It was the tee shot heard around the world. Stood on the first tee at Augusta National, the open and inviting fairway sprawling in front of him, Rory McIlroy assessed a situation he has seen so many times before. 51 times before at a major the Northern Irishman has made the weekend, so often in contention as moving day begins; so often slipping away at some point over the final 36 holes. In this last decade, each despair has brought fresh doubts; every near miss stretching the scarring further across the greatest golfing talent of his generation.
From etiquette to equipment, caddie to coach, just about every aspect of McIlroy’s approach has been questioned in the 11-year drought – the curiosity that is a record-threatening career that as yet feels unfulfilled requiring deep examination. In Masters week, the scrutiny only heightens; while the wardrobe and career grand slam remain incomplete, and until the green jacket is worn, so it will remain.
One would therefore have forgiven McIlroy for a degree of caution as he drew driver from bag at the first. One cannot win the Masters on a Saturday but one can certainly lose it – as McIlroy knows. A fabulous 66 on Friday had seen him surge back into contention but it was a brilliant round that revealed vulnerabilities – a few fairways missed, not all greens found in regulation. Surely this was a time to play the percentages and play it safe; solid, rather than spectacular, to ease into the round.
But that’s not McIlroy’s style. Taking aim over the long bunker that drapes the right edge of the fairway at Tea Olive, McIlroy unfurled a declaration of intent; the crack of club through ball putting a pep in his step as he urged it onwards. There are certain golfers in the field who would dare not try to clear that bunker; for a hitter of such prowess and power, it barely factored into his thinking.
371 yards later, McIlroy’s ball finally came to a halt; a gap wedge in, a short birdie putt, the perfect start. Somehow, it would get even better – the eagle landing at the second, the lead secured with four more threes following. No golfer had ever made three at the first six holes at Augusta; but this, for all his faults, is no other golfer. Come the close, the lead was two after McIlroy’s 66 – a duel again looms with his Pinehurst conqueror Bryson DeChambeau, who found a miracle at the last to take momentum into Sunday.
The electric start enlivened a captivating Saturday to set up a Masters laden with narrative beautifully. Everywhere you looked on “moving day” were tales to tell. Jason Day looked back to somewhere near his best and will have designs on another top ten. Justin Rose showed all of his wiles to stay with the next generation until his strength started to sap. Debutant Matt McCarty was incongruous in exalted company but improbably in touch until the course bit back.
But from the outset, there were a trio to which the eye could not help but be drawn. In Scottie Scheffler, DeChambeau and McIlroy, golf has three men of contrasting character but remarkable talent, each representing a strand of the modern game. A win for any of them would carry meaning beyond the money and famous tailoring: Scheffler becoming just the fourth to repeat here; McIlroy the fifth to complete a grand slam; DeChambeau striking a beefy blow for LIV Golf just when one was needed.
There were bound to be fluctuating fortunes but McIlroy could not have begun any faster. DeChambeau clung gamely to his coattails with the sort of scrambling he has had to add to his game to compete here. Once a man of bold declarations about how he could bash this course into shape, the American has learned to appreciate its beguiling contours and curves. Scheffler, for once, looked flustered, unable to get his game going after failing to convert an immaculate iron into the first green.
When McIlroy somehow salvaged a par at the seventh, it looked like it might be one of those rounds. As it was, a dropped shot arrived before the turn – but one fancies he’d have snapped your hand off standing over that opening drive if you’d offered him a front nine of 32 shots.
To the turn they went to say their prayers and then into Amen Corner, McIlroy on the back of another bogey. A four-shot lead had become one. It felt a worryingly familiar tale, and the worst time for a wobble.
But McIlroy steadied as others faltered. Brash Bryson was back, briefly – imprecision costing DeChambeau after booming drives at 11 and 13, either side of a bunker-inflicted bogey. Corey Conners offered the opposite approach, simple and safe throughout to remain among McIlroy’s closest challengers.
Yet the Northern Irishman ascended again. A doozy of an approach on 15 left him six feet for two more strokes gained; in it went. Only once previously had he recorded two eagles in a single major round, and that ended with a Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
A good omen? Perhaps by now McIlroy is beyond superstition. We have been here before, of course. From Augusta in 2011 to Pinehurst last year, history is instructive, a tournament not over until its over, the presence of DeChambeau a recurring motif. His outstanding finish from the fringe, curling home a putt at the 18th, may in time come to be seen as tournament-turning moment. He is one of few who can stroke-for-stroke with McIlroy, but the psychological battle could be just as fascinating.
But from the very first shot on Saturday, a measured McIlroy looked a Masters winner in waiting – if not now, when?
Masters leaderboard after third round
-12 Rory McIlroy (66)
-10 Bryson DeChambeau (69)
-8 Corey Conners (70)
-6 Patrick Reed (69), Ludvig Aberg (69)
-5 Scottie Scheffler (72), Shane Lowry (72), Jason Day (71), Justin Rose (75)
