The Masters day three: Rory McIlroy level with Cameron Young after losing outright lead – as it happened
Moving Day really moved some, huh? If Sunday is half as wild, we’ll be in for a classic.Hope you’ll join us! Thanks for reading this blog.-11: Cameron Young, Rory McIlroy -10: Sam Burns -9: Shane Lowry -8: Jason Day, Justin Rose -7: Scottie Scheffler, Haotong Li -6: Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley, Patrick ReedMcIlroy’s birdie putt never looks like getting there, but it’s a tap-in for a 73.His six-shot lead has evaporated, but he’ll be in the final pairing tomorrow with today’s star turn Cameron Young.Meanwhile par for Sam Burns, who will be happy with his 68, and will play in the penultimate match with Shane Lowry.
Rory could do with one last swashbuckle, and he gives it a good go.From the centre of 18, he sends his iron over the flag, landing it 25 feet past before screwing it back a notch.He’ll have a 20-foot look at birdie.Sam Burns, who like Justin Rose before him has gone round without making bogey, will try from 45 feet.The patrons give both players a big ovation as they make their way up the hill to the green.
Rory has hoicked his driver this way and that all day.But at 18, he sends it into prime position.Meanwhile up on the green, Justin Rose takes two careful putts for a valedictory par.A steady-eddie 69, and the three-time runner-up will have yet another chance to finally land that elusive Green Jacket.He’s -8.
McIlroy tickles the putt towards the hole … but doesn’t give it quite enough.It turns sadly to the right just before the cup.McIlroy doubles over in despair, as though performing touchy-toes in the 1870s exercise style.Bogey, which let’s be honest, was always most likely after that tee shot.Back to a tie for the lead at -11.
Par meanwhile for Sam Burns, who has been the bizarro Rory today, in that his round has been almost totally drama- and fuss-free.-11: Young (F), McIlroy (17) -10: Burns (17) -9: Lowry (F) -8: Day (F), Rose (17)McIlroy wastes no time in pulling wedge from his bag, and lobbing aggressively up the swale from the back of 17.His chip rolls ten feet past the flag, but it’s a relatively straight one coming back.Another big putt coming up.Rory isn’t completely tucked behind the tree on 17.
There’s a bit of space to punch past it, and another window further on.So he can take aim for the green.He clacks out, and catches it well.Perhaps too well, as it scampers up onto the green, then over the back.But he’d have taken this outcome when walking up to find the fate of his drive.
Some day for Shane,Par at the last, and some crystal to come for his hole-in-one at 6,He’s become the first player to record two aces at the Masters! He’s -9 and nicely placed for Sunday,Justin Rose has been quietly efficient today,His second into 17 only just holds onto the edge of the green on the right, with the flag miles away to the left.
But he cradles the long putt up to kick-in distance.Par saved, and still not a blemish on his card today with one hole to go.He’s -8.… and here it comes.Rory misses yet another fairway, yanking his drive at 17 into the tree line on the left.
And his ball may have scampered right behind a trunk.That may well force a sideways chip out.More when we have it.Meanwhile up on 18, Shane Lowry finds the heart of the green and will have a look at birdie from 25 feet.After all that drama, a simple par for Rory McIlroy at 16.
Tee shot into the heart of the green, a slow uphill putt from 30 feet, a tap-in.He remains -12.Par as well for Sam Burns, who stays put at -10.After all the fireworks, it feels as though Moving Day is finally petering out, everyone on the property spent.But is there one twist left?Rory gives it a good run.
It dies off to the left on its final turn, but that’s consecutive birdies.If all that faff in the trees on 13, with the patrons and the cameras and the cables and the metal posts, was vaguely reminiscent of Jordan Spieth in the Birkdale car park, then this par-birdie-birdie response is as well, an ersatz version of Spieth’s carpe-diem Open win.OK, maybe not quite so dramatic, or decisive, or quite as awe-inspiringly outrageous.But you get the gist, I hope.-12: McIlroy (15) -11: Young (F) -10: Burns (15) -9: Lowry (17) -8: Day (F), Rose (16) -7: Scheffler (F), Li (F), Reed (16)On 15, McIlroy finds himself in a not-dissimilar position to the one he made a little bit of history with last year.
He doesn’t have to work it so dramatically around the trees, right to left, but there’s a gentle draw in there.And he lands it in the middle of the green, from where he’ll have a look at eagle from 25 feet.He stomps down the fairway after it with perhaps the steeliest glint there’s ever been in his eye.He stared into the abyss around Amen Corner today, and nearly came a comedy cropper.But he’s dug deep so impressively: the par save at 13, the birdie at 14, and now this chance to reassert himself at the top of the standings.
Big putt coming up.Justin Rose can’t make his birdie putt on 15, but he’d have taken this par when watching his ball bound off down that bank.Meanwhile a bogey at 18 for Haotong Li, who ends a day that promised more with a nevertheless impressive 69.He’s -7.LIVE LONDON BUS ARRIVALS: Having waited all day for Rory McIlroy to find a fairway with his driver, he now finds two in a row.
This one at 15.Meanwhile up the hole, Justin Rose lobs out from the bottom of the hill on the left, then wedges his third to 12 feet.There’s no point predicting anything today.Now then! Rory McIlroy pulls his approach into the 14th green.But the ball still turns a little towards the cup, and from 20 feet he steers in a left-to-right slider for a most unlikely – and frankly, given what preceded it – unexpected birdie.
This Moving Day, once just gently oscillating, is now spinning around at warp speed.It’s been wild.-11: Young (F), McIlroy (14) -10: Burns (14) -9: Lowry (15) -8: Day (8), Li (17), Rose (14) -7: Scheffler (F), Reed (14)Par for the leader at the last, and this is a brilliant day’s work from the current Players Champion.Par too for Jason Day and that’s a fine 68.These two inspiring each other to great heights.
Incidentally, the last two winners of the Masters, Scottie and Rory, were the reigning Players champion at the time.Tiger did that particular double in 2001 as well.Shane Lowry salvages his par on 15.He gently wedges from the dropzone to five feet, and calmly rolls in the saver.That could prove so valuable down the line.
He remains at -10.Meanwhile Justin Rose sends a wild hook into deep, deep trouble down the left of 15.The ball bounds down a huge bank, and he may not have an easy route back out.You don’t often see players going so far left there.BREAKING NEWS: Rory McIlroy finds a fairway with his driver.
He does it, he really does it, on 14,It’s tight down the left, mind you, but on the fairway is on the fairway,-11: Young (17) -10: McIlroy (13), Burns (13) -9: Lowry (14) -8: Day (17), Li (17), Rose (14) -7: Scheffler (F), Reed (14) -6: Cantlay (F), Henley (F), Clark (16)OK, fair measure, the wheels haven’t clanked off just yet,Despite the zig-zagging down 13 along a clown-car route, Rory gathers himself, putting up from the swale to a couple of feet, from where he’s able to tap in for a face-saving par,But this is giving his playing partner Sam Burns renewed hope, and once again he watches McIlroy faffing around, and quietly makes birdie.
He pulls up alongside him on the Leader Board at -10.Oh, and the pressure isn’t just telling on Rory … because Shane Lowry becomes the latest player to find the water at 15.Rory finally punches out from the pines, having moved the patrons a good 50 yards right.He’s shifted the big sack of camera equipment too, plus some cables.But when the ball flies out low, it clips one of the posts used to keep the patrons back, flies straight into the air, and lands softly.
That’s probably robbed him of 50 yards … then his third flies in flat and sails through the back of the green.This is all a dreadful mess.He’s been off it all day, but this is veering dangerously towards wheels-off territory.McIlroy is snookered by a large pine.He can’t really go to the left of it, so orders the patrons lining the hole down the right to nudge back.
There’s a lot of them, and it’s going to take a while.There’s also some broadcasting equipment in a bag to shift.It’s not quite Spieth at Birkdale, but it’s something.Meanwhile on 17, Cameron Young leaves a long birdie putt eight feet short, but salvages his par with a staunch roll.He remains one clear at -11.
Justin Rose isn’t out of this yet.Not at all.His approach into 13 sails into the swale at the back.He putts back up and trundles 15 feet past … but slides in the right-to-left birdie effort, and walks off with renewed spring in his step.He’s -8.
Meanwhile up on 14, birdie for Shane Lowry, who might soon be Ireland’s best bet the way Rory is capitulating.He’s -9.“Aw, get lucky.” Another Rory drive, another Rory disaster.He carves his tee shot at 13 into the pines on the right.
He might be tucked in behind a trunk.You have to wonder why he’s not put the big stick back in the bag and played some fairway finders to stem the bleeding.This is approaching the status of fiasco.While all that was happening, Jason Day was unable to get up and down from the sand on 16.Bogey, and a sorry end to his run of four birdies
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