Key events
The leading duo will need to keep looking over their shoulder for Ludvig Åberg. The 25-year-old Swede finished second last year on debut, and he fancies the same again, perhaps even more. He sends his tee shot at the par-three 6th pin high to 20 feet, then rolls in the left-to-right swinger for his second birdie of the day. He’s just four off the lead, and Rory’s in a spot of bother on 5 in the pines.
-12: McIlroy (4)
-9: DeChambeau (4)
-8: Åberg (6)
Rory strokes in the birdie putt, and what a comeback this has been! He’s now got a bigger lead than he had at the start of the round. What a very strange game golf is. But there’s no way this is over, because he flays a wild drive at 5 into the trees down the right, while Bryson splits the fairway. Expect quite a lot more to-ing and fro-ing. Good luck confidently predicting the outcome!
-12: McIlroy (4)
-9: DeChambeau (4)
-7: Åberg (5)
-6: Rose (7), Day (5), Conners (5)
-5: Im (9), Homa (9), Scheffler (6)
Bryson is faced with a 75-foot putt from the fringe at the back. A huge left-to-right break. He sets it off with too much pace, and it only starts breaking when ten feet past the hole. He can’t make the one coming back, and Rory’s two-stroke lead is restored. And he’s got a birdie putt from eight feet coming up! Meanwhile Justin Rose isn’t giving this up yet. Birdie at 7 and he’s back to -6. Another fist pump.
Well, well, well. Hats off to Rory McIlroy, because he looked so anguished after the body blows of 1 and 2. But he’s already come back from a dark spot once this week – responding to those late double bogeys on Thursday with a spotless 66 the day after – and he’s fighting his way out of this one too. Having wrested the lead back off his playing partner, he’s now cracked his tee shot at the 232-yard par-three 4th pin high, giving himself a good look at birdie from nine feet. Now it’s Bryson’s turn to look a little rattled, and the pull that was afflicting him yesterday returns with a vengeance, his ball toppling off the back-left of the green with the pin front right. But if anyone has the scrambling skills to save par from here, it’s Bryson, who kept on doing it yesterday. This already has the feel of a duel for the ages.
Bryson’s chip onto the 3rd green only just holds. The ball threatens to topple back down the bank but stays up. Rory meanwhile gathers himself at last, lobbing elegantly up the bank to nine feet. Bryson to putt first from 30 feet. He misreads, the ball breaking nine feet left of the flag. Some work to do. Rory then cranks up the matchplay-style pressure by steering in his left-to-right birdie curler … and Bryson, having changed his mind twice over the line to take, misses his par putt to the left! The lead flips again!
-11: McIlroy (3)
-10: DeChambeau (3)
-7: Åberg (4)
-6: Conners (4)
-5: Im (8), Rose (6), Z Johnson (6), Scheffler (5), Day (4)
It’s back-to-back bogeys for Justin Rose. He does extremely well to lag a 93-foot putt up the monster 5th green to five feet, but doesn’t look comfortable over the par putt and he’s back where he started the day at -5. “Should we start calling Rory ‘Shark’?” wonders Rich Fulcher.
Two putts from 30 feet – the first lagged up nicely to kick-in distance – scrambles par at 2 for Rory McIlroy. Bryson DeChambeau, who had pulled his approach 60 feet to the left, appears to seriously underhit his first putt, but it keeps on trickling, trickling, trickling and finally stops eight feet from the cup. He tidies up for his birdie, and grabs the lead. Two holes that’s taken to overturn.
-11: DeChambeau (2)
-10: McIlroy (2)
-7: Åberg (3), Conners (2)
-5: Rose (5), Z Johnson (5), Lowry (4), Day (3), Reed (2)
Rory McIlroy is seriously shaken all right. His wedge into 2 from 90 yards, his third shot, is no good at all, failing to release after checking, and stops 30 feet from the hole. He closes his eyes in despair, cocks back his head, then squats down on his haunches, three more juicy titbits for the cod psychologists among us. None of that looks promising, and that’s before we get to the actual golf. “I think he missed his spot by ten yards,” suggest Sky’s Butch Harmon of Rory’s wedge in.
Justin Rose hands back one of his early birdies by three-putting 4. The tee shot was nowhere close, but the first putt was a big misread, ten feet too long and wide left. He slips back to -6. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy whips out of the fairway bunker on 2, after looking ruefully at the initial mark made by his ball on the face. A foot higher and his drive would have cleared the trap. The small margins.
A palpable sense of shock around the 1st green. Rory not quite in 2011 Thousand-Yard Stare Mode yet, but he does look slightly stunned. And then, having watched Bryson rip a huge drive down the left of 2, he finds fairway sand again. About as disastrous a start as he could have feared. Too much thinking? Certainly in the pre-round interviews with CBS, there was a faint whiff of anxiety as he explained how he’d spent all morning trying to think about anything but golf. Bryson by contrast used the word “fun” once and “excited” twice. A lot for bar-room psychologists to unpack there. Pull up a stool and join me.
Another birdie for Justin Rose, this time at 3. Shane Lowry birdies 2. And Max Homa, who only just survived the halfway cut, birdies 5 and 6. Meanwhile back on 1, Rory McIlroy’s approach pings 15 feet past the flag. His par putt slips by on the left, a good four feet past. And he can’t make the one coming back. A double-bogey disaster to start for McIlroy, whose lead has evaporated in the shortest of orders! Bryson DeChambeau gets up and down for his par, and now look. Now look!
-10: McIlroy (1), DeChambeau (1)
-7: Rose (3), Åberg (2), Conners (1)
-6: Lowry (2)
-5: Homa (6), Z Johnson (3), Scheffler (3), Day (2), Reed (1)
Poor Corey Conners. A third wheel. And now he’s just yipped a par putt on 1 from little more than 12 inches. Back to -7, and that’s the sort of gaffe that can shred the nervous system to ribbons. Mind you, behind him, Bryson’s route to the green is obscured by trees, and he can only punch out to the apron, while Rory, faced with the steep bank of the bunker, is forced to take his medicine and chip out. So both fighting to save their pars.
“Fore please! Now driving, Rory McIlroy!” His tee shot dunks into the bunker down the right of the fairway. We don’t get a view of it, but it sounded like it plugged. Bryson DeChambeau up next, and he hoicks his drive into the pines down the left. Will either player have a shot into the green? Both with nerves a-jangling all right. And with that, destiny is set in motion.
Min Woo Lee holes out from the bunker at the back of 18, just like Rory McIlroy did three years ago when shooting a final-day 64. Then his playing partner Justin Thomas bundles a chip up from the bank to the left of the green, and that disappears for birdie as well. They finish +6 and +2 respectively, and in a good humour. They could sell those two shots for a big chunk of change later on.
Corey Conners will believe he can nip between Rory and Bryson as they trade blows, and steal away with the Green Jacket. Why not? He’s already got three top-ten finishes here on his resumé, and has the steady fairways-and-greens game that works real nice around Augusta National. He whacks his opening drive down the middle. Meanwhile up on the green, it’s an opening birdie for last year’s runner-up Ludvig Åberg, who moves to -7, and won’t consider himself out of this just yet.
Opening pars for Scottie Scheffler and Shane Lowry. They remain at -5. Im Sung-jae is no longer alongside them, having been unable to get up and down from the bunker guarding the front-right of the par-three 4th. The 2020 runner-up slips back to -4.
Nothing went right for Justin Rose yesterday. His flat stick was stone cold, he shot 75, he spent a fair proportion of the round grumbling away at his perceived bad luck. But he’s in a much chipper mood this afternoon. Sending your approach on 1 from 162 yards to eight feet, then rolling in the birdie putt tends to help with stuff like that. A little fist pump, then a giggle with his caddie, and he moves to -6. Again, like Collin Morikawa, he’s surely too far behind to have much of a chance of winning, unless both Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau do a Ken Venturi. (Jack Burke Jr came from eight back on Sunday in 1956 to win, but he needed the then-amateur Venturi to collapse to 80 to pip him by a stroke.) Still, let’s rule nothing out yet.
Quite a few experts tipped the in-form Collin Morikawa this week. It’s not quite happened for the 2020 PGA and 2021 Open champion, but he’s not been far off, coming into the final day having posted two level-par rounds of 72 sandwiching a 69. He’s surely too far off the pace to threaten today, unless the wheels come off all three of the leading trio, but he’s just followed up birdie at 2 by stroking a 25-footer across 3 for another. Im Sung-jae meanwhile birdies 2, and these lads are the first pair to make inroads near the top of the leader board.
-12: McIlroy
-10: DeChambeau
-8: Conners
-6: Reed, Åberg
-5: Morikawa (3), Im (3), Day, Scheffler, Lowry, Rose
Hideki Matsuyama can’t get up and down from the bunker at the front of 18, and finishes his week with his first bogey of the day. Such a shame but that’s a 66 for the former champ, a full 13-shot improvement on yesterday’s fiasco. He ends his Tournament at -2, and is the early clubhouse leader. “Matsuyama’s combo has a real Fenerbahçe vibe to it with that canary and navy,” observes Grant Tennille. I was thinking Boca Juniors, but we can go with Fener. He’s at least refrained from making a lunge for playing partner Akshay Bhatia’s nose, you’ll be pleased to hear.
The first match is back in the clubhouse. Lone wolf Brian Campbell sends his second over the flag to 14 feet, then hits his putt 13 feet and 11 inches. Shame, one more turn and he’d have finished the week at level par. But that’s a final round of 68 that’ll earn the world number 113 a few extra pounds and points.
It’s Rory McIlroy’s turn to chat to the Tiffany Network, and he’s asked how he whiled away the hours this morning. “Fortunately Sunday mornings are good for sport … I watched Carlos Alcaraz play tennis in Monte Carlo … a little bit of soccer … a little bit of F1 … just tried to keep myself distracted with other sports … but once you get to the golf course things kind of settle down and you get into your routine … you get going and do what’s familiar, which is comforting … just trying to go through my strategy for today … turn up with the same attitude I’ve had the last three days … I’m certainly not expecting to get off to that start again [the six consecutive threes at the start of yesterday’s round] … just hitting the first fairway, the first green, then go from there … I can only control the moment that’s right in front of me … that starts on the first tee shot … if I can do a good job controlling those moments thereafter I’ll be in a good spot.”
Bryson DeChambeau, who spent a loooong time on the range yesterday evening, is asked by CBS Sports what he was up to. “Getting my face alignment a little more consistent … that’s what you gotta do to get your golf ball around here … hopefully it pays off today … I’m just excited … I’m excited for the opportunity … I’m gonna have a lot of fun today … it’s going to be a great battle.”
Also going along very nicely today: Brian Campbell. The low amateur at the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, the 32-year-old Californian is making his Masters debut this week, reward for winning his first PGA Tour event a couple of months ago at the Mexico Open. He’s going round with a marker, Augusta National member and Jeff Knox de nos jours Michael McDermott, a player who has also made his mark in the amateur game, beating future pro JB Holmes at the 2003 US Amateur. Anyway, Campbell’s made seven birdies through 17 holes, three bogeys taking off some of the shine. But not all of it. Par up the last and he’ll be signing for a valedictory 68. He’s +1 for the Tournament.
… and to illustrate, here’s Hideki Matsuyama. The 2021 champion was very much in the hunt going into Moving Day, starting his round a mere five strokes behind the 36-hole leader Justin Rose. But the 33-year-old Japanese fell out of contention in grim style, shooting a birdie-free, seven-over 79. Today however he’s back to his blistering best, with birdies at 3, 6, 8, 9, 14 and now 15. No dropped shots yet, and he’s hauled his way back up the standings to -2. It’s not quite up there with Nick Dunlap’s 90-71, but it’s quite the turnaround nonetheless, and a fine example of the possibilities out there today.
The weather gods are smiling on Augusta National today. It’s sunny, as warm as it’s been all week, and there’s not too much in the way of wind. A light swirl here or there may cause some indecision and a little local difficulty, but nothing that should cause too much concern. There’s a score out there. Go get it.
Preamble
There really is no need for the hard sell. Not when this is on offer. Not when it could finally happen. You know. It.
Group 27, 2.30pm, Rory McIlroy 204, Bryson DeChambeau 206
Corey Conners may also have something to say about that, as might a few assorted others, but let’s not waste precious energy on idle speculation. Because we’re going to need every drop of the stuff when things get real. Because they will, they certainly will. Here are the tee times. This blog will get going at 6pm BST. Emotion guaranteed. Drama for sure. Tears of one variety or another certain. It’s on!
-12: McIlroy
-10: DeChambeau
-8: Conners
-6: Reed, Åberg
-5: Day, Scheffler, Lowry, Rose
-4: Z Johnson, Echavarria, Schauffele, Im
-3: Homa, Morikawa, Hovland
