There had been doubts. McIlroy exuded serenity on the primary two days as he surged right into a file six-shot lead on the midway stage, although he was nonetheless removed from his greatest off the tee.
The identical subject caught up with him in Saturday’s third spherical when he couldn’t benefit from scoreable situations and allowed the sector 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.
It might not be McIlroy on the Masters, although, if there wasn’t an enormous dollop of drama.
He shortly dropped behind following a double-bogey on 4 and a bogey on six. However his resurgence underlined how Augusta not has a psychological maintain on him as he roared again with successive birdies on seven and eight, then once more on 12 and 13.
The fearless approach which McIlroy audaciously attacked the pin on the iconic par-three twelfth – the scene of many Masters meltdowns – was indicative of his freer mindset.
His capacity to remain affected person, resolve issues after which play his sport 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 12 months McIlroy has insisted how he was returning as a unique participant and a unique man.
Over the previous 4 days he has proven final 12 months’s victory was actually transformative.
“It was a troublesome weekend however I am so completely happy to hold in there and get the job performed,” McIlroy mentioned.
“I wished to come back again and show final 12 months wasn’t a fluke.”
