There is a feeling in the air this morning that something special awaits. Justin Ray is the best stats man in golf and points out this is the first time since 1996 that the final Sunday pairing comprises two multiple major champions. If we get anything as dramatic as that year we will be in for a treat. Greg Norman infamously had a four-shot lead after seven holes that year, but then suffered one of sport’s most indelible implosions. Nick Faldo had a great round of 67 while Norman faded to a disastrous 78. Faldo had been six behind at the start of play and won by five.
Everyone has a view here. It almost feels like a big title fight with every opinion challenged by a counter. It will take an all-round game of mind and body. Faldo says he had to decide on what mental approach to take this week. “Am I free as a bird or on a mission?” He has gone for the latter to telling effect. So far.
DeChambeau is chasing his third major after two wins at the US Open
PETTER ARVIDSON/BILDBYRAN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
No amount of mental strength will help if the game is not firing. McIlroy has been striking the ball beautifully this week, and his wedge play from around 100 yards has been a treat. DeChambeau’s 50-foot putt on the 54th hole could prove a momentum shift, but it will be interesting to see how McIlroy keeps cool when DeChambeau is contemplating all angles and options.
They are the longest off the tee but history suggests approach play is the key to the Masters. Jordan Spieth, Danny Wilett and Tiger Woods led the field in strokes-gained-approach when they won at Augusta in the last decade. Putting is always crucial but if those irons leave the ball below the hole that becomes much easier. Of course, everyone is talking about Rory v Bryson, but Corey Conners is only four behind. Patrick Reed has won here. Ludvig Aberg has been runner-up. Those two are only four behind DeChambeau. The 2nd here is a birdie, even eagle chance, and a two-stroke lead can go in quick time. Then the danger on the back nine at Augusta, through Amen Corner, and with the water on the 15th and 16th, is made for thrills. You never know but this could be the best day here since Woods defied the taunt of time in 2019.
Owen Slot, Augusta
I’ve just been down around the first tee where the atmosphere very much reflects the state of the event. There is a lot of intermingling around the clubhouse and in front of it. A lot of socialising. A lot of shopping. The first players went out over two hours ago, but the numbers around the first tee haven’t formed and there is little of that electricity of expectation. The crowds around the putting green behind the 10th have hardly gathered either. Everyone, it seems, is waiting for something to happen. We all know what that is and it is still two hours away.
The leaders will tee off in less than two and a half hours now, but while we wait let’s take a look at some of the players lower down the field. The 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama has made a blistering start, reaching the turn at four under to get back to level par, while the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood has also got off to a flyer with birdies at the opening two holes.
Joaquín Niemann and Jon Rahm are on the tee next with the LIV players, who scraped into the weekend, hoping to build on improved rounds of 70 yesterday.
Conditions look very pleasant at Augusta, with temperatures rising throughout the day. Temperatures will be about 20 degrees celsius when Rory McIlroy heads out at 19.30 BST, 14.30 across the pond. Very little wind as well — decent scoring conditions?
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In a word, no. No one out on course has an even score or better for the tournament as it stands, though Hideki Matsuyama is quietly putting together a nice round. He’s two under thru seven holes, with a birdie on the par-three 6th, landing his tee shot eight feet from the pin and putting in easily. Lovely.
Owen Slot in Augusta
I just want to share this with you because it tells us something about Georgia… I was reminded of it this morning on my morning jog (humble brag): a restaurant that I ran past called “Wife Saver”. I mean, really? You can get away with that? I’m taking my wife out to dinner to save her having to cook for me at home. Because that’s her role in life. In Georgia, maybe.
Anyway, this isn’t a blog post intended to deride unreconstructed Georgia men, because the news here is that Wife Saver was all boarded up. So while I’m not sure if Wife Saver is just closed for refurbishment, I’d rather go with the other interpretation: that Georgia has entered the 21st century and naming your restaurant Wife Saver isn’t very funny any more.
A look back at DeChambeau’s third round
Owen Slot in Augusta
Bryson DeChambeau’s problem is that he has lost his feel with his short irons. He has a short game that can rescue him again and again. His exhibition finish on the 18th, when he rolled in a monster putt from right across the green, let McIlroy know how deadly he can be. However, when you are missing so many greens there is a limit to the number of times that your putting and your touch from the bunkers can save you.
Right from the start on Saturday DeChambeau was struggling to make the greens in regulation. No doubt, he will put a ton of work into the driving range before he goes out again for the final round. However, the problem is hard to mend because there is no consistency in his errors.
He was short at the 9th and the 10th, for instance, then long at the 14th, then way left at the 15th and the 17th. On every occasion he was forced to scramble and every time, his touch around the greens saved par, except for the 15th, where he scraped a birdie.
The course is starting to fill
There’s major-winning pedigree in the form of Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark and Justin Thomas out now, with Patrick Cantlay, a chief protagonist in the never-ending “slow play” debate, also on course. There’s a lot of strength in depth in this field.
The Japanese, who was champion here in 2021, has had an indifferent tournament by his high standards and that is reflected in his own first shot at hole 1, a drive that bursts through the crowd and finds the trees off to the left. But that’s a laser-like second shot, almost following the tree line, to take him to the green. A birdie putt is just short and to the left, and so he taps in for par. He’s on four over.
A decent crowd at the par-4 1st as the aforementioned Brian Campbell tees off with a drive down the right-hand side of the fairway. A slight overcook on his second shot puts him into a bunker just to the left of the green but it’s a lovely splash out from there and he makes the seven-foot putt for par. And that’s the first hole of the final day.
Enjoy McIlroy’s round three
For your viewing pleasure.
The American Brian Campbell is five over par and probably won’t start measuring his limbs for a Green Jacket, but he will have the honour of leading out the final day. He’ll be playing solo in the first group starting at 2.40pm, while 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas won’t be far behind him.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceThe definitive Augusta guide
From a run-through of every hole down to the TV details (OK OK, I’ll tell you, it’s on from 3pm on Sky Sports Golf), here is a handy one-stop shop for your Masters needs.
• Read more: Guide to The Masters 2025: tee times, top players and key holes
What’s the best par-three in golf?
Owen Slot in Augusta
I went in search of the best par-three hole in world golf and you may have thought that this would be a subjective thing, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that, with there being nearly 39,000 golf courses on the planet (that’s according to Golf Monthly, I didn’t count them myself), the catwalk of par-threes would produce no single standout beauty queen. Ask the players, though, and it is astonishing how great that consensus is.
• Read more: I asked the Masters pros about best par-threes — here’s what they said
Owen Slot in Augusta
In the final round of this epic Masters, the man most likely to beat Rory McIlroy is himself. The next challenger is Bryson DeChambeau, but the good news for McIlroy is that the American’s elevated position on the leaderboard masks the struggles that dogged his game here in the penultimate round.
History tells us that DeChambeau has the stomach for the fight, especially when it is a battle with McIlroy. We don’t have to rewind far to get to Pinehurst and the US Open championship, where the last duel between these two players ended in his favour — though that, again, was a case of McIlroy defeating himself as much as it was DeChambeau applying the killer blow.
DeChambeau’s problem is that he has lost his feel with his short irons. He has a short game that can rescue him again and again. His exhibition finish on the 18th, when he rolled in a monster putt from right across the green, let McIlroy know how deadly he can be. However, when you are missing so many greens there is a limit to the number of times that your putting and your touch from the bunkers can save you.
• Read more: DeChambeau keeps on rescuing himself — surely it can’t last?
How McIlroy turned 16 again
David Walsh in Augusta
Ater two rounds Rory McIlroy was asked about his rivals on the leaderboard. He replied that when he looked at it, he saw only his own name, his own score. His way of saying that he had come to the Masters to play his golf and not worry what others were doing. After three exhilarating days, this strategy has served McIlroy well and his two-shot lead going into the final round gives him an outstanding opportunity to win his first Green Jacket.
He began his third round with six consecutive threes, playing the most beautiful golf that anyone could play on this hugely demanding golf course.
For five wondrous holes, he was the 16-year-old Rory. The kid who went to the North of Ireland Championship in September 2005, a boy against men at Royal Portrush. He got to the 16th tee knowing two pars would get him the course record. Afterwards he would say that being told this relaxed him. He was fearless then, a teenager who thought there was no shot he couldn’t execute.
• Read more: McIlroy shows brilliance of 16-year-old self — and new resilience
Rick Broadbent in Augusta
Rory McIlroy arrived at Augusta this year saying that the secret of success was a willingness to be heartbroken and he will enter the emotional maelstrom once more as he seeks to end an 11-year major drought and become the sixth man to complete the career grand slam. It could be a thriller, romance and even a revenge story given he will be playing with Bryson DeChambeau. By the end of the day, he will love this place or loathe it. “It’s going to be rowdy and a little loud,” he said. Buckle up.
• Read more: McIlroy sets up revenge match with DeChambeau for place in history
Welcome to the final day of the Masters
Good afternoon and a very warm welcome to our live coverage of Sunday from Augusta National as this most extraordinary Masters comes to a close. It’s been a remarkable tournament and it promises to be a remarkable day, regardless of the result.
Rory McIlroy holds a two-shot lead at the top on 12 under with the American Bryson DeChambeau his nearest rival, but there’s an esteemed and very hungry pack of chasers too, including 2018 champion Patrick Reed and bright young thing Ludvig Aberg six shots back, and defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Jason Day, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry one behind them. Whew.
Stay tuned for updates from Owen Slot, Rick Broadbent and David Walsh from Augusta, with play set to begin from 2.40pm.
