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A disappointed but stoic Justin Rose speaks to Sky Sports. “I was right there … two untimely bogeys at 11 and 12 … played well … gave myself every opportunity … Amen Corner got me this time … people have followed my close calls … they were really good to me … I thank everyone for their support … I’ll come back next year and give everything … I’ll be excited to do it.”
ShareThe Butler CabinAs Rory was the defending champion, there’s no player to drape the Green Jacket over his shoulders. So that task will fall to Fred Ridley, the chairperson of Augusta National Golf Club. What makes this win so special, Ridley asks McIlroy:
double quotation markI can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one Green Jacket and now I get two in a row … all of my perseverance has really started to pay off … it was a tough weekend … I did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday … so happy to hang in there and get the job done … it felt pretty similar to last year … I made a double bogey at 4 … flawless golf after that … it’s nice to have that two-shot cushion at 18 … I looked at the board after the bogey on 6 … if I can get to -14 I’ve got a really good chance … I didn’t quite get there but -13 was good enough standing on the 18th tee … the tee shot on 12 [was the most important shot] … the tee shot on 13 [set up going for the green in two] … birdie there following birdie on 12 was massive … it’s the second major win my mum’s been at … she was at Hoylake in 2014 … I’m so glad they got to experience this … we’re going to have a really good time tonight … some good play by me and fortunate the guys didn’t really come at me this year!
ShareSo Rory joins Jack, Sir Nick and Tiger in the elite club of players to win consecutive Masters. He becomes the 15th man to win six or more majors, tying Faldo’s second-place record as a European winner (behind Harry Vardon who had seven). Do we think he’ll stop here? He’s not going to want to stop here, is he.
18: Jack Nicklaus
15: Tiger Woods
11: Walter Hagen
9: Ben Hogan, Gary Player
8: Tom Watson
7: Harry Vardon, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer
6: Rory McIlroy, Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson
For the record, that was a bogey up the last. A round of 71. It looked like it was all getting away from him after double bogey at 4, three-putting from close range, and bogey at 6. He seemed bereft of ideas, unsure how to turn the tide, struggling as he did all day yesterday. But then he did what the true champions do: he dug deep for a birdie-birdie blast at 7 and 8, shifting the momentum back in his direction, and never let up from there. Even if he did cause a few hearts to flutter with his approach that only just got over the water at 15, the putt from the swale at 16, the chip up the bank at 17, and then the drive into the trees on 18. Throw in his shenanigans in the pines on 13 yesterday, an ersatz reworking of Jordan Spieth at Birkdale that stemmed some bleeding and inspired a birdie bounce-back, and he’s been made to work for this title. Hey, he’s made all of us work while watching him do it! And yes, really, we surely wouldn’t have him any other way. It’s all part of the charm.
ShareIt was never going to be quite as emotional as last year … and yet it’s not far off. The tears aren’t far from the surface as he hugs every member of his family, all the generations, then the nearest Green Jacket. The entire gallery en fete! He made it tough for himself today – oh, and yesterday - but he got there in the end. Would we have him any other way? He becomes only the fourth player to retain his Masters title, after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. Oh, and it’s major number six, for those counting!
ShareRory McIlroy wins the 2026 Masters!Rory taps in, and it’s two in a row! He tilts his head back and screams in delight! The crowd chant his name as he raises both arms in triumph!
-12: McIlroy
-11: Scheffler
McIlroy celebrates on the green on the 18th hole. Photograph: Kylie Cooper/Reuters
McIlroy enjoys making it back to back wins. Photograph: Brian Snyder/ReutersShareUpdated at 00.59 CEST
Cameron Young rolls in his putt. A disappointing final round of 73 for the Players champion, who led for a while on Masters Sunday, but at least the par gives him a share of third. He finishes the week at -10.
Share… and he very nearly holes it! The ball slides an inch wide right of the cup. He marks, waiting for his moment of glory. He allows himself a smile. After all that drama, that inevitable Rory drama, he’s made it!
McIlroy reacts as he realises he’s about to win. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 00.55 CEST
Cameron Young’s second ends up in the swale to the left of the green. He bundles a chip up to 12 feet. That putt for a share of third. Over to Rory, who once again isn’t hanging around. He takes a read of his 12-footer …
Share… thumps out to 15 feet. He’ll have two putts from there for the Masters. Nothing certain. But he’d have taken this outcome while watching his tee shot carve away into trouble.
ShareRory finishes his route planning. It’s time to act. He whips over the trees … but where’s the ball?! The cameras haven’t found it yet. Ah, after a fashion, it’s sourced in the bunker front-left of the green. It’s half-plugged. Rory doesn’t fancy hanging about. He prowls around again, sizing everything up, before clambering into the green, and …
McIlroy hits his approach from the pine straw on the 18th hole. Photograph: Mike Segar/ReutersShareUpdated at 00.51 CEST
Cameron Young’s tee shot toys with the trees down the left, but stops near the bunkers. Meanwhile up on the green, Sam Burns pars for a final round of 73; he’s -9. Shane Lowry bogeys for an 80 to end the week at -1. And back down the hole, Rory prowls around the trees trying to work out a route to the green. He puffs out his cheeks again and mutters an eff-me under his breath. He can’t believe he’s put himself through the ringer like this.
ShareOut comes the big stick. Rory takes a gulp, tees up his ball, and … sends a wild slice into the bushes and trees down the right. Oh my. His ball’s ended up sitting cleanly on pine straw, but there’s not an obvious route towards the green. Welcome to the world premiere of He Was Never Going To Do It The Easy Way II.
ShareUpdated at 00.42 CEST
Justin Rose’s second into 18 falls off the false front. He chips up to six feet. In goes the putt. Par for a 70, and he’ll finish the week at -10. Still no Green Jacket for Rose, and he won’t be runner-up this year either. The best he can do is a tie for third. Meanwhile over on 17, Rory McIlroy tidies up, and he’ll have a two-shot lead coming up the last. That driver had better behave.
-13: McIlroy (17)
-11: Scheffler (F)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (F), Rose (F), Young (17)
Just as he did on Friday afternoon, Rory McIlroy pushes his approach at 17 to the right of the green and down the slope. He chipped in from here then … and he nearly does the same thing again. On Friday it was a scamper across the green; this one, with the flag a lot closer, was bumped into the bank and released to a couple of feet. He should save his par from a couple of feet … but then this is Masters Sunday, so let’s not assume anything.
ShareUp on the 17th green, Shane Lowry taps in for par. We’ve neither seen nor heard from the 2019 Open champion for hours, and that’s because his bid was pretty much kaput when he battered his ball into the face of a fairway bunker on 5. Since then, he’s carded a couple of double bogeys, a couple of bogeys, and a couple of birdies. He’s seven over for his round and away down the standings at -2. A day to forget. Bogey for his playing partner Sam Burns, whose slim hopes are now over at -9.
Share… and in the meantime, Justin Rose chips up to three feet from the front of 17 … then misses the tiddler for par. It looks like yet more heartbreak for the three-time Masters runner-up. McIlroy then batters a fairway-splitter down 17, while Rose finds the second cut to the left of 18. If this was any old event on Tour, you’d call the result. It’s not, though, is it?
-13: McIlroy (16)
-11: Scheffler (F)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (F), Rose (17), Burns (16), Young (16)
The pressure’s on Rory McIlroy. He’s in the swale behind the 16th green, 45 feet away. But there’s almost 30 feet of left-to-right break! He sends his putt almost at a right-angle away from the hole, up the slope, the ball then u-turning and rolling serenely, elegantly, to cup-side. In your life have you ever seen a putt like that?! He taps in for par, and that’s a huge save in the circumstances. Cameron Young’s birdie effort horseshoes out, and his face crumples in the manner of a man who knows his race is almost certainly run.
McIlroy walks on the 16th green. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 00.29 CEST
Scheffler signs for 68Scottie Scheffler lobs up from the front of 18 to three feet. He taps in to become the first player since 1942 to play the entire weekend without dropping a single shot. It’s a 68 and he’s the new clubhouse leader at -11!
Scottie Scheffler walks off the 18th green after finishing the final day. Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/ShutterstockShareUpdated at 00.43 CEST
… and right on cue, Rory air-mails his tee shot over the green at 16! He’s in the swale at the back. Plenty of work to be done from there. Cameron Young meanwhile lands in the centre of the green, the slope taking his ball down to 15 feet. It’s far from done and dusted.
ShareRory McIlroy rolls an almost perfectly weighted putt up the green to tap-in distance. Par, and an enormous banana skin avoided. Cameron Young can’t get up and down from the back of 15, and he really needed that to apply some heat on the leader. See also Scottie Scheffler, whose approach at 18 falls off the false front … and Justin Rose, who makes a similar error at 17. But there’s one last shy at glory from Sam Burns, who has followed up birdies at 13 and 14 with an outrageous 60-foot right-to-left swingers on 16! He’s -10. Too late? Probably. But again, if Rory stumbles …
-13: McIlroy (15)
-11: Scheffler (11), Rose (16)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (F), Burns (16), Young (15)
Scottie Scheffler splits the 18th fairway. Justin Rose slices his drive at 17 into the trees down the right … but the ball comes clanking back off a tree and into the fairway! And on 15, Cameron Young sends his second from the middle of the fairway over the back of the green, but not too far down the bank. Then Rory, forced to punch out from the pines, wedges into the green … but only just gets over the water! Audible gasps as the ball arcs over the water … descending too early maybe?! … no, it keeps going and holds the green! But that was too close for comfort. McIlroy takes a huge lug of air. A puff of relief. So close to disaster. But now he’s got two putts for par from 40 feet. Not ideal, but it could have been so much worse.
McIlroy hits his approach on the 15th hole. Photograph: Mike Segar/ReutersShareUpdated at 00.15 CEST
Justin Rose is left with a tricky downhill birdie putt on 16. A big left-to-right swing as well. He judges it almost to perfection, but the 27-footer stops one short. And in other Almost Perfect news, Scottie Scheffler’s straight downhill birdie effort on 17 somehow stays up on the left. One dimple to the side, and it would have been three birdies on the bounce. But he, like Rose, remains at -11. That might prove costly. Such a thin line between success and failure. They may now be reliant on Rory stumbling over the closing stretch. Which, well, y’know. We all remember last year. Anything could happen.
ShareScottie Scheffler, his tail up, sends his drive down the middle of 17. Then his second into the green. He’ll have an 18-footer for birdie. Back on 16, Justin Rose sends an adrenaline-fuelled iron over the flag, only just holding the green. And even further back, on 15, Cameron Young splits the fairway but Rory McIlroy deposits his tee shot in the trees on the right. Good luck predicting this, because Scheffler’s late arrival on the scene has shaken everything up.
ShareRory McIlroy’s uphill putt has a big left-to-right swing. He reads it perfectly, but doesn’t judge the distance so well. Well enough for a tap-in par, but that’s a shame for the leader. Then Cameron Young does the opposite thing: a perfect read that’s overhit. He leaves himself a tricky four-footer coming back, but in it goes for his par. Meanwhile over on 15, Justin Rose isn’t done yet either. He carves his approach miles wide right of the green. Opting to putt instead of chipping, he rolls through the swale and up onto the putting surface, from 45 feet to four. He tidies up for his birdie. Meanwhile par for Russell Henley at the last: a 68 and he joins Tyrrell Hatton as clubhouse leader at -10. It’s Masters Sunday, so of course everything is still up for grabs!
-13: McIlroy (14)
-11: Scheffler (16), Rose (15)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (F), Young (14)
Scottie makes his birdie at 16! And all of a sudden the two-time champion, who couldn’t get anything going for so long today, is making a belated move. Back on 14, Rory and Cam Young both find the heart of the green in regulation, but don’t get particularly close. Rory will give Young a read.
-13: McIlroy (13)
-11: Scheffler (16)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (17), Rose (14), Young (13)
Scottie Scheffler needs to keep the pedal to the floor now, if he’s to force Rory to stumble. McIlroy sends his drive down the right of 14, all good, but Scheffler guides his tee shot at 16 to nine feet, and he’ll have a straight look at another birdie. Meanwhile it’s a par-par finish for Collin Morikawa, who came back in 31 for a final round of 68 and a -9 finish.
ShareThat was one of the great Masters moments. Seconds between Scottie Scheffler sending the gallery at 15 into a frenzy and Rory McIlroy ripping the space-time continuum with similar antics at 13. The trading of haymakers by golf’s two biggest hitters.
ShareScottie Scheffler makes his big birdie putt on 15! A 20-foot right-to-left slider! What an outrageous birdie after all that nonsense in the pines! The gallery erupts! But it’s Bedlam Tennis, because seconds later, over on 13, Rory McIlroy rolls in his eight-foot birdie putt, and he extends his lead to three … and maintains the same advantage over Scheffler! What a back-and-forth that was! Out of the top drawer. That’ll live long as a proper Masters memory! Young, who has to make do with par, may feel this slipping away. But then we said that about Rory less than two hours ago, and now look!
-13: McIlroy (13)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (17), Scheffler (15), Rose (14), Young (13)
McIlroy and Young take different approaches to their third shots from the swale at the back of 13. McIlroy putts. A mammoth right-to-left break. It rolls ten feet past, but that’s not a bad result from there. Young opts to chip, and looks to have judged it perfectly. A right to left breaker as well, but not as pronounced. But the greens are baked, and the ball doesn’t stop. His heart in his mouth as it rolls towards the creek! But it stops a few feet short. And he’ll have an uphill look at birdie from 12 feet.
ShareJustin Rose sends an awful second miles left of 14. But he redeems himself with a lovely bump up to tap-in distance. He blows his cheeks out with relief. He remains at -10. Meanwhile up on 15, Scottie Scheffler flays his drive into the woods down the right, then clips a branch while attempting to chip out. His ball remains in the straw … but does it really matter?! Because he spots a window and fashions a fizzer though it, whipping the ball into the centre of 15, from where he’ll have a look at birdie from 20 feet.
ShareCameron Young’s drive at 13 finds the second cut down the right. He sends his second over Rae’s Creek and into the swale back-left of the green. Then Rory McIlroy, having sent a 350-yard tee shot down the right side of the fairway, shapes to hit a 7-iron … then steps away as someone in the gallery coughs … then pulls his second into the same swale. He’s a bit further from the flag and on the downslope, so there’s a small advantage there for Young. McIlroy can be forgiven if he was thinking about what happened here last year, when he plopped his third into the water. Some fun matchplay shenanigans coming up!
Cameron Young of the U.S. hits his approach from the trees on the 13th hole. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersShareUpdated at 23.54 CEST
Scottie isn’t giving up just yet. And having been forced to chop out from the trees down the left of 14, he uses the bowl shape of the green to bring his wedge from 57 yards to three feet. Par salvaged. Bogey would have surely put paid to his chances. But at -9, he’s still got an outside chance of making one last run. Meanwhile Xander Schauffele ends his week at -8 after a final round of 68. A return to form for the two-time major winner, just in time for major season.
ShareComing behind Scheffler, Justin Rose. He fires a stunning iron into the par-five 13th, over the creek from 208 yards to 30 feet. An outside chance for eagle … which he races eight feet past. He fails to get the one coming back, and that’s a careless three-putt par. He remains two off the lead at -10.
ShareScottie Scheffler hasn’t taken full advantage of the par-fives this week. He’s eagled the 2nd twice, and birdied the 8th twice. But he’s yet to birdie either 13 or 15 this week, bogeying both on Friday, and the 13th costs him again today. He lays up in front of Rae’s Creek, then wedges to 11 feet, but can’t make the birdie putt. Slightly deflated, he then sends his drive at 14 into the trees down the left, and is forced to hack out. Right now, it doesn’t look like the world number one has enough juice in the tank to make the final push. He remains -9 for now.
ShareYoung’s birdie effort is always kinking off to the right. A chance for McIlroy to put a bit of distance between himself and the field … and he rolls in the gentle left-to-right slider for birdie! After starting so shakily, he’s regained control of this Masters. But if history teaches us anything … and it does … there is still an awfully long way to go, and there’s many a slip, etc.
-12: McIlroy (12)
-10: Hatton (F), Henley (15), Rose (12), Young (12)
-9: Morikawa (16), Scheffler (13)
McIlroy retrieves his ball after a birdie on the 12th. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 23.31 CEST
Forgive me, the distances aren’t of a piece. Not quite. Rory is six feet 11 inches away, the closest to the hole at 12 today; Young is 14 feet and three inches away, which is still the sixth best result of this final round.
ShareRory McIlroy with a glorious wedge into the par-three 12th! His ball lands 25 feet to the left of the pin, and guides right to seven feet! The pressure’s cranked up on Cameron Young … who having conquered the island 17th green at Sawgrass to win the Players, knows a thing or two about shots like these. And he follows Rory to similar distance! Another two big putts coming up in this final group … but they’re for birdie this time.
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