Rory McIlroy became the fifth back-to-back winner of the Masters, winning his sixth major after holding off the challenge of world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose on a scintillating Sunday at Augusta.

The Ulsterman joined the exclusive club of grand slam winners in emotional fashion last year after overcoming Rose in a playoff, but had to fight his way back to the top of the leaderboard on Sunday after trailing Rose, overnight co-leader Cameron Young and even Russell Henley at different points during a rollercoaster final round.

After two days this tournament had seemed as good as over, with McIlroy six shots clear – the greatest margin in Masters history after 36 holes – and playing with a peace and tranquility that comes with being the defending champion.

But a one-over 73 on Saturday gave hope to those in pursuit and rocked McIlroy’s confidence, forcing him to seek answers at the practice range deep into Saturday evening.

If there was one thing that stood out about the chasing pack on Sunday morning, it was the quality of those golfers willing and able to chase.

Sam Burns and Cam Young are the young bucks of the PGA Tour, both seeking a first major after success on tour and Ryder Cup appearances. Justin Rose, Jason Day and Shane Lowry are all major winners with the experience and temperament to mount a Sunday pursuit while Scottie Scheffler is Scottie Scheffler. If you need to know more than that then welcome to your first Masters – have you tried the pimento cheese?

With the most bunched leaderboard for a Sunday morning since 2017, it was still only the final four pairings really in contention, and even then needing to play the best golf of their life to have a chance. The first hour or two posed a question of who could make gains or even just stay in the hunt.

Burns was the first to fall out of it. Louisiana born-and-bred, Burns had managed to play some highly competitive golf all weekend and shot under-par all weekend – which was more than could be said of McIlroy, Scheffler and others – but a bogey on the first and a double-bogey second sunk him simply too far back to recover.

As Burns retreated from the battle, the overnight co-leaders continued to jostle for position in the final pairing. Elsewhere, Rose became only the second golfer to birdie the fifth on Sunday to put him level with Scheffler in a tie for third. The race was showing signs of being down to just five.

Shane Lowry was the next to drop, finding sand from his tee shot on five but, significantly, catching the front wall of the bunker on his second shot with an iron that ended up further from the hole than where he had started. By the time the ball was eventually in the hole, he had carded a double-bogey six and plunged down the leaderboard to further narrow the hunt. Day followed soon after.

There was always likely to be one interloper, and Henley turned out to be that guy. The 37-year-old is something of a local favourite, hailing from down the road in Macon, Georgia, and had four birdies through the first eight holes to be tied for second. Somewhat understated, Henley had four top-10 finishes in his last eight majors and has figured out how to compete at the highest level.

At different times we had almost all possible combinations of leaders. McIlroy and Young began the day joint, then Young had sole custody before Rose joined him, Young took a step back and then Rose had it all to himself for a while. While Henley appeared from nowhere to hold the joint-lead, a bogey on 12 set him back into the chasing pack, where he would remain for the rest of the day after missing too many key putts.

By just after 5pm, five golfers were separated by just one shot; McIlroy the sole leader and four on his tail. His par putt on the 11th prevented him falling back to a five-way tie for the lead that essentially would have started the tournament again – a mini-Masters for the select few.

When it mattered, though, Young continued to err and McIlroy surged.

On 12, he went closer to the pin than anyone else had on Sunday to pick up another shot. He then birdied the 13th to open up a two-shot lead on his familiar foes, Rose and Scheffler.

In the end, Scheffler’s undoubted class was not enough to overcome the mistakes of Thursday and Friday. A two-over 74 in his second round had stranded him down the leaderboard and while he threatened a memorable Sunday charge he never led the Masters and 11 straight pars on Sunday featured a number of missed opportunities to press the defending champ.

Rose kept himself in the battle all day but went bogey, bogey and then three-putted for par through Amen Corner. Those holes, in the end, were the difference between him and his Ryder Cup teammate who picked up shots on the most (in)famous three-hole stretch in golf and used that momentum to carry him over the finish line.

A winner had not come from outside the final pairing since Englishman Danny Willett stunned the golfing world a decade ago this week, and McIlroy’s scramble to save par on 15 averted the final true threat to this remarkable achievement, becoming only the fourth person ever to defend a Masters championship.

Ultimately, though, this win figures to be a milestone for much greater achievements for McIlroy, a man who must now look at major wins as a counting stat rather than singular peaks of a career.

By entering the grand slam club last year, McIlroy confirmed his place among the all-time greats. How many more he can add to his six major triumphs will decide exactly where he sits in the golfing pantheon.