McIlroy defends Masters

Rory McIlroy kept the green jacket at Augusta National on Sunday, closing with a 1-under 71 to win the 2026 Masters by one shot over Scottie Scheffler. (pgatour.com) McIlroy finished at 12-under for the week in the 90th Masters Tournament. Scheffler was runner-up at 11-under after starting the final round four shots back. (skysports.com) The winner’s check was $4.5 million from a record purse, while Scheffler earned $2.43 million. Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley, Justin Rose and Cameron Young tied for third and each received $1.08 million. (sports.yahoo.com) McIlroy began Sunday tied for the lead with Young, which turned the final pairing into a defense rather than a chase. By sunset, he had become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002 to win consecutive Masters titles. (dispatch.com) (pgatour.com) The defense came one year after McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam at Augusta in 2025, ending the longest major drought of his career. A second straight Masters win gives him two green jackets and six major titles overall. (theguardian.com) One of the pivotal moments came at the par-3 12th, the shortest hole at Augusta National and one of its most dangerous. The Guardian reported that McIlroy played it conservatively in heat near 30 degrees Celsius after deciding not to follow Jack Nicklaus’s advice to attack pins all week. (theguardian.com) Nicklaus had told McIlroy before the tournament to avoid double bogeys, advice McIlroy repeated in a television interview during the week. He did that at Augusta, where one bad swing can turn Rae’s Creek and Amen Corner into a lost tournament. (golfweek.usatoday.com) CBS Sports and the Masters released official highlights from the final round and the green-jacket ceremony within hours of the finish, underscoring how quickly the tournament’s closing stretch became replay material. McIlroy’s second straight Sunday at Augusta ended the same way as the first: in green. (youtube.com)