McIlroy’s backslide sets up another dramatic final round at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — They say The Masters doesn’t begin until the second nine on Sunday. 

This year, well, it started a day early. 

With Rory McIlroy starting the day up by six shots — a record advantage through 36 holes — it was likely set to be a march to the champions’ locker room once again for the defending champion. But this is a guy who had a five-shot lead last year and then ended up in a playoff. 

McIlroy let everyone back into the championship Saturday with a 1-over 73 and sits at 11 under through three days, tied with Cameron Young. His six-shot advantage evaporated before happy hour at T-Bonz Steakhouse down Washington Rd. 

Young fired a 7-under 65, the round of the day, and after starting Saturday eight shots back — and after requiring 40 shots to get around the front nine on Thursday — Young will be right there in the final pairing with the defending champion instead of needing to stage a furious final-round comeback.

He’s also looking to become the third golfer in a row to win The Players Championship and the Masters in the same year, with McIlroy doing it in 2025 and Scottie Scheffler in 2024. It’s been a steady build for Young, who had recorded seven runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour before finally breaking through for his first career victory at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. 

After that triumph, he was the biggest star for the American side at the Ryder Cup in September. He started 2026 by recording two top-10 finishes at signature events prior to his victory at TPC Sawgrass. 

“It started with some really small things, and now I feel just much more comfortable, I would say, than before. It’s hard to say exactly what it is, but I feel like it’s just been very small things over the course of the last year or so that have just built up some steam,” Young said. “I feel very comfortable with my game.”

Young made just one bogey Saturday, on the par-5 15th, but was otherwise extremely solid. He missed just two greens and made back-to-back birdies on three separate occasions. When you’re playing that well, Young said, the key is to make things as easy as possible. 

“There’s no reason to take any unnecessary risk when, if you’re hitting it well, you’re going to have opportunities. If you hit it to 20 feet all day, you’re going to make a couple. If you’re aiming 20 feet, 25 feet all day, you’re going to hit a couple closer than you mean to,” Young explained. “I just took the opportunity to try to make sure I had those opportunities. 

“You just are constantly aware of the fact that this place can bite you. So, to me, it’s just a really, really clear mandate that an easy par is never bad, and if you’re playing that well, you’re going to back your way into some birdies at some point.”

It was not all bad for McIlroy, despite the fact that his Saturday score made him feel otherwise. 

McIlroy and Young played together for Thursday and Friday and will enter the final day with some history on their side — each of the last nine Masters winners were in the final pairing heading into Sunday. McIlroy said it would be a comfortable pairing for them both. 

McIlroy started with a bogey but got it right back with a birdie — after a huge drive to just beside the green — on the par-4 3rd. He added another birdie on No. 10 before making a mess of Amen Corner, hitting it in the water on the par-4 11th en route to a double bogey, and then missing the green on No. 12, leading to another bogey. 

He regained the lead after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 — with the one on 14 a lengthy one that could have signalled a turning point. But he missed the fairway, again, on No. 17 (he ranks last in the post-cut field in fairways hit) and was forced to punch out from the trees. Another bogey. 

McIlroy ended up being only one of two golfers in the top 15 on the leaderboard who were over par for their third round. 

“This golf course has a way of, you know, when you’re not quite feeling it, you struggle,” McIlroy admitted. “You know, there’s a lot of guys in with a chance tomorrow. I’m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can’t forget that, but I do know I’m going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win.”

McIlroy headed right to the driving range to try to sort things out after his round but recalled how, last year heading into the playoff, his caddie Harry Diamond said they would have absolutely taken that particular position if they were offered it Monday morning. On the surface, co-leading the Masters after 54 holes feels very similar. 

“I have to look at the positives even though there isn’t that many to take today,” McIlroy said. “You know, I did bounce back. I hit some good shots coming in. 

“I’m in a great position. I just know I need to be better tomorrow to have a chance.”

With McIlroy having won both The Players and the Masters a year ago, Young was quick to point to his own Players Championship victory as a solid warm-up for this particular Sunday. He said at his press conference at TPC Sawgrass that he was really trying to get ready to play late on the weekend at Augusta National. Now we’re here. Late tee time in the final round of the first major of the season. 

And he’s got plenty to lean on. 

“I’ll try to run much of the same process, same mindset as I did that day. I remember I did such a great job of just staying where I was, knowing that everybody’s going to do some different things throughout the day,” Young said. “You just have to stay kind of in your lane and play the best golf you can and see where you are with a couple of holes to go.”

After a drama-filled Saturday that has let so many back into the championship, the final round can’t arrive soon enough.