His back-to-back Masters victory, taking his major total to six, left us where we were supposed to be 15 years ago when he first tore at our nervous systems at Augusta, assessing his place in the golfing firmament. In 2011, a 21-year-old McIlroy took a four-shot lead into the final day and shot 80.
Here he led by a record margin of six at halfway and gave it all back to the field on Saturday. He fell three back early on the final day before wresting back control of the tournament around the turn. Even then he made a two-shot lead look fragile at the final hole, launching an ugly swipe into the trees.
But this is McIlroy 2.0. He still makes us nervous, but finds a way. On this occasion he could afford the bogey at the last that made him only the fourth golfer to retain the green jacket, a special player with a dimension that is perhaps unique to him, the capacity to drain our emotional tanks as well as his own.
McIlroy sits alongside Sir Nick Faldo, who with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, also went back to back, as the most successful European of the modern era. Harry Vardon’s record of seven majors more than a century ago is next in his sights and perhaps a second grand slam, a feat achieved only by Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. And even they could not do what McIlroy has, win twice after a decade without a major.
There were times on the outward nine when he appeared to be playing in diving boots, blowing hard and dragging those feet as he fell three off a lead he had held since the first day. Then, seemingly from nowhere, he gets the club back to the ball like a whippet, and he’s off, that familiar lope eating up the ground with urgency.
Fate reversed their roles 12 months on, Rose falling out of the lead around Amen Corner, while McIlroy rolled in another to lead by three with five to play, finding the big stuff exactly when he needed it.
Tyrrell Hatton gave it a crack on the back nine, posting the clubhouse lead on 10 under par. Hatton, who started the day at four under, was swinging free of the tension that afflicts the leaders. He was never in contention all week until, suddenly, he was.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, who stood 12 adrift of McIlroy’s lead on Friday night, also fed on the absence of jeopardy heading into the weekend, and ended up in second on 11 under, fashioning some wild escapes from the trees.
His failure to win this tournament once defined McIlroy. The question now is how many more green jackets might be his? Indeed, how many more majors?
Augusta chairman and master of ceremonies, Fred Ridley, understanding the value of having the game’s most charismatic figure in green for a further 12 months, looked as thrilled as McIlroy during the presentation ceremony in the Butler Cabin.
Outside on the clubhouse lawn, McIlroy began his acceptance speech by reminding the audience of what he said a year ago.
“I wanted to come back and prove it was no fluke.”
Mission accomplished, Rory. Here’s to the next one, and the next…
