Rory McIlroy is a repeat Masters champion. The next step might be the toughest of all

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The passing remark Fred {Couples} mentioned to his caddie on the twelfth gap of the opening spherical on the Masters was price one other hear when Rory McIlroy slipped each arms into the inexperienced jacket for the second 12 months in a row.

“Rory could by no means lose this factor once more after final 12 months,” {Couples} mentioned.

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Not that McIlroy ever makes it simple, however there may be trigger to surprise what number of occasions his title will probably be etched on the Masters trophy, how usually he will get to create the menu for the Masters Membership dinner. For now, his two inexperienced jackets are as many as Scottie Scheffler, who’s seven years youthful.

The following step is three in a row, which has confirmed tough for the three greats earlier than him. None of them a lot as completed within the prime 10.

Jack Nicklaus missed the minimize in 1967 because the two-time defending champion. Nick Faldo was by no means nearer than 5 photographs after the opening spherical in 1991. Tiger Woods was going for 3 in a row in 2003 when he shot 76 within the first spherical and was 10 photographs again. He had a 66 on Saturday to get inside 4 after which closed with a 75.

McIlroy is at a stage the place he desires majors greater than he wants them, notably with the profession Grand Slam out of the best way. Faldo predicts he’ll get one other slam. McIlroy wants one other claret jug and a U.S. Open trophy for a second slam, after which do it a 3rd time to catch Nicklaus and Woods.

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Merely going back-to-back within the Masters is not any small feat contemplating it had been carried out solely 3 times by a formidable record of golf greats.

And whereas he might afford a bogey on the ultimate gap — his drive on the 18th was thus far proper it was discovered nearer to the tenth fairway — this Masters might have gone otherwise. Scheffler’s birdie putt on the seventeenth defied gravity. Cameron Younger had seven cheap birdie possibilities on the again 9. He completed with 9 pars.

McIlroy turned the primary participant since Trevor Immelman in 2008 to play even par on the weekend and win the Masters. He did his heavy lifting earlier, notably that gorgeous end of six birdies on the final seven holes Friday to set a Masters document with a six-shot lead via 36 holes.

Of the six gamers who had led by a minimum of 5 photographs going into the weekend, all however one stored the lead going into Sunday. The exception was Nicklaus in 1975, who was overtaken by Tom Weiskopf. What adopted was as thrilling a closing spherical as Augusta Nationwide has seen.

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Nicklaus, Weiskopf and Johnny Miller all have been on prime of their video games — this was 11 years earlier than the world rating launched — and all three have been within the combine deep within the again 9 till Nicklaus famously made that 40-foot birdie putt throughout the sixteenth inexperienced to tie Weiskopf and go on to win a document fifth inexperienced jacket.

This had all the trimmings of a repeat of that 12 months, particularly with three gamers — Younger, Justin Rose and McIlroy — holding a two-shot lead at varied factors of the ultimate spherical.

It was McIlroy on the finish by one shot over Scheffler, and but it felt so inevitable.

He successfully gained this with two sensible birdies round Amen Nook — the three-quarter 9-iron on the par-3 twelfth that drifted nervously proper however had sufficient to hit the inexperienced and settle 7 ft away, and the 350-yard blast on the par-5 thirteenth after hitting into the timber the earlier three days. That arrange an 8-iron to simply over the inexperienced, leaving him two powerful putts that gave him a three-shot lead.

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Inevitable is the way it felt the final time the Masters had a repeat champion with Woods in 2002. But it surely was totally different then. Woods didn’t are inclined to make errors when he had the lead on the again 9 at a significant, with one exception (his playoff win within the 2005 Masters).

Maybe that’s why of the 5 Masters that Woods gained, changing into solely the third repeat champion will get the least quantity of consideration. The others have been extra spectacular due to the best way he gained or the circumstances round it.

Woods had the watershed second in 1997 when he gained by 12. He turned the one participant to carry all 4 majors when he gained in 2001. He holed the well-known chip that made a U-turn and hung briefly on the lip in 2005 (after which bogeyed the following two holes and needed to win in a playoff). And he got here again from 4 again surgical procedures to win in 2019.

That is perhaps the case for McIlroy, too, depends upon the place he goes from right here. Nothing will prime final 12 months on the Masters, a closing day worthy of a Prime Video documentary.

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McIlroy was so joyous about lastly being a Masters champion that he mentioned at the beginning of the week, “I feel for the previous 17 years I simply couldn’t anticipate the event to start out, and this 12 months I wouldn’t care if the event by no means began.”

He was joking. He was prepared. He was way more relaxed, and it confirmed. There will probably be extra at stake for him subsequent 12 months at Augusta Nationwide with an opportunity to do one thing nobody has carried out. These alternatives don’t alongside fairly often.