AUGUSTA, Ga. — After Rory shot an absolutely electric 65 on Friday, the three potential outcomes for Round 3 were as follows.
1. Rory sort of hangs on Saturday and cruises to a four-shot win on Sunday.
2. Rory puts the gas down Saturday and pushes the lead to 8+ and torches everyone.
3. Rory lets everyone back in it Saturday and we have a wild, wild Sunday.
Of those options, No. 1 was the least desirable but seemingly the most likely. Instead, we got the third one. The “I’m scraping it to a 73 that could have been 75 and now everybody — including the No. 1 player in the world who has won two of the last four of these — is back in it” round.
We have a lot to discuss as we head to what should be an all-time final round.
Name drops today: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Cam Young and of course, Rory McIlroy.
But first a huge thank you to Turtlebox for sponsoring today’s newsletter and this enterprise over the last few years. We are giving away a Turtlebox Ranger to two of our Normal Club members this weekend. The only eligibility necessary is to be a member, which you can sign up for right here.
The Ranger is Turtlebox’s most portable product and one I move all over the house, depending on where I’m at and what I’m doing. Small enough to carry during a round of golf, powerful enough to use for an outdoor dinner party and durable enough to, uh, listen to golf podcasts in the shower (which I may or may not have done before). A wonderful product and one of my favorites. Best of luck to our members!
OK, now onto the news.
1. Cam Young was 4 over through 11 holes on Thursday and looked headed for a cut that nobody thought he would miss. Since then, he’s made 17 birdies and just two bogeys to tie the Saturday evening lead alongside Rory. All of this just a month after shutting down the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and just six months after tearing up the Ryder Cup.
There is some Scottie Scheffler in there.
Scottie in 2022: Following a breakout Ryder Cup the year before, he wins a monster PGA Tour event (three of them actually) at the beginning of his age 26 season and goes on to win the Masters.
Cam in 2026: Following a breakout Ryder Cup the year before, he wins a monster PGA Tour event (Players) at the beginning of his age 29 season … and goes on to win the Masters?
I’m interested in two things as it relates to Cam. The first — given how reserved he is as a person — is how he would be received as a champion (I think quite well!), and the second is as follows.
2. Is he ready for whatever it is this place produces on Sunday afternoons when you’re in the mix? Cam has been in and won big tournaments. St. Andrews, Southern Hills and the Players. It always feels different here, though, and to his credit, he knows that.
I said it, I think in my press conference [after the Players], that really what I was trying to do was get ready to be playing late on Sunday at Augusta. Now I'm here with what will be a late tee time on Sunday at Augusta, and that's the best prep I could have asked for.
I'll try to run much the same process, same mindset as I did that day. I remember I did a great job of just staying where I was, knowing that everybody's going to do some different things throughout the day. At some point most people are going to go on a run and most people are going to make a bogey or two.
Cam Young
However — as his Sunday playing partner found out a year ago — all of this is easy to say but insanely difficult to do.
Ok, now we're ready for whatever happens on Sunday.
3. Part of me can’t believe Rory already gave away a six-shot (!!) lead. The other part of me can’t believe he somehow still played his way into the final pairing with the way he hit it on Saturday.
The driver misses were bad — he’s currently last in fairways hit of everyone who made the cut — but the lefts with his irons were even worse. But he’s still in it! Still the favorite. Has led or co-led after each of the last five rounds at the Masters.
I said this in the middle of his round, and it’s true.
He legitimately should have shot 75 on Saturday, and he held on to a 73 like his tournament depended on it (because it probably did).
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,045 of them) and includes notes from the grounds on Saturday, a look at what Scottie Scheffler did and a prediction for what’s going down on Sunday.
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