AUGUSTA, Ga. — After a rocky start, Rory McIlroy’s owns a four-shot lead through nine holes at Augusta National Sunday.
It took two holes for Bryson DeChambeau to surpass McIlroy on the leaderboard and quickly cast doubt on McIlroy’s chances of finally winning the Masters. Two holes later, McIlroy showed he could take a punch and recover.
A day after setting a Masters record by starting with six consecutive threes, McIlroy took a double-bogey six on the first hole, giving back two strokes. It was only the second double bogey Sunday on the opening hole.
DeChambeau, who started the day two back, parred the first hole to forge the tie.
Then, just as he did on the first hole, McIlroy wound up with his drive in a fairway bunker on No. 2. He scrambled to make par, but DeChambeau countered with a birdie to take a one-stroke lead.
McIlroy rebounded under immense early-round pressure with birdies on the third and fourth holes to reclaim a three-stroke lead.
They both hit par on the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth holes. McIlroy delivered birdies on the ninth and 10th holes while DeChambeau settled for two more pars.
Justin Rose has rallied to pass DeChambeau for second on the leaderboard at 10-under through 13 holes. DeChambeau is one stroke behind in third.
This marks the first time McIlroy and DeChambeau have been in the same pairing at a major championship.
Follow the Masters leaderboard here and check back soon for more updates.
