Winning isn’t ever easy, and Rory McIlroy’s seemingly smooth journey to back-to-back green jackets hit a series of speedbumps in a mesmerising third round of the Masters tournament at Augusta National as his fallibility combined with the brilliance of his pursuers ensured a six-stroke lead was wiped out.
McIlroy’s rollercoaster 73 ultimately saw him finish on 11-under-par 205 in a share of the lead alongside American Cameron Young, while Shane Lowry – with another hole-in-one to add to his remarkable collection, this time on the sixth – made a move of his own, a 68 for 207 putting him in solo fourth place two shots behind the co-leaders.
Amen Corner may hint at angelic connotations but the stretch of holes from the 11th can inflict devilish wounds, as McIlroy discovered: the Northern Irishman followed a double-bogey on the 11th, where he hit his approach shot into the water left of the green, with a bogey on the par 3 12th. That loss of three strokes to the field enabled his pursuers to close in, ensuring a tantalising Sunday final round ahead.
“I didn’t quite have it today … I’m in a great position, I just know I have to be better [in the final round] to have a chance,” said McIlroy, who had four birdies, three bogeys and one double-bogey in an up-and-down round that enabled the chasers to close in on him.
“When I made the double on 11 I probably got a little uneasy on 12 and 13,” said McIlroy, who bounced back with birdies on 14 and 15 to ensure a present atop the leaderboard, although he headed to the practice range to work on a left miss.
“If I can just get my lower body moving through impact, that should fix it.”
Cameron Young of the United States reacts on the 18th green. Photograph: Hector Vivas/Getty
The two most significant moves of the third round came from Young and world number one Scottie Scheffler, who each posted 65s. For Young, it meant a leapfrogging act of defiance to join McIlroy in a share of the 54-holes lead, while Scheffler’s move saw him finish in tied-seventh, four behind, and with all to play for headed into the final round.
Lowry became the first player in Masters history to claim two holes-in-one. His first came on the 16th in the final round of 2016 but his latest, at the sixth, contrived to propel him into a prime challenging position. “Wild,” said Lowry of the reception that greeted his ace. “I just couldn’t believe it. You’re in the hunt at the Masters and you’re making a hole-in-one, it’s pretty cool. The walk down the sixth hole with everyone around 16 and the 6th was very special.”
With a curriculum vitae of holes-in-one that includes two at Augusta National and also the 17th at TPC Sawgrass and the seventh at Pebble Beach, Lowry has made a habit of acing iconic holes.
“It gives you obviously a huge kind of boost. You go from six-under to eight-under, and then all of a sudden you’re only four back. It’s getting real now. I felt like I did a great job of calming myself down afterwards. Myself and [coach] Neil [Manchip] have talked during the week about the only shot that matters is the next one. I hit a great tee shot on seven, and I was very happy and proud of that one, because it’s easy to get a bit flustered in areas like that. Your adrenaline is pumping.”
For sure, Lowry did a fine job of sticking to the task to the point that the 2019 Open champion – who will play with Sam Burns in the penultimate pairing in the final round – has the opportunity to add a green jacket to the claret jug, having started the day seven behind McIlroy and just two behind through 54 holes.
“I thought if Rory could shoot a 68 today he might run away with the tournament. But the thing is, it’s not easy to go out and go after it when you’re at the top of the leaderboard. Not that it’s easy to do it.
“But when you’re down the field and you’re just having a go at it, it makes it a little bit easier and you can play a bit more freely. When you are out there in the hunt you need to be a little bit more protective of what you are doing. When we get to tomorrow, that’s when, you know, we’ll see what everyone is made of,” said Lowry.
Young, who was four-over through 11 holes of his first round, has shown great resilience of working his way to a share of the lead in his quest to emulate McIlroy’s achievement of a year ago in adding the Masters to The Players championship he won last month.
“I’ll try to run much the same process, same mindset as I did that day [at The Players],” said Young of his thought process, adding:
“I remember I did a great job of just staying where I was, knowing that everybody’s going to do some different things throughout the day. At some point most people are going to go on a run and most people are going to make a bogey or two.
“There’s no saying when that will be for me, but at the end of the day, 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 holes to go. There’s not really much you can change before then.”
All to play for, in truth.
Sunday tee times:
6.52pm: Scottie Scheffler, Haotong Li
7.03pm: Jason Day, Justin Rose
7.14pm: Sam Burns, Shane Lowry
7.25pm: Cameron Young, Rory McIlroy