– The Holy Grail of golf: four rounds at Augusta National under 70 strokes. Neither the best Woods, nor the best Nicklaus, nor the best Palmer achieved it, although all three came close to the milestone. Could it really happen again that a player signs four rounds under 70 strokes at Augusta National and doesn’t win? What an incredible paradox that would be.
Only one player in the entire history of the Masters has done it, Cameron Smith in 2020 (67, 68, 69, 69), and it only got him second place. Bryson DeChambeau has already strung together three rounds under 70 this week, which also doesn’t guarantee him anything.
– Then, what happens happens, but it seems in any case that Bryson will need that poker of rounds under 70 to win. He would thus become the first winner in history to achieve it.
– No, Justin Rose (-5) will not win the Masters in his twentieth attempt either.
– Nor will Scottie Scheffler complete the trio of jackets. Both, the Englishman and the Texan, start seven strokes behind the leader. Not even a 65, in principle, would guarantee them anything.
– The best round of Corey Conners on a Sunday at the Masters was that 69 strokes in 2020, which earned him a tenth-place finish. The Canadian is the third in discord, and it doesn’t seem, in truth, that anyone other than him, Bryson, or Rory could win. But Conners will surely need something better than that 69…
– This year, a debutant will not win the Masters either. The closest is Nico Echavarría (-4), but he starts eight strokes behind the leader.
– Rasmus Hojgaard (-1) had real chances after 36 holes to win as a debutant and, moreover, to be the first player born in the 21st century to win a Major. Neither one nor the other. The present century continues its course, step by step, Major by Major, and for now, no young upstart has emerged.
– In hindsight: Jon Rahm is not shining, but the lad has already made nine consecutive cuts at Augusta. The first nine, to be more precise, which is much more complicated. He has equalled Greg Norman in this regard.
– Xander Schauffele (-4), quietly, quietly, without making any noise, sets out today with the healthy intention of collecting another top 5 in a Major. He is two strokes away from the objective.
– This week, the first serious signs of rehabilitation from Max Homa (-3) have been seen. A year ago, he finished third here. After that great achievement, until today, very little to note. And he arrived this week at Augusta after missing the last five cuts.
– Rory McIlroy (-12) leads the Masters after three rounds with a two-stroke advantage, and that, of course, is what matters. If you think about it, there aren’t that many who reach this point, with 54 holes played, in such a situation. But it seems that geniuses, moreover, always have to leave their mark in a thousand ways. Look at how things are: no one in the history of the Masters, and there have been 88 complete editions and one more almost seen to a conclusion, had signed two consecutive rounds of 66 strokes. No one.
Moreover: no one in the history of this Major to date had signed two rounds of 66 strokes in the same week, in the same tournament. A coincidence that is truly astonishing.
And the fact is that it cannot and should not be talked about as a record, since Tiger, for example, strung together a 66 and a 65 in the second and third rounds of the 1997 and 2005 editions. Also, Raymond Floyd opened the tournament in 1976 with scores of 65 and 66; Johnny Miller signed 65 and 66 in the third and fourth rounds of 1975; not to mention the rounds of 64 and 66 strokes with which Jordan Spieth opened the tournament in 2015.
