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
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Oh, Rory. He does the same thing to himself and to us.
The defending Masters champion entered the third round at Augusta National Golf Club with a 36-hole lead, the largest in tournament history.
Within three hours of walking the course, it was gone.
But Rory McIlroy is Rory McIlroy, the Masters are the Masters, and the story of his day wasn’t over yet. After 30 minutes, he was back in the lead alone.
Did it last? No, it wasn’t.
One more bogey would drop him back into a tie for the lead with in-form Cameron Young, but McIlroy erased that historic six-stroke lead heading into the final round to finish tied for the top of the leaderboard.
“I just wasn’t good today,” McIlroy said after the game.
He looked hardly remorseful. I wasn’t completely satisfied, but I wasn’t particularly dissatisfied either. He’s used to this. Last year, in the final round of the 2025 Masters, he won despite losing the lead three times, completing a career Grand Slam.
Therefore, he is exactly where he wants to be.
“I have to look at the positives,” he said after his round of 1-over 73, dropping him to 11 under for the tournament. “We definitely bounced back, but we know we have to be better tomorrow to have a chance.”
He also knows exactly how to master “tomorrow” at the Masters a year ago.
“I’d like to think about playing a little more freely. And I’m going to play as if I’m already wearing the green jacket, which I am. I might have to remind myself of that sometimes.”
When Augusta National fans surround him wherever he goes, when they call his name, when they reach out and touch him and clap his hands (and when he reaches out and clap their hands), they’re doing it for a good reason. Although he is a millionaire, he seems to be one of them as he is honest and his actions on the track are very interesting, good or bad. he makes mistakes. He hits the ball underwater. He hangs his head. He admitted that he sometimes feels “a little anxious” when standing over the ball, as he felt at Amen Corner after a double bogey on the 11th hole. And when things go south, he bounces back. He is endlessly charming.
After two brilliant rounds, a 5-under 67 followed by a 7-under 65, with birdies on six of the last seven holes, it certainly looked like he was going to run away with this tournament. But his third round began with a bogey, so while McIlroy backpedaled, a prominent group including Young, Sam Burns, Shane Lowry, Jason Day, Justin Rose and Scottie Scheffler were in hot pursuit.
“The course was clearly up for grabs,” McIlroy said after it was all said and done. “There were a lot of good scores and the quality of the chasing group is clear. There are a lot of players who have a chance tomorrow. We can’t forget that because we’re still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, but we know we have to be better to have a chance to win.”
The final round of the Masters is approaching, and there’s no doubt that Rory McIlroy will be in it. No matter what he does, win, lose, dominate or collapse, one thing is for sure: we can’t take our eyes off him.
