Back-to-Back Masters Winners: Rory McIlroy Joins in 2026
Which golfers qualify as back-to-back Masters winners? Get a list of players that have successfully defended their Masters title.
sports.betmgm.comHere’s the latest on back-to-back Masters winners:
- Rory McIlroy won back-to-back Masters titles in 2025 and 2026, becoming the first to defend the green jacket since Tiger Woods in 2001–2002. This achievement places him in an exclusive club of players who have won consecutive Masters titles.[2][3][9]
- The only other players to have defended the Masters successfully are Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus (multiple era), and Nick Faldo, with Woods the most recent example prior to McIlroy’s 2025–2026 run.[3][9]
- In total, back-to-back Masters champions are rare; McIlroy’s 2026 victory marks the fourth time a player has won consecutive titles at Augusta after Woods, Faldo, and Nicklaus. Most sources confirm this small, elite group and highlight McIlroy’s place among them.[9][2]
If you’d like, I can pull a concise timeline of all Masters champions who won in consecutive years, with exact years and margins of victory, and format it as a quick-reference list.