AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy’s stroll toward one of the rarest feats in sports turned into a dramatic battle to avoid the wrong side of history as he saw his six-shot lead evaporate during the third round of the Masters on Saturday.
McIlroy scuffled to a 1-over-par round of 73 to fall into a share of the 54-hole lead at 11 under with Cameron Young, who tied the low round of the tournament with a 7-under 65. Young began the day eight shots behind McIlroy, who set a Masters record with a six-shot lead through 36 holes.
Fourteen players will begin Sunday’s final round within six shots of the co-leaders, a group that includes two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler. He matched Young’s 65 to pull within four shots of the top.
McIlroy’s cushion steadily evaporated during a round in which the Northern Irishman was one of only two players in the current top 20 to fail to break par. His struggles came on a day when Augusta National gave up a scoring average of 70.63.
Playing five groups in front of McIlroy, Young reeled in the leader and briefly passed him on the back nine. He carded eight birdies against a lone bogey to equal the 65 McIlroy posted on Friday and the one Scheffler recorded early in the third round.
McIlroy and Young, Sunday’s final pairing, will begin the day with a one-shot lead over Sam Burns. Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who recorded the tournament’s first hole-in-one since 2022 on the sixth hole Saturday, sits alone in fourth place at 9 under.
Australia’s Jason Day and England’s Justin Rose are another shot back.
Young’s 7-under-par effort was his best in 15 career Masters rounds by two shots. The Players champion last month birdied four of his first eight holes on Saturday to make his turn in 4-under 32. He then birdied the difficult 10th hole and pulled even with McIlroy at 11 under with a birdie on No. 14.
After dropping a shot at the par-5 15th, he quickly picked it back up with a birdie on the par-3 16th that gave Young his first outright lead of the tournament. He parred out from there to reach the clubhouse at 11 under and watched as McIlroy battled his way to the finish line.
McIlroy, who suffered a double bogey at No. 11 and a bogey at No. 12 to drop to 2 over for the day and 10 under for the tournament, erased his deficit by reeling off consecutive birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 to regain a one-shot lead. Another wayward drive led to a bogey on the 17th, then just missed a 25-foot birdie putt at 18. He hit eight of 14 fairways in the third round, which improved his average to 50% through three rounds. His 10 greens hit on Saturday were his fewest this week.
Making his fifth Masters appearance, Young appeared in jeopardy of not even being around for the weekend after beginning his tournament with four bogeys through his first seven holes. He was still at 4 over through 11 holes on Thursday.
That’s when Young lit a spark with consecutive birdies on Amen Corner to turn his tournament around. He is now 15 under over his past 43 holes. Before Friday’s 67, Young had broken 70 only once at Augusta National.
Teeing off 2 1/2 hours before McIlroy, Scheffler made his own charge up the leaderboard with his 65 also setting a personal best at Augusta National.
Scheffler’s previous low round at Augusta National was a 66 in the first round of 2024, when he went on to win his second Masters title. After opening the day 12 shots off the lead, he sits just four back of the leaders in a tie for seventh place.
“Went out and executed to give myself some opportunities, and more of that tomorrow, and I think I’ll be in a good spot,” Scheffler said. “(My score) definitely could have been lower. But like I said, I did what I needed to do.”
He will be playing later in the day in Sunday’s final round — and expects Augusta National to play firmer and faster.
“It depends on what the leadership here wants to do,” Scheffler said. “It really depends on what they decide to do with the greens.”
“If they want to see some lower scores, they can make them softer if they want. I mean, they’re already pretty firm, so they can just go full Bay Hill and just let them die. It’s Augusta. They’ll figure it out after that.”
