Rory Does It Again

Rich breaks down Rory McIlroy's back-to-back Masters, a weekend that started with a record-tying lead, shed most of it on moving day, turned into a Sunday dogfight, and ended with McIlroy tapping in for the green jacket.

Last year's win gave McIlroy the career grand slam. This year's was supposed to be the coronation. After Friday he held the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history. Then Saturday happened. Scottie Scheffler shot a 65 from 12 shots back. Cameron Young shot a 65. McIlroy went one over. The lead shrank to the point where he walked into Sunday with a manageable cushion and watched it evaporate within four holes. Three-jacked number four. Bogeys on 11 and 12.

Justin Rose filled the void early. Young's putter finally went cold, 11 birdies through three rounds, nine straight pars to open Sunday. Scheffler went on a par-machine run of his own before birdieing 15 and 16. The 16 shot was the one Rich flagged, Scheffler put it to the right of the flag about 20 feet and let it roll down the slope. His 17 birdie attempt lipped out.

McIlroy reached 15, Firethorn on the scorecard, with a three-shot lead. He laid up. His 100-yard approach looked like it was heading for the water. He bent down and spoke to the ball. It landed a foot beyond the creek and stuck instead of spinning back. On 16 he airmailed the green to the Tiger-chip spot from 2005, then got it inside a foot. On 18 he hooked his drive into the pine straw. Rich pauses on the photo of McIlroy's face in that moment, the exact look, Rich says, he has about 90% of the time he plays golf.

McIlroy hooked his next shot around the tree to the front of the green, two-putted, and joined Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Nick Faldo as the only back-to-back Masters winners. He closes what Rich calls probably the longest stretch ever between first and second major wins, 16 years between first major and this week.

McIlroy's own words land the piece. Going 2024 defensive on 13 cost him last year. This year he stayed aggressive, hit the eight-iron in, made the eight-foot birdie putt.

Scheffler finished the weekend bogey-free, the first Masters player to do that since Byron Nelson in 1942. Rich and the crew flag the obvious question: can Scheffler win three in a row next year. It's not fair to ask. They ask anyway.