One of the most thrilling Saturdays in recent Masters Tournament memory has set an unbelievable championship stage.
Rory McIlroy will take a two-shot lead into the final round, looking to finally complete the career grand slam. He will play alongside Bryson DeChambeau, who dramatically defeated McIlroy last summer at the U.S. Open. Seven other players will start the day within seven shots of the lead, hoping the two at the top open a window of opportunity.
Here are the top numbers and notes to know from an incredibly entertaining Masters third round.
1. McIlroy’s start Saturday wasn’t just electric, it was historic. His birdie-eagle-birdie start was just the fourth at the Masters over the last 40 years (a span totaling nearly 25,000 tournament rounds). He became the first player in Masters history to start a round with five consecutive threes on the card, then made another three at the sixth hole for good measure.
After bogeys at eight and 10, Rory rebounded down the stretch. His three at 15 gave him the second round of his major championship career with multiple eagles — the other coming in the third round of his Open Championship win in 2014. McIlroy was phenomenal through the bag, ranking in the top five in the field Saturday in strokes gained off the tee, approach and around the green. His 25 putts Saturday were not just his lowest total this week but also tied for fewest hit by anyone in the field.
Saturday was the seventh round of 66 or better in McIlroy’s Masters career, one shy of Tiger Woods for most all time. Across all majors, it was his 22nd career round of 66 or lower, also trailing only Woods (28) for most since the inception of the Masters 91 years ago.
2. Sunday will be the seventh time McIlroy has entered the final round of a major with the lead or co-lead. The previous instance was in 2022 at The Open, where McIlroy entered the final day tied with Viktor Hovland. Despite hitting every green in regulation that Sunday, McIlroy couldn’t get any putts to fall and finished in third place, two shots behind Cameron Smith.
McIlroy led by four strokes entering the final round in 2011, seemingly a lifetime ago. The 14 years between McIlroy’s first career 54-hole lead at Augusta National and his second is the longest such gap in tournament history. McIlroy’s defeat here in 2011 is the only time in his career he has held an outright 54-hole lead in a major and not gone on to win.
3. Sitting two behind is DeChambeau, who birdied three of the last four holes Saturday to get into the final pairing. DeChambeau’s 48-foot birdie at the last capped off an exceptional afternoon on the greens: Bryson gained more than a stroke on the field putting for the third round in a row.
This is the third time in the last four majors DeChambeau has started the week with three consecutive rounds in the 60s. At the PGA Championship in May, DeChambeau finished second to Xander Schauffele. The next month, he persevered at Pinehurst to win his second U.S. Open title.
Only three players in the history of the game have won the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open and the Masters in their careers: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Woods. With a victory Sunday, DeChambeau would join them. He would also be just the fifth reigning U.S. Open champion to win the green jacket and first since Woods in 2001.
4. The improvement of DeChambeau’s pitching, chipping and putting around Augusta National cannot be overstated. Strokes gained short game is a statistic that adds how a player performs around the greens and putting. From 2016 through 2024, DeChambeau ranked 84th out of 93 players with 10 or more rounds played at the Masters. This week, he’s picked up more than 10 strokes on the field in that metric, far and away the best of any player.
DeChambeau entered the week having never put together multiple rounds in a single Masters where he gained a stroke or more on the field with his putter. He’s done that in all three rounds this week. If he does it for a fourth, he very well could leave Georgia as Masters champion.
5. In the men’s professional game, this is the 57th time in the modern era a player has led entering the final round by exactly two shots. Those players have gone on to win at a 39.3 percent clip. The win rate is about the same isolating it to just the Masters: 4-for-10.
The Masters champion has played in the final group Sunday each of the last eight years, and 66 of 88 times (75 percent) the winner has been either in first or second with 18 holes to play.
6. Corey Conners is four shots back, alone in third place. Conners acquitted himself nicely Saturday playing with McIlroy, carding a 2-under-par 70. Per usual, his iron play has been the strongest part of his game this week, with only two players in the field hitting more greens in regulation through 54 holes.
Conners has never been ranked in the top 100 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting at the conclusion of any season in his career. But he’s been sharp on the greens this week, ranking seventh in the field in that statistic through three rounds.
Conners’ solo third is the best 54-hole position at the Masters for a Canadian player since Mike Weir won in 2003. Eleven players have come from four or more shots back entering the final round to win the Masters, the last example being Charl Schwartzel in 2011, when McIlroy held the 54-hole lead.
7. Ten years ago, Jordan Spieth won the Masters a year after finishing runner-up in his debut. Ludvig Ǻberg will begin Sunday six shots behind the leader, looking to replicate that feat. Saturday, Ǻberg recaptured the brilliant putting form he displayed a year ago. In 2024, Ǻberg led the tournament in strokes gained putting. He ranked third in that statistic Saturday.
Past Masters champion Patrick Reed continued his strong play, carding a 3-under-par 69 on Saturday. Reed has improved his strokes gained putting number in each round this week, peaking at seventh in the field in Round 3. This is the third time Reed has started a Masters with three consecutive rounds under par (2018 and 2021).
Nobody has come from six or more back Sunday to win the Masters since Nick Faldo in 1996.
8. It was a difficult third round for defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who scuffled his way to an even par round of 72. Scheffler’s lone two birdies came on par 5s, making this just the second time in Scheffler’s 23 career Masters rounds that he’s failed to birdie a par 3 or par 4. Scheffler lost strokes to the field with his ball striking (shots off the tee plus approaches) Saturday, snapping a streak of 21 consecutive rounds at Augusta National where he gained shots in that category.
9. Justin Rose, who led outright after the first and second rounds, shot 75. Rose’s putting has deteriorated each round this week: He was first in strokes gained putting in Round 1, 11th in Round 2 and dead last Saturday.
Rose is the 13th man age 40 or older to lead at the halfway point of a major since 2012. None of those 13 would go on to shoot a third-round score in the 60s. At seven back, it’s a certainly a long shot, but should Rose win, he would be the oldest European player to win one of the four men’s majors since Old Tom Morris won the 1867 Open at 46.
10. Tying McIlroy for low round of the day was Zach Johnson, who went out in the fifth group of the day and shot 66. Johnson, 49, shot the lowest score of his now 65-rounds-deep Masters career. Despite giving up nearly 40 yards on average Saturday to playing partner Jon Rahm, Johnson beat the 2023 champion by four strokes.
You don’t have to scour much to find another example of a more seasoned player recording the low round of the day at Augusta — in the final round in 2023, then-52-year-old Phil Mickelson’s 65 was the best anyone shot.
(Photo of Bryson DeChambeau: Michael Reeves / Getty Images)
