AUGUSTA, Ga. – A furious weekend rally came up one shot short for Scottie Scheffler at the 2026 Masters Tournament.

Starting the weekend 12 shots behind Rory McIlroy, the world No. 1 got back into the mix with a third-round 65. He followed with a bogey-free 68 to make up 11 shots against McIlroy, but ultimately fell just short of his bid to become the fastest ever to three green jackets at Augusta National Golf Club.

Scheffler got within two shots of McIlroy after birdies on Nos. 15 and 16, but was unable to get any closer as McIlroy closed out the one-shot victory despite a bogey on the 72nd hole.

Scheffler became the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at the Masters, but it wasn't enough. Scheffler finished alone in second, with four players tied for third at 10 under.

“I gave myself some opportunities,” Scheffler said. “Disappointing par on 13, and wasn’t able to get it in the fairway on 14, that was a shot I’d like to have back. But then good birdies on (Nos.) 15 and 16, and really great stuff on 17. I hit two really good shots into 18 and the second shot just came up short.”

Scheffler entered the week as the tournament favorite, looking to win his third major out of the last four and his third Masters title in just his seventh start. Although he missed some opportunities on the second nine Sunday while trying to close the gap on McIlroy and the other leaders, Scheffler pointed to his early-week struggles – particularly a 2-over 74 in the second round – as the primary source of regret.

The second round snapped a run of 11 straight scores of par or better at Augusta National for Scheffler, and in his mind, it was the chief reason why he was watching the green jacket ceremony instead of participating in it for the first time since 2021.

“I’d say Friday probably hurt the most in terms of my chances of winning,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t see many birdies out there Thursday afternoon, so going out on Friday, whatever they did to the greens to soften them up, they did some stuff. And I just wasn’t able to take advantage of that going out early on Friday.”

This is Scheffler's third career runner-up in a major, to go alongside his T2 finishes at the 2022 U.S. Open and 2023 PGA Championship. He has now finished T7 or better in six straight majors and eight of his last nine.

Based on recent history, it was a rare setback on a major stage for Scheffler – particularly given the fact that he played his last 39 holes without dropping a shot. But ultimately, the deficit proved just a little too big to overcome.

“Overall I’m not going to hold too many regrets, but yeah, definitely a little disappointed now,” Scheffler said. “But like I said, I started the weekend 12 shots back and ended up only one shot back. If I am going to blame anything, I should probably blame the first two rounds before I start looking at stuff from my last couple.”