Rory McIlroy is your 2026 Masters Tournament winner after defeating Scottie Scheffler by one stroke. He joins Jack Nicklaus (1965-1966), Sir Nick Faldo (1989-1990) and Tiger Woods (2001-2002) as the only players to win The Masters in consecutive years.
This year’s final round started very similar to last year’s final round. McIlroy lost his lead early both years and found himself looking up at the leaders. McIlroy three-putted from inside six feet on the fourth hole to trail Cameron Young by two strokes. The 2025 Masters champion stayed resilient and made back-to-back birdies on holes seven and eight to trail leader Justin Rose by one stroke.
Amen Corner was not kind to McIlroy during Saturday’s round, where he played the three-hole stretch at 3-over par. But during the final round, McIlroy took control of the tournament, going 2-under at Amen Corner. After hitting a wayward tee shot on the 18th hole, McIlroy settled for a bogey and a one-stroke victory for his 30th career PGA Tour win and second green jacket.
The one-stroke win seemed unlikely after McIlroy held a 6-stroke lead heading into the third round. But a 73 (+1) on Saturday left him in a tie with Young going into the final round. On Sunday, four different players held the lead, with three of them holding a two-stroke lead at some point. But McIlroy stood up to the challenge and hit the big pressure shots to win his sixth career major championship.
McIlroy had this to say in his post-round press conference. “I think all of my perseverance at this golf tournament over the years has really started to pay off. It was a tough weekend. I did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday. But just so, so happy to hang in there and get the job done.”
This is the first instance since the 2002 U.S. Open (Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson) that the two top players in the Official World Golf Rankings finished 1-2 in a major championship. Scheffler has now finished first or second in 7 of the last 17 men’s major championships.
McIlroy joins Faldo, Mickelson and Lee Trevino as players with six career major championships. With this win, he surpassed $13 million in career earnings at The Masters Tournament, the most of any player in tournament history.
Young finished T3 with Justin Rose, Russell Henley and Tyrrell Hatton at 10-under par. For Young, Henley and Hatton, this is their highest career finish at The Masters. Rose was the only player in the field with four rounds under par, which led him to his fourth top-3 finish of his career at this event.
The PGA Tour heads to South Carolina for Signature Event, the RBC Heritage. In last year’s tournament, Justin Thomas picked up his 16th career PGA Tour win. He will look to defend against a field that includes Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jordan Spieth, all former winners at this event.
