Inside Rory McIlroy's Takedown of Amen Corner That Secured Him Another Masters Title

AUGUSTA — Amen Corner is the setting where so many of the 90 editions of the Masters have been won.

And also where they have been lost.

Look at Justin Rose, for example. With a 4-under front nine Sunday, the Englishman held a two-stroke lead heading to Augusta National’s daunting, three-hole stretch of Nos. 11-13. But, like so many before him, Rose couldn’t escape unscathed. He played those holes at two over par and ultimately finished two back.

On the flip side, Amen Corner was where Rory McIlroy seized the tournament.

Going back to last year, McIlroy, as he chased his first Masters and the career Grand Slam, led by four on the 11th tee. However, he dropped a shot on 11, made par on the iconic yet daunting par-3 12th, where the common strategy is to hit it in the middle of the green and make a safe par. And he doubled the par-5 13th, dumping his third shot from 86 yards into Rae’s Creek.

“I hit 3-wood off the tee, tried to play it as a three-shotter,” McIlroy said. “That came back to bite me a little bit.”

McIlroy, of course, overcame those stumbles. And a year later, with a green jacket in his closet, he wrote a different story on Amen Corner to capture his second straight Masters victory.

Before the tournament, McIlroy revealed that Jack Nicklaus told him, “No f------ double bogeys,” after the Northern Irishman became the first player to make four of them in a Masters win. But this year, McIlroy unintentionally defied that advice on the par-4 11th in Round 3, when he overdrew his approach and watched it sink into Rae’s Creek. He also doubled the par-3 4th hole on Sunday.

When McIlroy arrived in the final round at No. 11—the hole he’s historically played the worst out of all 18 at Augusta National—roughly 24 hours after his double there, he was clinging to the co-lead. Placing his drive in the fairway, he knocked his approach to 58 feet and safely two-putted for par.

Moments later, McIlroy had arguably the signature shot of his win.

On what Nicklaus once called “the most dangerous par-3 in the game,” McIlroy stuck his tee shot with a 9-iron left of the flag, to 7 feet, with a right pin location, before making a birdie that sent a roar reverberating through the entire course.

McIlroy reaches 12 under par with a birdie on No. 12. #themasters pic.twitter.com/3dYecCog2V
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 12, 2026

“Going back to one of my first-ever practice rounds here, I played a practice round with Tom Watson in 2009, and he said to me on the 12th tee, he always waited until he felt where the wind should be and then just hit it,” McIlroy said. “You know, just hit it as soon as you can. That’s what I did on 12.

“[The wind] was all over the place. When I stood up on the tee, it felt like it was off the right, and I looked at the 11th flag, it was blowing right to left. But I was patient, and I waited to feel where the wind should have been coming from, and I knew it was just a perfect three-quarter 9-iron.

“I aimed it at the middle of the bunker. Probably didn’t anticipate it to drift as far right as it did. That’s why you give yourself a little bit of margin for error. That was a really good golf shot at the right time and probably a golf shot I wouldn’t have been able to hit yesterday if I didn’t go to the range and try to figure a few things out and try to neutralize the ball flight a little bit.”

His playing partner, Cam Young, who was just one back at the time, hit his shot to 14 feet and was quite content—until he missed his putt.

“How much closer do you want me to hit it than I did on the back nine? Want me to aim right on 12?” Young said after a T3 finish.

So to the 13th tee they went. McIlroy was in what he called “great mental space,” even though his tee shots on that hole in the first three rounds “didn’t sniff hitting the fairway.” That wasn’t the case on Sunday. He smashed his drive 350 yards, leaving him 183 yards to the hole.

Then something curious happened. McIlroy appeared to intentionally hang back from walking up to his ball. He says it was because Young was pulled in behind the hedges by referees. McIlroy wasn’t sure what it was about, but he didn’t mind taking an extra breath.

“I thought, instead of me getting up there and waiting at my ball forever, I’d just hang back until Cam came back out,” he said. “I don’t really like that second shot anyway, so I don’t need to be up there looking at it for too long. So I just tried to hang back—just so I could get to the ball and go through my normal routine and not be waiting up there for what I would feel like is forever.”

McIlroy extends the lead to three with a birdie on No. 13. #themasters pic.twitter.com/3alGzbGzsP
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 12, 2026

When the moment came to swing, he took out an 8-iron and dangled the club off his shoulder after making contact, with a look of disappointment. The ball settled off the left side of the green, just short of the bunker. There was no reason to sweat, though. He chipped to 8 feet and holed his birdie putt.

McIlroy led by three.

“Even though I hit three really poor tee shots on 13 the first three days, I just stayed aggressive, and finally I made a good swing and hit a good tee shot and left myself an 8-iron in, which it could have been a more routine birdie if I had a better second shot, but I was able to put it down there to within 8 feet and hole that putt,” he said. “I think staying aggressive and staying committed, especially on those two holes, definitely served me this week.”

That would be McIlroy’s last birdie of the day. He bogeyed 18, good enough by one shot to have a green jacket slipped over his shoulders in the fading Augusta daylight.

A year ago, McIlroy believed he won his first Masters amid a 14-hole stretch: the second nine in Round 2 and the first five holes of Round 3.

This time around, yes, he can point to Friday’s 65, where he capped the round with four straight birdies and six in his final seven holes.

But playing Amen Corner in two under par ultimately was the difference in his one-stroke triumph over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

And in many of McIlroy’s victories, there seems to be a recurring theme.

“I don’t make it easy,” he said.

Amen Corner never is. That’s how it identifies the game’s greatest talents, of which McIlroy certainly is.

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