AUGUSTA, Ga. — From wire-to-wire to a harrowing high-wire act.
That pretty much describes Rory McIlroy’s Masters.
He became the fourth man to win back-to-back green jackets Sunday, surviving some shaky golf and a dramatic surge by some of the best players in the world.
With Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose and a host of others on his heels, McIlroy steadied himself and pulled away down the stretch.
But there was drama even on the par-4 18th hole. Needling only a bogey to win, McIlroy hit his tee shot deep into the trees on the right. He hit a high, right-to-left shot out of the pine straw into the front left bunker. Two putts later and a second jacket was his, a one-shot victory over Sheffler.
A year ago, McIlroy beat Rose in a sudden-death playoff at Augusta to complete a career grand slam.
In winning consecutive Masters — a feat not accomplished since Tiger Woods did it in 2002 — McIlroy joins Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods in one of golf’s most exclusive fraternities.
After two rounds it didn’t appear the weekend would be so difficult. McIlroy had built a six-shot lead, the largest 36-hole advantage in Masters history. But he was over par Saturday while everyone else on the leaderboard was shooting in the 60s, and was the only player on the range that evening, hitting balls as the sun went down.
He started Sunday with a sputter, including a double bogey on the par-3 fourth and a bogey shortly after.
Fifteen years ago, in an epic unraveling, McIlroy saw a four-shot Sunday lead evaporate with a collapse at Amen Corner — triple bogey, bogey, double bogey on holes 11, 12 and 13.
On Sunday, he played those three holes par, par, birdie, going some distance toward exorcising the demons of 2011.
McIlroy and Cameron Young were the final pairing Sunday, tied at 11 under. Young birdied the second hole but cooled and had bogeys on 6, 7 and 9.
Rose, angling for his first green jacket, had the lead making the turn Sunday but couldn’t hold on and recorded bogeys on 11, 12 and 17. He headed to the clubhouse tied for third, his fifth top-five finish at the Masters.
Scheffler, ranked No. 1 in the world, flirted with missing the cut after opening with a 70 and 74. But he shot bogey-free rounds of 65 and 68 on the weekend, becoming the first player at the Masters since 1942 to play every hole on Saturday and Sunday at par or better.
Russell Henley, playing on his birthday, collected his fifth top-10 finish in his last nine majors.
“I felt like I handled the pressure well, handled the conditions well,” Henley said. “It was tricky out there. Just hit it great. Really thankful for a good finish.”
Morikawa, dealing with a back injury that affected his confidence in his legs, got hot on the second nine and tore off five birdies in a row. He finished at nine under.
“This is going to be one of the best tournaments forever,” Morikawa said. “I’m going to remember this one for many reasons, but more how strong the mind is, to be able to go out and convince yourself that everything is going to be okay.”
The biggest implosion of the day came from Haotong Li, who was seven under after three rounds. He opened Sunday with a bogey, then had three bogeys in a row on 5, 6 and 7. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Li took a triple-bogey six on No. 12, and then the wheels really came off. He had a 10 — a quintuple bogey — on the 13th, that included a second shot into the bushes, and a third shot that stayed in there, and later a firm putt from the fringe that blew past the hole and into the water. It was a nightmare.
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