Augusta (United States) (AFP) – Rory McIlroy seeks golf immortality as he takes a two-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Masters with a chance to complete a career Grand Slam. The four-time major winner from Northern Ireland led reigning US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau by two as the final round teed off at Augusta National. McIlroy, who has not won a major title since 2014, needs only a green jacket to complete a career Slam and join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, and Ben Hogan on one of golf’s most exclusive lists.
McIlroy and DeChambeau tee off in the final pairing at 2:30 pm (1830 GMT), both knowing that the last eight Masters winners have all played in the final pair on Sunday. They will chase a record $4.2 million winner’s prize from a record $21 million purse. It’s the first time two multiple major winners were in the final Masters pairing since Greg Norman and Nick Faldo in the 1996 Masters. McIlroy has found heartbreak at Augusta National, notably in 2011 when he led entering the last round before a nightmare back nine cost him what would have been his first major.
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He has failed in 10 consecutive tries to complete the career Slam at Augusta National, coming closest in 2022 when he was second to Scottie Scheffler. “I still have to remind myself that there’s a long way to go,” McIlroy said. “I, just as much as anyone else, know what can happen on the final day here. I just have to keep reminding myself that no matter what situation or scenario I find myself in tomorrow, I’ll be able to handle it.”
McIlroy fired back-to-back six-under par 66s in the second and third rounds, including a record six threes in a row to start a third round that featured two eagles. After double bogeys at 15 and 17 in an opening-round 72, McIlroy would join Craig Stadler from 1982 as the only Masters winner with two double bogeys in the same round. However, McIlroy also knows how formidable DeChambeau can be. After McIlroy made bogeys on three of the last four holes in the final round of last year’s US Open at Pinehurst, the American got up and down from a bunker on the 72nd hole to win his second major after the 2020 US Open.
DeChambeau holed a 48-foot putt from off the green at the 18th hole Saturday to shoot 69, and he could join Australian Cameron Smith in 2020 as the only players to break 70 for all four rounds in the same Masters. “It will be the grandest stage we’ve had in a long time and I’m excited for it,” DeChambeau said of the final round. “It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”
– Others in the hunt –
DeChambeau has found six more fairways than McIlroy this week, but the European star has reached five more greens in regulation. DeChambeau could claim the third major title for an active LIV Golf player in as many years, with the Saudi-backed breakaway tour also boasting Brooks Koepka’s 2023 PGA Championship and DeChambeau’s 2024 US Open. There are others who could challenge the lead duo. Canada’s Corey Conners, seeking his first major, was four adrift as the round began, with 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, last year’s Masters runner-up in his major debut, starting the day six off the pace. Defending champion Scheffler and England’s Justin Rose, the 18- and 36-hole leader, were seven back.
Jack Burke Jr. has the greatest last-round comeback to win in Masters history, rallying from eight shots down to win in 1956.
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