By Frank Pingue
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 12 (Reuters) – Defending champion Rory McIlroy won the Masters by one shot over Scottie Scheffler on Sunday to collect his sixth major and become the fourth repeat winner at Augusta National and first since Tiger Woods in 2002.
World number two McIlroy, who let a six-shot advantage slip on Saturday and started the final round level with playing partner Cameron Young and one ahead of Sam Burns, closed with a one-under-par 71 to finish the week on 12 under.
With victory secured, McIlroy looked to the blue Georgia skies and screamed before hugging his caddie Harry Diamond.
Scheffler, a four-time major champion who has won two of the last four Masters and started the day four shots back, nearly got to within one of McIlroy late on but his bid for a third consecutive birdie fell short when his putt at the 17th stopped just beside the hole.
The world number one carded a 68 that left him alone in second.
LIV Golf’s Tyrrell Hatton (66), birthday boy Russell Henley (68), 2025 Masters runner-up Justin Rose (70) and Young (73) finished in a share of third place.
Rose, who left the Masters empty-handed a year ago after losing to McIlroy in a playoff for his third runner-up finish, was playing in the third-to-last group and had a one-shot lead through 10 holes before watching it disappear after a bogey-bogey start to Amen Corner.
McIlroy, now up by one, sensed the opportunity and put his foot on the gas as he stuffed his tee shot at the par-three 12th to seven feet for a birdie moments before Rose three-putted from 30 feet at the 13th where he had an eagle look.
From there, McIlroy mostly spared himself the topsy-turvy finish he had to endure in the final round last year as he rolled in an 11-foot birdie to go three clear moments after Scheffler got to within two after a birdie on the 15th.
With victory in sight, McIlroy caught a break at the par-five 15th where his third shot into the green was just enough to avoid the water guarding the front of the putting surface, delivered a brilliant and pressure-packed up-and-down from behind the green at the par-three 16th and then bogeyed the last after an errant tee shot and leaving his second shot in a bunker.
McIlroy struggled with his putting early on and fell two shots behind Young after a costly double bogey at the par-three fourth, where he missed the green off the tee and then three-putted from nine feet.
He made bogey two holes later after missing another par-three green but made two birdies before the turn to stay firmly in the mix going into the second nine where the tournament hung in the balance.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Augusta, Georgia, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
Comments