McIlroy as soon as once more held off English veteran Justin Rose – whose personal Augusta dream was dashed once more by his European Ryder Cup team-mate.
Rose, 45, was aiming to turn into the oldest first-time Masters champion and creating his personal fairytale story when he moved right into a one-shot lead halfway by his last spherical.
He was crushed by McIlroy in a play-off final yr, however put himself in place to avenge that defeat as McIlroy’s stone-cold putter loosened his grip on the match.
However, with a stacked leaderboard jostling for place behind them, there was a task reversal from the pair’s thrilling battle final yr.
Then, McIlroy faltered beneath the burden of historical past as a free-swinging Rose blitzed the again 9 to drive the additional gap.
Now, Rose felt the strain – coming undone at Amen Nook’s eleventh and twelfth holes – as McIlroy proved he really was unburdened.
There had been doubts. McIlroy exuded serenity on the primary two days as he surged right into a document six-shot lead on the midway stage, despite the fact that he was nonetheless removed from his greatest off the tee.
The identical concern caught up with him in Saturday’s third spherical when he couldn’t benefit from scoreable situations and allowed the sphere to shut the hole.
Like all nice gamers, McIlroy ironed out his swing kinks and sacrificed distance with the driving force for a larger accuracy which underpinned a gutsy one-under 71 in Sunday’s finale.
The power to remain affected person and remedy the issues which he confronted was the important thing as McIlroy joined Jack Nicklaus, Faldo and Tiger Woods as back-to-back winners.
Would McIlroy have been capable of present the identical resilience if he had not already claimed the Inexperienced Jacket? He didn’t suppose so.
All through the previous yr McIlroy has insisted how he was returning as a special participant and a special man.
Over the previous 4 days he has proven it was really transformative.
“It was a troublesome weekend however I am so completely happy to hold in there and get the job achieved,” McIlroy mentioned.
“I wished to return again and show final yr wasn’t a fluke.”
