So if it keeps on rainin’, levee’s gonna break
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s gonna break
When the levee breaks, have no place to stay

Led Zeppelin’s levee broke last year for Rory McIlroy. If he hadn’t won the Masters in 2025, he probably would not have won in 2026. McIlroy always knew how to win the green jacket, but knowing and doing are different altogether. As Bobby Jones is attributed to have said, there is golf and there is tournament golf, and the two bear little resemblance. With his one-shot triumph over Scottie Scheffler, Rory is now halfway (or three-quarters way) to a second career grand slam.

McIlroy began the day in a dead heat with Cameron Young, recent winner of The Players Championship. Young struggled to find his authentic game on Sunday, posting two birdies and three bogeys for 73 and a tie for third, two back of the champion. Charging hard on Sunday was Scheffler, who made up four shots in a bogey-free 68, and finished solo second at -11. Tied with Young for third were Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton, and two-time runner-up Justin Rose.

Rose will sleep worst tonight. The Englishman reached 12-under par by the ninth green, but bogeys at eleven and twelve dropped him back to minus-ten. Like Young, Rose could not buy a birdie on the second nine and was once again gutted by the course and tournament that he dearly loves.

How did Rory McIlroy survive a gut-check, first nine, then calmly build his lead on the second nine? Let’s take a look at five shots that ironed the wrinkles from his game and brought him once more to victory. Unlike Jack Nicklaus, who had to slip the jacket on his own shoulders, Rory benefitted from the same treatment as Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, the last two winners in consecutive years. This time around, chairman Fred Ridley did the honors.

Thanks to Todays Golfer and Inside Tour Golf for original equipment reporting, and to the Augusta National Golf Club/Masters Tournament for video links.

Shot #1: Second shot at the fourth hole

McIlroy addressed the ball on the tee of the par-three fourth, fresh off his first birdie of the day, and promptly decelerated on a long iron. The ball sailed left, shortsiding the defending champion, and leaving a deep bunker between his ball and the hole. McIlroy stepped up and zip-flopped his wedge to five feet. Never mind that he took three putts to get the ball in the hole. McIlroy could easily have dumped the wedge in the bunker, or thinned it across the green, but he did neither. Regardless of the double-bogey outcome, McIlroy had to take heart from his recovery pitch.

Critical Club: 60-degree TaylorMade MG5

Shot #2: Tee shot at the seventh hole

Rory McIlroy absolutely crushed … hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Rory McIlroy made bogey at the sixth hole, the second par-three on the first nine. His heroic tee ball landed pin high right and bounded over the green. He failed to get up and down, and dropped back to minus-nine. The wheels were spinning and the train was wobbling. Then, Rory McIlroy absolutely crushed his drive on the par-four seventh, leaving 100 yards to the hole. His wedge approach landed long, then eased down the slope to six feet, where he converted for his first birdie since hole three. McIlroy would follow up with another birdie at eight and return to even par for the day. Without that confident swing off the tee, who knows where the round might have routed.

Critical Club: TaylorMade Qi4D driver, fitted with a Fujikura Ventus Black 60g X-Stiff shaft.

Shot #3: First shot at the twelfth hole

Remember for a moment, if you will, that Rory McIlroy had made a mess of the first two, short holes on Sunday. Forget that four and six demand long irons, while number twelve asks but a mere pitch to its putting surface. The Eddy Effect, the swirls of winds down in the hollow of Raes Creek, has rerouted many a mere pitch into the watery depths that front the green. McIlroy stepped to the tee and carved a nine-iron tee shot over the creek, just past the front bunker, seven feet from the hole. His putt for two was center cut, and he was back in the lead.

Critical Club: TaylorMade Rors Proto 9-iron (similar to the P7MB model) carrying a True Temper Project X Rifle 7.0 shaft.

Shot #4: Third shot at the thirteenth hole

After smoking a driver to a right-side, hanging, fairway lie, McIlroy went for the green in two on the first par-five hole of the second nine. His club slump told the story: this one was headed left. McIlroy’s third was from a declivity, long and left. Eschewing a pitch shot, McIlroy putted up the slope and across the green. His speed was perfect, and the ball broke slightly right, leaving him four or five feet for birdie. He converted, the putter was officially back in his good graces, and McIlroy reached two-under on the day.

Critical Club: TaylorMade Spider Tour X3 putter

Shot #5: Pick one

McIlroy’s drives at fifteen and eighteen barely stayed on the planet, but his recovery shots found daylight. His wedge third at fifteen barely cleared the water, but clear the water it did. His tee shot on sixteen ended in a familiar (cough, Tiger, cough) spot long and left. Given the historic knowledge and a better lie than the originator had, McIlroy putted to the fall line, and watched his ball slide to within inches of the hole for par. At this juncture, he was full-on palimpsest, re-creating the canvas that had depicted doom and frustration on previous major and Masters occasions. On seventeen, from the middle of the fairway, his approach drifted right, yet he nearly pitched in for the second time this week. McIlroy did very little well over the closing four holes, but his Houdini act lasted long enough for him to claim victory. As will always be said, it’s never the how, but rather, the how many.

Critical Club: The six inches between his ears.