AUGUSTA, Ga. – Augusta National Golf Club was an electric factory on Saturday afternoon, so much so that it felt like a Sunday.
Clutch shots.
Standing ovations.
And the roars. Oh, those roars.
Most of the big ones were for Rory McIlroy, who was bucking out of the gates, draining 3s like Steph Curry and nearly putting this 89th Masters to bed a day early. A late eagle gave McIlroy a commanding lead, putting the Northern Irishman on the precipice of completing the career Grand Slam.
But Bryson DeChambeau wasn’t about to let the patrons coronate McIlroy just yet. Playing in the final pairing behind McIlroy, DeChambeau earned ample praise of his own, birdieing three of his last four holes, including a crowd-pumping birdie at the last.
“You can get chills in your body,” DeChambeau said following his 69. “You just feel the euphoria.”
And the best part? They get to do it this all again tomorrow.
That is the hope, at least.
There are other names still technically in it, but make no mistake, this is effectively now a two-horse race: The sentimental favorite versus golf’s greatest showman.
It’s not hard to guess who is who.
McIlroy has scribbled into his yardage book a few reminders to not ride the wave of any momentum too long. He has no plans to look at his phone until Sunday night, and he’ll probably fall asleep again while watching Season 3 of “Bridgerton,” or digest a few more chapters of John Grisham’s “The Reckoning.”
DeChambeau doesn’t mind taking a few more bites of the crowd’s energy. He won’t be scared to dive into his phone – after his lengthy range session, of course – and it’ll be a James Bond movie, not some romance series, on his television.
There is, though, one noticeable commonality between the two titans. When it comes to firepower, no pair rakes better. To nobody’s surprise, DeChambeau leads the field in driving distance through three rounds, at an average of 330.3 yards per poke. McIlroy is right behind him, at 324.9 yards, more than 11 yards longer than the next best competitor.
Rory: Have to live in my own bubble on Sunday
Rory McIlroy reflects on his “dream start” of six straight threes to open Saturday’s Round 3 at the Masters and shares how he needs to stay within himself in what should be a “rowdy” final pairing with Bryson DeChambeau.
A product of anxious energy, McIlroy even gained few extra miles per hour of clubhead speed while warming up on Saturday. He then blew 330-plus-yard drives over carry bunkers on each of the first two holes, starting birdie-eagle and 5 under through five.
His six straight 3s to start the round were a Masters first – and a feat so impressive that when reminded of that run in his presser, McIlroy blinked rapidly while shaking his head in disbelief.
Sure, McIlroy gave a couple back, at Nos. 8 and 10, but after flagging his second shot from 205 yards out at the par-5 15th and rolling in the 7-footer for eagle, McIlroy’s lead was four shots, five over DeChambeau. As he took the steps toward the nearby 16th tee box, McIlroy was showered with applause from the patrons, few of them in their seats and even fewer probably thinking anybody else still had a chance.
But DeChambeau wasn’t about to back down. Why should he? After all, he was the one who took down McIlroy last summer at Pinehurst, following McIlroy’s pair of short misses down the stretch with one of the most iconic shots in recent major history, a 55-yard bunker blast to 4 feet to set up the winning putt while McIlroy watched in agony from inside scoring.
McIlroy says, thankfully, he has a short memory.
DeChambeau, though, has a second U.S. Open trophy. And so, when he birdied Nos. 15 and 16 to reel McIlroy back in and cut the deficit to three, DeChambeau confidently said to himself, “I’m still here.”
With his eyes fixated on getting into Sunday’s final pairing, DeChambeau stared intently at the patrons seated along the hillside across the water from the par-3 16th green, where he dropped his 10-footer for birdie. Two holes later, he poured in another birdie from nearly 50 feet to reach double-digits. At 10 under, he’s just two behind McIlroy (66) and another couple clear of Corey Conners (70) in solo third. No one else is better than 6 under.
Bryson: Finish ‘massive,’ Rory a great challenge
The importance of his 50-foot putt to end Round 3 isn’t lost on Bryson DeChambeau, who adds he needs to dial in his irons before what he anticipates to be a great battle with Rory McIlroy.
As DeChambeau strutted to scoring, security guards gripped the gallery ropes with all their might, their arms stretching to their limits as some patrons pushed forward, just trying to catch a piece of DeChambeau, who gleefully high-fived hand after hand, almost as if he was collecting something.
“Whenever I feel like I feed into the crowd, especially the patrons here, they give that energy back, and it’s a cool feeling,” DeChambeau said.
Not cool is DeChambeau’s iron play. He’s hit just 59% of his greens in regulation so far, including just nine on Saturday. Shots like the 169-yard pitching wedge on No. 14 that came up 20 yards short? Unacceptable, and it’s why DeChambeau shut down the tournament practice area after his third round, pushing his practice ball count to four figures.
When he finds that inside-out feeling where the club face closes smoothly through impact and doesn’t overdraw, then he’ll be done.
While DeChambeau beat balls, McIlroy might’ve already been firing up Netflix. Don’t change a thing, McIlroy’s sports psych, Dr. Bob Rotella, has been telling him these past couple days. Even after that disastrous final hour of McIlroy’s opening round, which included two double bogeys in his last four holes.
“I’ve talked about trying to chase a feeling out there,” McIlroy said. “And if I can go home tonight and look in the mirror before I go to bed and be like, That’s the way I want to feel when I play golf, that, to me, is a victory.”
Tee times and groupings for the final round of the 89th Masters Tournament
DeChambeau was just 17 years old when a 21-year-old McIlroy led the Masters by four shots at this point in 2011. Having never really contended here, DeChambeau doesn’t know what it’s like to have the green jacket ripped from his grasp in such crushing fashion as McIlroy, who closed in 80 that Sunday, now 14 years ago, with 43 of those shots coming on the second nine. All DeChambeau knows is it’s time to push the pedal down, hit every shot to the best of his ability and chase.
Both have tasted major glory, but McIlroy is the one with the most scar tissue. He knows what it’s like to dream and then get hurt, perhaps too much. That’s why he can’t allow himself to dream, not even for a second, until the last putt drops on Sunday.
“I, just as much as anyone else, know what can happen on the final day here,” McIlroy said. “You know, I’ve got a lot of experience. I came in here talking about being the most complete version of myself as a golfer, and you know, I just have to keep reminding myself of that and remind myself that no matter what situation or scenario I find myself in tomorrow, I’ll be able to handle it.”
McIlroy is ready to give this slam another shot.
DeChambeau is ready to stop him.
The question is, are we ready?
“It will be the grandest stage that we’ve had in a long time, and I’m excited for it,” DeChambeau said. “We both want to win really, really badly. … It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”