However, by Saturday night, following a disappointing third-round 73, the Northern Irishman entered the final round tied at 11-under with Cameron Young. But McIlroy became just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters after holding on to beat Scottie Scheffler by one shot on Sunday. And McIlroy has credited his caddie, Harry Diamond, for getting him back on track on Saturday night.
“I think I needed it, and Harry was the one,” he told the Golf Channel. “When we were in scoring, he said, ‘Why don’t we hit a few balls, try to straighten this out? I’ll get over there, do your media, and I’ll get over there.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.’
“I probably would have got to that conclusion anyway, but that little nudge from Harry, it was like, yeah, let’s go and hit some balls. Because you finish late, it would be easy to just get in your car, go home, have some dinner, just want to get to bed.
“But Harry was like, ‘Let’s go figure this out.’ So I get on the range, and honestly, I had a really good session. I just worked on neutralising my ball flight. My swing was getting too in-to-out; my ball was going to right-to-left.
“And when the path gets too much in-to-out, and you’re hitting partial shots, and the body stops, it just goes dead left like the shot I hit on 12 [on Saturday.]
“I neutralised the ball flight. I just got my body working through impact more, and that was the feel I went with [on Sunday]. And I definitely hit the ball better.
“I hit my irons better, and I probably hit the driver better too. I hit more fairways. But that practice session on Saturday night was key.”