Rory McIlroy is a Masters champion once again, and he employed some familiar frosty tactics to capture his second green jacket.
Heading into Sunday, McIlroy and Cam Young were tied at 11-under par — setting them up as the final pairing for the fourth round of the tournament.
And a year after Bryson DeChambeau revealed that the Northern Irishman didn’t speak to him while they played together, it seems that McIlroy and Young had the same dynamic.
“I’m not one to talk a ton to begin with. And I don’t think he really wanted to talk to me today,” Young told reporters.
“Sunday at the Masters in the final group — we don’t wish anything poorly on the guy, but we’re playing against each other. I’m not trying to be best friends out there.”
Once again, McIlroy’s steely focus served him well, as he went on to hold off Young and a host of other challengers to finish atop the leaderboard at 12-under.
Scottie Scheffler finished just one stroke back at 11-under, while Young finished one stroke back of that in a tie for third with Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley and Justin Rose.
Young took a two-shot lead after McIlroy double bogeyed the fourth hole but the New York native was unable to recover after he made bogeys on six, seven and nine.
Last year, DeChambeau was paired with McIlroy for the final day of action, with the American two strokes back of McIlroy’s 12-under mark after three rounds.
And after McIlroy defeated Rose in a memorable playoff for the title, DeChambeau bristled to reporters that his pairing partner wasn’t overly friendly.
“Didn’t talk to me once all day,” DeChambeau said last year. “He wouldn’t talk to me. He was just like – just being focused, I guess. It’s not me, though.”
To that, McIlroy fired back: “I don’t know what he was expecting. We’re trying to win the Masters. I’m not going to try to be his best mate out there.”
Prior to that tournament, McIlroy’s sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, even told the BBC that the tunnel vision he employed at Augusta “was just the game plan all week.”
McIlroy may not have made a new “best friend” playing with Young, but his second green jacket in as many years will certainly keep him satisfied.
