The Masters: Takeaways from the third round at Augusta National including course set-up and Rory McIlroy

Ant and Dec, meet Jeff and Rory

Dave Tindall

From 2011 to 2014 I was lucky enough to attend four straight Masters. And, for wildly contrasting reasons, Rory McIlroy provided the strongest memories. In 2011, the 21-year-old prodigy was all set for a wire-to-wire win after cruising into a four-shot lead with a round to play. We all know what happened next.

In 2014, he found himself in a completely different position. Perhaps spooked by his 2011 final-round collapse that dropped him from first to 15th, Rory had only managed 40th (2012) and 25th (2013) on his next two visits. But despite being a two-time major winner when he teed it up at Augusta in 2014, McIlroy started his weekend in a very strange place: teeing off with a non-competitive marker after making the cut on the number via a miserable Friday 77.

It was to get even stranger. Back then when an odd number of players made it into the weekend, the first man to post that cut number would tee off on his own with Augusta National Golf Club member Jeff Knox. The local man held the course record of 11-under 61 from the members’ tees so, despite his role of making up a twosome (as well as McIlroy he performed the role with Ernie Els, Bubba Watson, Jason Day and Keegan Bradley among others), Knox was clearly no mug. Rather sadly, he had to give up the role in 2022.

Although his score never counted, Knox’s legend and cult status grew in 2014 when he actually outscored McIlroy in round three, 70 to 71. I remember it vividly as, during the round, the news that Knox was outperforming Rory started spreading like wildfire among the Masters patrons. I decided to pass it on too and bizarrely found myself regaling the story to Ant and Dec. The cheeky entertainers were walking the course in a Newcastle-themed posse which included Alan Shearer. Dec was particularly taken by the story and when spotting him again on other fairways I could overhear him enthusiastically telling anyone who would listen. "Ya see the fella with Rory..."

Despite taking a shot more than Knox, Rory’s 71 was actually one of just 12 sub-par scores that day. And when he followed it with a 69 in round four, McIlroy finished the week in tied eighth. So it got me thinking: could any of those who started this year’s third round tied for last place emulate McIlroy’s feat from 2014 and surge into the top 10?

There was a list of decent runners and these were their best top 10 prices: Jon Rahm 20/1, Si Woo Kim 70/1, Corey Conners 75/1, Kurt Kitayama 90/1, Rasmus Hojgaard 125/1, Brian Harman 150/1, Alex Noren 150/1, Charl Schartzel 250/1. All started the day at +4, eight off a top 10 spot.

But trying to find the motivation when stranded in a major is tough. The adrenaline isn’t there and neither is the game. Rahm could only manage a 73 while five of the above eight couldn’t break par. Hats off to Harman for a 67 but he was 28th when walking off and the top 10 still seemed a long way off.

McIlroy actually came from the cut line to win his first ever PGA Tour event – the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship. But for anyone to gallop through the field in a major after only sneaking into the weekend is rare. Perhaps Rory going from dead last at halfway to finish tied eighth is one of his most underappreciated Masters feats.

Tough decisions, fine margins

Ben Coley

It is easy to criticise and hard, no doubt, to be charged with making key decisions that will influence not just how the Masters is portrayed to the world on television, but the very outcome of the tournament itself.

However, watching Saturday's coverage left me asking questions of both television producers and officials who decided that the best thing to do on a glorious, sunny week at Augusta National, was artificially soften the golf course.

On the television coverage, this is a persistent problem we have to deal with week-to-week but one I don't remember being as harshly in focus as it was here: producers' love of showing what are in essence meaningless shots whose outcome is known the very moment we cut to them.

By that I mean, if they're showing someone 10 back of the lead hitting what looks a difficult 40-foot putt, that putt is going to go in the hole. We all know it. And if we know it, then what exactly is the point? Sport's appeal is in the unknown. It's why they used to say 'if you don't want to know the scores, look away now' on the six o'clock news. Where are we to look when one of these putts pops up on screen?

In showing so many shots of this nature, producers prioritise outcome over process and it's the process – how the ball got to the hole in that many shots – which is most intriguing. When Sam Burns missed a long birdie putt on the par-five eighth, it could be traced back to the fact that his second shot ended up in the wrong place. Except that was the one shot on the hole they managed not to broadcast.

It is difficult, particularly early on in the tournament. But come the weekend, producers ought to begin with a clear priority: cram in as many shots from the final few groups as possible, while looking out for the kind of charge Scottie Scheffler produced and reacting accordingly. The rest? I don't think we need it. Use it if there's nothing else to show.

I don't think we needed the heavy watering that took place, either, though perhaps it served its purpose. Rory McIlroy headed to the first tee with Scottie Scheffler already on the charge and never did he look comfortable. Softened greens allowed for any number of players to take a pop at him and with Scheffler narrowing the gap, Cameron Young then went further and closed it altogether.

In the end, Augusta National showed that around here, anything is possible, whatever the weather, whatever officials do about it. So while scoring got as far as four shots lower than Thursday's engrossing opening round, maybe it doesn't matter that we saw something altogether different come Saturday. Maybe all versions of the same golf course is even the right way to go about things.

However it plays, however much water has been applied, that sense of being on the precipice never leaves. Young rode his luck at holes nine, 13 and 17, and on other occasions too, and that's what you can do here. Alongside him, Jason Day was very fortunate to stay dry on 15 and as if to underline how fine the margins are, Shane Lowry's similar approach to the same green took a nasty bounce and found water.

In the end, nothing can ruin this spectacle. Saturday gave us a hole-in-one, a couple of 65s from perhaps the two best American golfers there are at the moment, and confirmation that being a Grand Slam hero doesn't make majors an easy thing to collect. McIlroy will go again and so will we on what now promising to be a thrilling Sunday.

A new dawn, a new Day

Matt Cooper

Leaving Augusta National 12 months ago Jason Day cut a frustrated figure after a final round of level-par 72.

“I’m pretty gutted right now,” he said. “It’s annoying to give myself the opportunities out there and not be able to take them. I mean, it’s a step in the right direction. That’s all I can say. I’m pretty headless right now.”

He was asked if it had lit a fire in his belly.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Just a few minor tweaks here and there, and a few more putts go in, and it might have been a different story this week.”

He ultimately finished in a share of eighth which at first glance seemed to be a first return to his old ways because there was no doubt that his results up to 2024 were split in two.

His first eight starts were all top-30 finishes with the highlights second on debut in 2011, third in 2013 and fifth in 2019. He then missed two missed cuts in 2020 and 2021 – when his injuries were at their worst – and added T39-T30 in 2023 and 2024.

But in 2023 he had actually spent the first 54 holes in the top 10 before his back flared up on the back nine causing him to make four double-bogeys and card an 80.

So coming in this week he’d ended seven of his last 12 rounds at Augusta inside the top 10 and said: “If I can just get out of my own way, I typically play well here.”

His score through three rounds suggest he has stayed out of his own way because he has now ended 10 of his last 15 rounds in the top 10.

Recent stats indicate that his short game typically excels faced with the Augusta test. This year his approach play has taken centre stage meaning he doesn’t have to rely on his performance around the greens quite so much.

His own opinion after the second round – and player’s opinions don’t always tally with what the numbers imply – was: “I drove the ball nice. Hit decent iron shots when I needed to. Obviously when I didn’t, I left myself in the correct position to get up and down.”

He revealed after his Saturday round that numbers had come to his aid after a slow start. “Statistically I average around four to five birdies a round here,” he said. “So I just knew they were going to come. I just didn’t know when they were going to come.”

They came at 2, 8, 12, 13, 14 and – a bonus sixth – 15.

Of the final round, he is shaping an approach that he hopes will leave him less irked than last year.

“The guys that are leading right now have all the pressure,” he insisted. “I’m the chaser and usually the chasers don’t have a lot of the pressure.

“I feel good about my game. I feel very happy with where things are. I’m looking forward to the challenge at least.

“The goal is to cut into the lead tomorrow through nine, and if I can do that, great. Then get if I can get myself around the lead on the back side and give myself opportunities, I’ll be very pleased.”

More Masters content

• The Masters: Player-by-player guide
• Stats and in-play betting guide
• Augusta National: Hole-by-hole