Michael Franz

Rory has won the 90th Masters, defending a hoard of the best players in the world holding them off successfully defending his title in Augusta. A ton of ups and downs for so many players on this Masters Sunday with the lead changing numerous times over the course of the day.

 

McIlroy vs Young

Mcilroy holding his own after making a double bogey on the Par 3 4th hole. Rory had 6 feet for Par but lipped out for Par and couldn't convert on the 3 footer back up the hill making double bogey on the hole giving Cam Young a 2 shot lead. Then Rory with another bogey on the Par 3 6th really put him behind but quickly bounced back with a nice birdie on the Par 4 7th.

 

Rose vs McIlroy

Then after a unbelievable up and down from the trees on the 7th from Justin Rose he has the lead with 11 holes to go in the Masters. Rose has 3 runner-up finishes at the Masters and has come so close on many different occasions. Including last year's playoff hole loss to Rory, Rose has been so close to the green jacket. Closing in even more adding birdies on 8 and 9 to take a 2 shot lead. Making the turn with a 2 stroke lead was the best position that Rose has even been in to win the Masters.

 

McIlroy Pushes Ahead

Rose took a quick step backwards on the 11th tee after shooting his approach shot well short of the green and making his first bogey since the third hole. This brought Rose level with McIlroy at 11-under while Cameron Young continued to struggle making his third bogey in the last four holes at the 9th. Right after the bogey from Young, Rose would quickly make another bogey falling on the par-3 12th hole chunking his chip from greenside and having to settle for another bogey.

 

McIlroy then makes his way to the 12th tee and converts beautifully sticking it to 7 feet with his 9-iron after waiting for the perfect wind situation. This ended up being the closest shot on 12 all day long. Rose quickly responded with a beautiful 2nd shot into the Par 5 13th but left empty with a three-putt par.

 

With many players closing in on McIlroy all day long with him even losing the lead for a few holes in the middle of the round the birdies disappeared for everyone not named McIlroy. Rose can't find the fairway on 15, Young also can't find the fairway on 13, while Scheffler has been sneaking up the leaderboard without a bogey on the weekend has been stuck with 11 straight pars. Though, with 5 holes to play it's a battle between World #1 and World #2 Rory vs Scottie.

 

McIlroy vs Scheffler

McIlroy then gets to the Par 5 15th and converts for another birdie with a beautiful chip from the backside of the green that led him to back to back birdies and return to 13-under. However, up ahead on the 15th hole Scottie sprayed his tee ball into the pine straw on the right and his 2nd shot was right into a tree branch knocking it way to the right. Scheffler quickly bounced back calmly hitting his shot onto the green and rolling in a long birdie putt to reach the 10-under mark for the tournament. Scheffler getting to 10-under tied with Young, Hatton, and Henley. Rose wanted in on the 10-under party with making a great birdie on 15.

 

Scheffler heating up stuck it to inside 10 feet on the Par 3 16th and knocking in the putt to be the first one out of the pack to 11-under trying to catch McIlroy. Scheffler with another fabulous approach shot into the 17th green but his putt misses right of the hole resting on the lip millimeters from falling in and getting to 12 under heading into the last. Rose lipped out for par from 3 feet at 17 and that would all but take him out of another running for the green jacket. Scheffler would go up and down on the last to end his week with another bogey free round shooting 68 and finishing at 11-under being the current clubhouse leader.

 

McIlroy finishes rocky but still gets it done

With Cam Young lipping out for birdie on 16 he fails to tie Scheffler at 11-under while McIlroy gets a very well played putt from off the green to save par on 16 going to the 17th tee with a 2 shot lead. McIlroy saves yet another par on the 17th hole and heads to the last tee up by 2 on Scheffler and 3 on Cam Young his playing partner.

 

Though no lead is safe on 18 at Augusta with the toughest tee shot ahead, a tee ball that you can only fade with it being very tight. Rory has struggled off the tee all week and he loves playing that heavy draw but with this tee ball calling for a fade he overcooked it way right into the trees and will now have to scramble his way to the finish line only needing a bogey.

 

McIlroy from the right side of the trees would launch an 8-iron over the trees and somehow ending it up in the greenside bunker resulting in only needed an up and down or even just 2 putts to win his second consecutive Masters and defend his title. Splashing the bunker shot out, wasting no time getting it to 20 feet almost making the par putt. Then marking it to let Cam Young knock in a great par save to finish T3, McIlroy finishes it off with a tap in bogey to beat out the World #1 Scheffler in a Masters classic once again and become the first back-to-back Masters champ since Tiger Woods.

 

Other Storylines

Max Homa comes in with a final round 67 to close out another great Masters tournament for his third straight top-12 finish at the Masters to secure his spot in next years field.

 

Tyrell Hatton making birdies on 13, 14, 15, and 16 to crash the party at 10-under par. That would be the final push for Hatton as he quickly saw the holes run out for him making it into the clubhouse at 10 under par finishing with a brilliant 66.

 

Justin Rose would complete a very well played up and down at 18 to complete his tournament for another very good Masters finish for his sixth top 10 at Augusta, and his ninth straight finish of T25 or better at the Masters.