In Augusta you have to take many streets and build from there,” say Jon Rahm and other Orthodox. The rule is applied on Saturday, the day of the movement, by Scottie Scheffler, the world number 1, and especially Cameron Young, the number 3, still without greats in his showcase, but an exceptional player. They delivered two 65s in an Augusta National that is beginning to have brown tones on the greens due to the severe heat, a symptom of extreme hardness, but that on the third day set out flags for the brave ones to try to put pressure on Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman regained the lead at the end, although with many bruises. He played over par (73), the only one among the top 17 of the tournament to do so. Disastrous for your interests. There will be Masters until the last 9 holes on Sunday.
Rory is defying the proclaimed maxim of how Augusta National is played. He was the leader with a six-stroke advantage and second to last in the streets taken statistic after two rounds. It is already the last in this section. Because on Saturday he continued along similar paths, without finding the same result. While they charged everywhere, he went through continuous moments of doubt, so much so that Young even passed him when the outstanding merit of a player who signed seven under par, despite falling into the lake on the 15th hole, was linked to a similar short at the Amen Corner of the current champion. (Results)
Rory had not played well even in the most symbolic corner of world golf. He had started with a bogey and had wasted the two par 5s on the first nine holes. Yes, that’s right, he had hit a dream shot on the 3rd (par 4) when he hit the green with the driver in one shot. 350 yards almost flying. A wild one. He brushed against the eagle.
The public celebrates a birdie by Cameron Young
He still faced the last 9 holes with confidence, those of Friday’s exhibition, where he had made a profit in both rounds. Six under par on the previous afternoon. He made a birdie on 10 and moved up to -13. It coincided in time with Young’s hit into the water, which seemed to abort the insurrection he had fueled with his erratic play. But he is such a great player, who sometimes makes inexplicable decisions.
On the 11th fairway, the hole that leads to Amen Corner, he was filled with ambition. “I’m going to continue attacking,” he had warned. He chose the worst moment to not measure the strategy. The flag was very close to Rae’s Creek, a pond that protects that hole on the left, and he rushed his shot so much that it bounced off the green and banked to the fatal side. He dropped and made a very short putt. A double bogey that reduced the gap with the American, an exceptional competitor, from three to one, who also had the saint in his face. Three balls bounced off the trees and returned to the fairway during his return.
Young responded on the 16th (par 3) with another worthwhile putt to move up to 11 under par and Rory, on the 12th, the par 3 in the heart of Amen Corner, I send it almost to the flowers. It cost him another bogey that made him jump out of the lead. To top it off, his shot at the exit of the sacred place, a par 5, the 13th, which was reachable in two, went to the deepest pinnace. He has played 12 par 5s and has only hit one fairway in these sections. It’s amazing that he played them at eight under par.
Scheffler plays a shot in the third round
McIlroy has worked like no one else this Masters. Since resigning from Arnold Palmer in mid-March Due to back problems, he has traveled several times every week from Jupiter (Florida) to Augusta by plane – an hour’s flight – to train for defense. He didn’t tense his expression when bad news came. He faced the 14th and made a putt from four meters to get his fist out and return to the co-leadership. In the next one, the last of the par 5s, which he remembers because there on Sunday 2025 he hit the big shot of his life, added another birdie and returned to the 12 under par with which he had started the day. Another visit to the woods in the 17th brought him back to Young’s side.
Now, anyway, the fight for the green jacket is very open. Burns is one shot away and Shane Lowry, who made a hole in one on 6 and is already the only player in history with two aces (the other in 2016) at the National, is three away. The door is even open for Scheffler who, with four hits, could copy the sequence that Arnold Palmer performed in even-numbered years in the 1960s. The King won four like that. Number 1 has two (2022 and 2024). References like Nicklaus and Tiger needed eight Masters to have three jackets. This is the Texan’s seventh participation in Augusta. It is clear that the outcome will be historic.