Rory McIlroy shoots 73 to tie for lead heading into final round of Masters
Rory McIlroy shot a 73 in Game 3 to move into a tie for the lead after a roller coaster day at Augusta.
Masters/Courtesy of Augusta National
The 2026 Masters is just around the corner, and Rory McIlroy has made history by becoming the fourth golfer to win the tournament back-to-back.
Many of the biggest names in the sport were also featured near the top of the leaderboard, with Scottie Scheffler in second place and Justin Rose, as usual, missing out on the Jacket, finishing in a tie for third place. However, there were some large companies that failed to make an impact. At the same time, there were some unexpectedly solid finishes by the best players in the game.
Golfers like Patrick Reed seem to be down after a great start to the weekend, but no one expected him to finish as well as he did. On the contrary, players like Bryson DeChambeau were expected to be candidates for the Green Jacket, but ended up missing out on the slot altogether.
Now that the first major tournament of this golf season is over, we look back at some of the winners and losers of the 90th Masters Tournament.
2026 Masters Winner
Rory McIlroy. How can you not have this guy here? After years without winning the Masters, and on the brink of a career Grand Slam, with only Augusta standing in his way, McIlroy moved on and won the tournament several years in a row, becoming only the fourth golfer in history to do so.
What’s not to love? Outside of Saturday’s lackluster round, McIlroy was largely untouchable throughout the tournament. Any victory is worthy of praise, but a victory this big deserves a lot of praise.
Collin Morikawa. Morikawa was once considered golf’s next big star, but his momentum has slowed in recent years. In fact, he didn’t win a single event in 2024 and 2025. Then he showed up at Augusta and shot a 2-over 74 on Thursday.
It looked like Morikawa was set for another impressive finish. However, Morikawa improved with each round. He had a 69 on Friday and 68 on both Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday was especially memorable considering the double bogey on the second hole. Still, he bounced back and had seven birdies on the day, including five in a row from the 12th to 16th holes. He made a spectacular comeback and finished the tournament in the top 10.
Jake Knapp. He had one career win on the PGA Tour and none in 2026, but by entering the Masters he had five top-10 finishes in seven tournaments.
Although he has played some of the best golf of his career, he has been largely ignored because he has never been at the top with any notable results. But if he finishes anywhere near the top 10 at the Masters, he should start to gain some respect from casual fans.
Obviously die-hard fans know how great he is, but for those less involved, Jake Knapp is certainly not a household name. He’s consistent. After shooting a 1-over 73 on Thursday, he shot 69, 69 and 70. This is a great tournament, and while he won’t win the green jacket, he should gain far more notoriety than he already has.
2026 Masters Loser
Sergio Garcia. Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, was one of the first golfers to tee off Sunday, starting his round at five over in the tournament. Things quickly went south as he bogeyed the first hole and hit a poor drive on the par-5 second hole.
However, his reaction was a little over the top.
After hitting the tee box with his driver several times, he hit the cooler with the driver as he walked away from the tee box, breaking the head of the club. He was forced to play the remaining rounds without a driver and received a conduct warning immediately after the incident. He’s not just a loser, he’s a loser in that sense.
Robert McIntyre. Speaking of misbehavior at Augusta, Robert McIntyre only made one birdie on his first round 80, but he made another birdie midway through the round.
After his approach shot on the par-5 15th hole rolled off the front of the green and into the water, McIntyre held up his middle finger in frustration. After the drop, I hit the water again and ended up hitting a quadruple-bogey 9.
Later, after signing his scorecard with an 80 and refusing to speak to reporters, he doubled down on his disgust by posting a depiction of himself as one of the famous Masters gnomes on his Instagram story, with an AI holding up its middle finger. He was reprimanded by Augusta National officials for this.
Bryson DeChambeau. Arguably one of the players who had the most to gain this week, DeChambeau suffered once again from his occasional meltdowns, highlighted (or not?) by painful double-bogeys in both rounds.
The two-time U.S. Open champion thought he could use his length off the tee to dominate Augusta. But that wasn’t the case.
DeChambeau arrived at Augusta with an unconventional 3D-printed 5-iron of his own design and found himself in a long hole with an opening round 76. But by staying consistent on Friday, there was still a chance for some magic to happen over the weekend. When he reached the 18th tee, he was just above the cut line…until a disastrous triple bogey sealed his fate. DeChambeau missed the cut by two strokes.
