Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau. Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy. Who offers more. Star match of Sunday at the Masters Tournament. The great battle. Head-to-head for their first Green Jacket. The great rematch. 302 days after DeChambeau snatched the US Open from McIlroy’s pocket at Pinehurst. It’s everything. It’s the intrigue. The power. The match. A duel that is already historic.
McIlroy (-12) will start with a two-shot lead over DeChambeau (-10). This gap was forged on an exceptional Saturday for Rory. Best round of the day with 66 strokes tied with Zach Johnson. The Northern Irishman began his round with a superb five-under in five holes. Birdie on the 1st after a massive drive from the tee. Eagle on the 2nd by chipping in from outside. Birdie on the 3rd with a delightful approach and birdie on the 5th with a five-metre putt. Abundance of skills. Rory in charge.
If golf were Formula One, it would be said that Rory left everyone standing at the start. Scheffler couldn’t get going on the greens. Rose struggled again on the third day. And the rest held on as best they could against the stampede caused by the Northern Irishman. Only DeChambeau managed to mount a strong response with two birdies in the first two holes.
In less than an hour of moving day, the tournament was quite defined. McIlroy put distance between himself and DeChambeau, waiting for someone else to really step on the accelerator and reach their level. It never happened. Only the silent Corey Conners (-8), who throws away birdie opportunities as easily as he converts them, has presented himself as an alternative.
McIlroy seemed to lose his way halfway through the round. More than one began to think they had seen this movie before. He bogeyed the 8th and the 10th, and the tournament tightened up again, although he never lost or shared the lead. He kept calm and silenced the pessimists in the best way he knows how. With a clean hit. On the two par 5s. He made birdie on the 13th with a magnificent chip from the back of the green and signed a masterpiece on the 15th. He hit a fabulous drive and a 6-iron to frame. Ball two metres away. Eagle in the bag. Plis, plas. In between, he also made some high-quality recoveries like on the 7th and 14th from the trees.
DeChambeau held on. He didn’t offer McIlroy’s display. His irons weren’t as good as other times, but he managed with short game and putting to stay in it. He found himself in difficult situations more than once, but he managed not to disappear while waiting for a final strike. This came with a very good birdie on the 15th, again with a great putt, another on the 16th with a great shot, and again on the 18th with the same weapon, the putter, holing from 15 metres after missing the bunker. Three under in the last four holes. From being five behind, to two.
The roar of the crowd was heard throughout the state of Georgia. DeChambeau left the 18th like a boxer leaving the ring with the world champion’s belt in his hands. It seemed he had already won, but what he had really done was reduce Rory’s lead from three to two strokes. Golf is also a mental game, and Bryson handles it brilliantly. He only took one stroke off, but at that moment it seemed like he had tied it.
This is already a historic duel. Because they already faced each other in the US Open, with the difference that in Pinehurst they weren’t in the same match, more tension if possible in Augusta. Because they will continue to face each other in these settings and fight for these victories in the future. Because in the end, it’s also a duel between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour and, what the heck, also the Ryder Cup.
No one can deny that there will be more pressure on Rory’s shoulders. It’s very simple. He leads by two strokes, ergo he has more to lose. He fell at Pinehurst to DeChambeau just over 300 days ago. And it’s been eleven years since he won a Major, or in other words, a decade trying to complete the Grand Slam. How McIlroy handles all those ghosts that haunt him will largely determine the final outcome of the duel.
In any case, it will be historic. It will be remembered in the books. It happened at the Masters.
