Rory McIlroy became the fourth player to ever win back-to-back Masters, but he did not make it easy.
The Northern Irishman held the biggest-ever 36-hole lead, leading by six strokes going into the weekend. But by the end of his round on Saturday, he was tied with Cameron Young for the lead.
But after a shaky start, McIlroy rebuilt his advantage on the second nine and held on despite some nervy moments down the stretch. He looked inevitable to win it on Friday night, and while he travelled down a rocky road to get there, eventually McIlroy got the job done.
And afterward, he revealed that he had to tell his competitors, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton, that the tournament wasn't over yet, going into the weekend.
Photo by Joel Marklund/Augusta National/Getty Images
McIlroy birdied six of the last seven holes on Friday in a stretch that eventually won him The Masters. That left his competitors, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton, in the dust after they made a run in their second round.
Speaking after his second Masters win, he said, "Yeah, I don't make it easy. I used to make it easy back in my early 20s when I was winning these things by eight shots.
"No, it's just it's hard. It's hard to win golf tournaments. Yeah, especially around here. You've had maybe a couple of runaway winners over the years, but it always seems to be a very tight finish at this golf course. I think it's the nature of the golf course, it's the nature of what's at stake.
"Yeah, like I walked into the dining in the locker room yesterday, and I sat with Shane and Tyrrell, and they were both saying, geez, like when we finished, we were like one or two behind, and then all of a sudden we're seven behind.
"I said, 'boys, there's a long way to go. There's a lot of — a lot can happen in a golf tournament over 36 holes or even 18 holes.'
"I certainly didn't think I was home and dry after Friday night, and I knew I still needed work to do. But I still thought I would need to shoot under-par to get the job done, but thankfully I did enough."
It was far from smooth sailing for McIlroy during his final round, as Justin Rose broke out to a two-shot lead and McIlroy fell to two-over for the day.
He was asked if he ever felt like the tournament was getting away from him, and he responded,"I don't know if it ever felt that way. I think, if I hadn't birdied the 7th and 8th holes, that I would have started to have to push a little bit.
"But I think the birdies on 7 and 8, Justin bogeying 11 and 12, I feel like — and then me birdieing 12, I never felt like I was out of it. I never felt like I had to press at all.
"I knew that there was some important shots coming up, but I really just felt, okay, if I just don't make any bogeys, if I just sort of limit the mistakes over these next few holes, knowing with how the back nine of the Masters goes and people are inevitably going to make a couple of mistakes here and there, I felt like if I was the one not to make the mistake, then I would be in a good spot."
The experience from last year clearly settled McIlroy into the middle of his round, and he played freely down the stretch to win The Masters once again.
