He arrived at Augusta National as the defending Masters champion, a year removed from completing the career Grand Slam while winning his first green jacket.
He left Augusta National on Sunday night a two-time Masters winner after what had to be the most volatile week of emotional swings of his life … right down to the final hole on which he nearly made a colossal mess by sailing his tee shot into the right trees.
“I don’t make it easy,” McIlroy said. “It’s hard to win golf tournaments — especially around here.”
McIlroy seemingly had the tournament won Friday night, was leaking more oil than a severed tanker Saturday and seized control like the defending champion he was Sunday.
Finishing on 12 under par, McIlroy won by one shot after his bogey save on 18, not needing a playoff to win as he did last year over Justin Rose.
McIlroy, of course, made history last year because he completed the Grand Slam. He made history Sunday, too, because he became just the fourth player in Masters history to defend the title.
Jack Nicklaus did it in 1965-66. Nick Faldo did it in 1989-90. Tiger Woods did it in 2001-02.
“Good things come to those who wait, maybe,” McIlroy said. “I can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one green jacket, and now I’ve won two in a row. I think my perseverance at this tournament has started to pay off.”
After McIlroy tapped in his short bogey putt to win on the 72nd hole, he rejoiced, looking to the sky and screaming.
He and his caddie and best friend, Harry Diamond, embraced.
Then McIlroy marched straight to his daughter, Poppy, and picked her up. Next came a big hug with his dad, Gerry, and another with his mom, Rosie, who was seeing her son win a major in person for only the second time.
McIlroy said he “caught’’ himself during the round thinking about his parents, and said, “I was like, ‘No, not yet, not yet.’ ’’
On Sunday, he staved off a spirited late run by two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler, who birdied two of the final four holes. Scheffler finished in second, at 11 under par.
He also staved off playing partner Cam Young, with whom he shared the lead at the start of the day. Young finished 10 under, as did Rose, who had a two-shot lead at the turn at 12 under. Russell Henley and Tyrrell Hatton also matched Young and Rose.
On Saturday, after he’d lost his six-shot lead, this is what McIlroy said when asked what he expected of himself Sunday.
“I’d like to think that I’ll play a little bit freer and I’ll play like I’ve already got a green jacket, which I do,’’ he said.
He did just that.
“Having a six-shot lead going into the weekend, it would have been a bitter pill to swallow if I wasn’t able to get myself over the finish line,’’ he said.
McIlroy hosted the annual Champions Dinner on Tuesday night and enjoyed all the baubles that come with being a Masters winner.
There was talk before the tournament about how liberated and freed up he was after having finally won his first Masters. He was as relaxed and engaging in pretournament interviews as he had ever been.
Then he went out in the first two rounds and looked like he was going to boat-race the field, building a six-shot 36-hole lead, a Masters record.
Then came Saturday.
It was a moving day on which every one of the chasers on the leaderboard made a move except McIlroy, who posted a pedestrian 1-over-par 73 to let the world back into the tournament.
His six-shot lead had evaporated, leaving McIlroy and Young the co-leaders entering Sunday’s final round.
On Sunday, McIlroy, not doing anything spectacular for the first couple of hours, hung in and hung in … and then he pounced at Amen Corner, the place where he’d become unglued Friday with a water-ball double bogey on No. 11 and a bogey on No. 12.
McIlroy hit a brave tee shot over the front greenside bunker on 12 and birdied it to take a two-shot lead over Young, Hatton, Rose and Henley.
His tee shot on 12 was the closest to the hole of any player all day. His birdie was only the third made on the hole all day.
Then, on the par-5 13th hole, the place where McIlroy nearly threw last year’s tournament away when he flared a weak wedge shot into Rae’s Creek, he essentially put the tournament away.
He piped a 350-yard drive (longest of the day) down the right side of the fairway, leaving himself 8-iron for his second shot. He got up and down from the back of the green for birdie to get to 13 under.
That left him with a three-shot lead over Scheffler, Young, Hatton, Rose and Henley with five holes to play.
It, too, left McIlroy five shots better around Amen Corner than he was Saturday.
“You don’t win the amount of tournaments that he’s won out here without being pretty resilient,’’ Scheffler said. “Having a six-shot lead at Augusta is never easy, and losing that is obviously something difficult. But he did what he needed to do in order to get it done.’’
