Rory McIlroy became the first back-to-back winner of The Masters since Tiger Woods after coming through a roller-coaster Sunday to claim a one-shot victory at Augusta National.
McIlroy built a historic six-stroke halfway lead but found himself two behind early in a dramatic final round, where playing partner Cameron Young and then Justin Rose - the man he beat to play-off victory 12 months ago - both enjoyed stints in top spot.
The defending champion responded with back-to-back birdies from the seventh and added successive gains from the 12th to briefly go three ahead, only for Rose and Scottie Scheffler to close and set up a thrilling finish.
McIlroy avoided a repeat of last year's late stumble (squandering a four-shot lead before completing the career Grand Slam) 12 months on as he took a two-shot lead to the 72nd hole before closing out a narrow win with a two-putt bogey.
The world No 2 posted a one-under 71 to finish on 12 under, one ahead of Scheffler, with Tyrrell Hatton's brilliant final-round 66 putting him in third spot alongside Rose, Young and Russell Henley.
Victory sees McIlroy join Jack Nicklaus, Sir Nick Faldo and Woods as players to win consecutive editions of The Masters, while the 36-year-old is now just the 15th man in history to claim six or more major titles.
McIlroy avoided a repeat of last year's opening-hole double-bogey but fell behind when Young birdied the par-five second, then responded with a sublime up and down from the greenside bunker to take advantage of the driveable third.
Young suddenly jumped two ahead when McIlroy pulled his tee shot at the par-three fourth and three-putted from inside 10 feet for double bogey, while both players bogeyed the par-three sixth to condense an already bunched leaderboard.
Rose - playing two groups ahead - started three back and fell further behind with a bogey at the third, before producing a run of three consecutive birdies from the sixth and jumping into the solo lead.
Young failed to get up and down from the sand at the seventh and saw Rose double his lead with a 15-foot birdie at the ninth, only for McIlroy and Young to both respond by taking advantage of the par-five eighth.
McIlroy burned a six-foot birdie chance at the ninth but found himself tied for the lead when Rose bogeyed the 11th, before taking a firm grip of the tournament with an impressive stretch around Amen Corner.
The world No 2 holed an eight-foot birdie at the par-three 12th, where Rose had misjudged a chip and made bogey, before a brilliantly-judged two-putt from off the back of the 13th green moved him three ahead with five holes to play.
McIlroy had to lay up from the trees on his way to a par at the 15th and scrambled pars over the next two holes, then overcame a late scare when his drive on the last hole headed towards the trees.
He found the front greenside bunker with his second and pitched out to 15 feet, giving him two putts for victory - with a final-hole bogey for the second successive year not enough to prevent McIlroy from winning another major title.
"I just can't believe I waited 17 years to get one Green Jacket and I get two in a row," McIlroy said. "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."
Scheffler carded a bogey-free 68 to finish runner-up, having gone into the weekend 12 strokes behind McIlroy, while Rose - a three-time runner-up at The Masters - cancelled out a birdie at the 15th with a penultimate-hole bogey to narrowly miss out again.
Young posted a final-round 73 to fall short in his bid to become the third consecutive golfer to win The Players and The Masters. Shane Lowry stumbled to a final-round 80 to drop from two strokes back to tied-30th.
The PGA Tour heads to South Carolina for the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, the latest Signature Event, where Justin Thomas returns as defending champion. Early coverage begins on Thursday from 12.30pm on Your Site Golf, ahead of full coverage from 7pm
The next men's major is the PGA Championship from May 14-17, held at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania, also live on Your Site. or .
