop his daughter, Poppy, at school, fly up to Augusta for a practice round and be home in time for dinner.

By having a singular focus on his Augusta National prep, McIlroy did not tee it up on the PGA Tour between The Players Championship and the Masters. He went so far as to say this week, “I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event. I’d rather come up here.”

That could not have sat well at PGA Tour headquarters, or with sponsors at the Valspar Championship, the Texas Children’s Houston Open or the Valero Texas Open.

In his post-round press conference, McIlroy did provide a bit of clarity, adding that getting to a major a week early was advice he once received from none other than Jack Nicklaus. And that he doesn’t plan on taking three weeks off from competition before every major.

Of course, McIlroy has earned the right to play where and when he chooses. But with his global stature in the game and the PGA Tour Enterprises being a for-profit business, it doesn’t help matters when McIlroy skips some marquee events and shares his outright distaste for other second-tier tournaments struggling to stay relevant in the current landscape.

MASTERS’ MASTERY

The Augusta National Golf Club and city of Augusta have developed a secret sauce that makes the Masters a truly unique experience for everyone involved.

It begins with the city’s pre-planning that largely alleviates traffic jams around the golf course. There are rarely backups, parking is free and fans are stress-free entering the course. Once they get inside the gates, a fleet of volunteers make sure foot traffic continues to move throughout the course with relative ease.

No one knows exactly how many tickets the Masters distributes, but even with the leaders on the back nine on Sunday it was never impossible to find a direct view of any player or hole of interest.

Scheffler said this week that he finds the entire Masters experience “enjoyable,” and Couples called Augusta National “the greatest walk you could ever have.”

When stepping on the AGNC property, it feels like hallowed grounds chock full of history. And the club clearly spares no expense to make sure everyone’s experience inside its gates is enjoyable.

It probably helps to have the resources of a massive store that some in the press have heard generates in the neighborhood of $1 million … per hour.

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