To win final yr, McIlroy wanted to beat Justin Rose – who completed tied third on Sunday having led by two on the flip – in a sudden dying play-off after bogeying the 72nd gap.
And he didn’t make it a lot simpler for himself this time round. Having scorched the sector to take a report six-shot lead after 36 holes, he stuttered to a one-over 73 on Saturday.
Tied with Younger going into Sunday, Northern Eire’s McIlroy heaped stress on himself with a sloppy double-bogey 5 on the fourth after three-putting from eight toes.
He dropped one other shot on the par-three sixth, however after mixing 4 birdies with seven pars to construct a two-shot lead over world primary Scheffler heading to the final, he mentioned his “best stress” on Sunday was not figuring out the place his ball ended up on the 18th after flailing his drive proper and in among the many bushes.
“It might go anyplace. It might be anyplace,” added the world quantity two, who additionally drew stage with Individuals Phil Mickelson and Lee Trevino on six majors.
“There have been a couple of others. I assumed my second putt on 11 was big to keep away from making bogey there.”
Regardless of falling behind Younger and Rose, and with Scheffler creeping up the leaderboard, McIlroy insisted he by no means felt as if his likelihood had slipped away.
“If I hadn’t birdied the seventh and eighth holes, I might have began to push slightly bit,” added the 36-year-old, who turned simply the sixth wire-to-wire Masters winner.
“However I feel the birdies on seven and eight, Justin bogeying 11 and 12, after which me birdieing 12, I by no means felt like I used to be out of it. I by no means felt like I needed to press in any respect.”
