The Northern Irishman becomes the first player to repeat at Augusta National since Tiger Woods back in 2001-2002.

Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, and now, Rory McIlroy.

The Northern ‌Irishman emerged from a tight pack of contenders to win the 90th Masters Tournament on Sunday, joining the trio of golf icons as the only players in history ⁠to conquer Augusta National in back-to-back years.

McIlroy ⁠said earlier this week that winning one Masters would make it easier to win a second, and he dug deep into that belief on Sunday to rally from a three-shot deficit on the front nine to post a one-under-par round of 71 for the winning score of 12-under 276 – one better ⁠than Scottie Scheffler.

“I can’t believe that I waited 17 years to get one green jacket, and I get two in a row,” McIlroy told CBS in Butler Cabin. “I think that all of my perseverance at this golf tournament over the years has really started to pay off.”

McIlroy’s sixth career major also tied him with Faldo for the most by a European player in the modern era, and they are tied for 12th-most all-time by any player.

Cameron Young, Russell Henley, England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose finished another shot back at 10 under.

McIlroy rallies

McIlroy began the final round tied for the 54-hole lead at 11 under with Young, who birdied the second hole to reach 12 under and take the outright lead. It appeared that McIlroy’s repeat quest might unravel when he went three over on the two par-threes on the front nine to fall to 9 under for the tournament.

Suddenly, McIlroy’s name was looking up on the leaderboard at Young and Rose, who reached 12 under with ‌four birdies in a five-hole stretch through No 9. Scheffler was also making a run several holes ahead, and Henley reached 10 under through eight holes.

This is when McIlroy kicked it back into gear for the first time since closing with six birdies over his final seven holes on Friday. A birdie on the seventh hole got McIlroy back to double digits under par, and he pulled within one shot of the lead with another on the par-five eighth.

While Scheffler’s rally stalled for a long stretch with 11 consecutive pars, and Rose and Young struggled to hole putts on the back nine, McIlroy kept ratcheting up the pressure. He birdied the 12th and 13th holes to go 2 under through “Amen Corner” and build a two-shot lead.

Scheffler kept it interesting with birdies on numbers 15 and 16 to get to 11 under. Another birdie attempt on 17 stayed on the lip of ⁠the cup, and Scheffler parred out to post a 4-under round of 68, with McIlroy on the course with three holes to play.

The two-shot ⁠cushion proved helpful for McIlroy when he pushed his drive on the 18th hole well right into the trees. He was able to punch the ball forward into a greenside bunker and put it on the putting surface with his third shot.

From there, McIlroy easily converted the two-putt bogey, and became the fourth player in history to successfully defend at the Masters.

“It’s nice to have that two-shot cushion instead of the one [shot] like I ⁠had last year,” McIlroy said. “I looked at the [leader]board after I made the bogey on six, and I went back to 9 under at that point. And I said, ‘If I can get to 14 under, I think I’ve got a really good chance of winning this tournament.’

“I didn’t quite ⁠get there, I got to 13, but 13 was good enough standing on the 18th tee.”

After setting a Masters record ⁠with a six-shot lead after 36 holes, McIlroy played the final 36 holes in even par. That brought a host of players back into the mix, with at least four different players leading at some point during the final round.

McIlroy admitted that he kept a close eye on the leaderboard after falling back to 9 under to know where he stood in the tournament.

“It was a tough weekend,” he said. “I did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday, ‌but just so happy to hang in there and get the job done.”