It wasn’t as easy as it appeared it would be after 36 holes, but Rory McIlroy gathered his game enough over the final 18 holes to become the fourth person to win back-to-back Masters titles. In repeating as the champion, McIlroy joins Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, grabbing his sixth major title in the process.
After a shaky start to the final round, McIlroy rebounded, knocking his approach shot tight at No.7 and following it up with a sweeping 6-iron into the par-5 eighth that led to a pair of much-needed birdies to steady things after losing the lead he shared at the start of the round.
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Perhaps more important was a gutsy 9-iron tee shot at the 155-yard, par-3 12th that finished seven feet from the hole, leading to another birdie on a hole where many are just trying to stay dry. That was followed by a 350-yard bomb off the tee on the par-5 13th that fueled another birdie.
“The tee shot on 12 and the one on 13 were the key shots,” McIlroy said in his interview in Butler Cabin.
The two-time Masters champion uses a split set of TaylorMade irons, utilising a P760 4-iron and Rors prototype muscleback-blade irons along with the company’s Milled Grind 5 wedges. The irons have Project X 7.0 steel shafts while the wedges are Project X 6.5.
Although he was sketchy with his TaylorMade Qi4D driver with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft, McIlroy used the club as an effective weapon in birdieing Nos. 7, 8 and 13. He also led the field in driving distance at 334 yards per measured drive – five yards longer than the next nearest competitor.
On the greens, McIlroy wielded a TaylorMade Spider Tour X X3 mallet. The putter is 34.5 inches in length with 3 degrees of loft and a short slant hosel. It also features TaylorMade’s “True Roll” insert and a SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip.
The clubs Rory McIlroy used to win the 2026 Masters:
Ball: TaylorMade TP5
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (Fujikura Ventus Black 6X), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 15 degrees
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 18 degrees
Irons (4): TaylorMade P760; (5-9): TaylorMade Rors prototype
Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 5 (46, 50, 54, 60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X X3
