Rory McIlroy takes a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau heading into the final round.
McIlroy started his Saturday round with six straight threes, becoming the first player in Masters history to accomplish this feat. He is the first player to start birdie-eagle-birdie on the opening three holes since Mark O’Meara did it in 2001. Back-to-back rounds of 66 have McIlroy on the verge of capturing his first green jacket and the career grand slam.
McIlroy said, “Yeah obviously it was a dream start to, you know, get off to the start that I did. Two perfect shots on [hole] one and converted, felt like I sort of hit three perfect shots on [hole] two, three perfect shots on [hole] three – it was a great way to start.”
DeChambeau, just two shots back, is looking for his third career major. It looked like he would be facing a three-shot deficit but made a 48-foot birdie putt from just off the green on the last hole to cut the lead to two.
After his round, DeChambeau said, “I’m excited and ready to go to the practice range, need to go work on my iron play out there. Putted it really well today. Proud of myself for keeping my head about me and just thinking about patience all day. So, it was a fun test of golf today.”
Corey Conners is sitting four shots back after a third-round score of 70 (-2). He is looking to join Mike Weir as the only other Canadian to win the Masters. Justin Rose, the 36-hole leader, shot a 3-over-75 to drop him down the leaderboard heading into the final round.
Conners commented on playing with Rory saying, “It’s a lot of fun. I mean, Rory’s a world-class player and a lot of people are cheering him on. Certainly a lot of people were cheering me on as well, and it felt great to be in that type of atmosphere.”
