McIlroy goes for glory after rollercoaster start at Augusta 

The Holywood man was never going to make it easy on his final-day showdown with Bryson DeChambeau at the Masters.

CENTRE STAGE: Rory McIlroy lines up a putt on the sixth hole during the final round at the Masters. Pic: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

Bonkers.

It seemed impossible that Rory McIlroy could deliver a more dramatic start than his six consecutive threes to ride into the lead on Saturday, but Sunday’s highly anticipated showdown with Bryson DeChambeau was an emotional roller coaster of epic proportions.

With three two-shot swings in a span of four holes, McIlroy erased his two-shot advantage with a double bogey on one, lost his lead to a DeChambeau birdie on two, got it back with a birdie-bogey combo on three and expanded it with another birdie-bogey exchange on four.

After all that, McIlroy walked to the fifth tee with a bigger lead than he started the day with.

The madness continued with hero shots through the trees on five and seven that helped him hold his edge heading to the turn while other players climbed into the picture on DeChambeau’s heels.

Sunday marked the most anticipated final showdown in modern Masters memory, as McIlroy and DeChambeau walked into the arena like prizefighters to raucous cheers from patrons who lined every step of their way from the clubhouse to the practice green to the first tee. Arguably two of the most popular and polarising players in the game, the showdown presented narratives of redemption and history.

Not since Nick Faldo and Greg Norman in 1996 has the final pairing at the Masters been shared by multiple major winners. It’s only happened three other times in the last 30 years on each of the other three major stages – 2000 U.S. Open (Tiger Woods and Ernie Els), 2005 Open Championship (Woods and José María Olazábal) and 2021 PGA Championship (Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka).

Despite a pair of 66s that staked McIlroy to the 54-hole lead, it was actually DeChambeau who strutted into the final round with momentum. The two-time U.S. Open winner shaved three strokes off what was a five-shot deficit when he stood in the 15th fairway on Saturday watching McIlroy make eagle. DeChambeau answered with birdies at 15, 16 and 18 – the last an improbable 48-foot putt in the heart of the hole – that drew an eruption from the crowd and sent a shudder in McIlroy camp as his overnight edge was down to two strokes.

DeChambeau came out slapping hands and smiling the same way he walked off the evening before, energized by the electricity of the moment. McIlroy walked through before him, offering only clenched lips and stoic nods to his throng of supporters.

His nerves showed on the first as he drove it into the deep fairway bunker on the right and had to lay up 72 yards short of the green. His knockdown wedge barely hung on the back of the and he three-putted from 18 feet to wipe out his two shot lead.

Another fairway bunker off the tee on the par-five second forced another layup and he settled for par, while DeChambeau birdied to take his first lead of the week.

Instead of wilting under the pressure and the shock of losing his lead so quickly, McIlroy went on the attack and converted a delicate up-and-down for birdie on the third and another on the par-three fourth, curling in nine-footers on both while DeChambeau stumbled to bogeys on each of them.

While the drama didn’t diminish, the volatility settled down with McIlroy remaining three up through the eighth.

But McIlroy bombed a drive down the middle on nine and hit a wedge hole high to the dangerous front pin. He holed another eight-footer for birdie and DeChambeau missed from closer, sending McIlroy to the back nine at 13-under with a four-shot lead over three players – DeChambeau, Justin Rose and Ludvig Åberg all at 9-under.

“Is it glory for Rory?” Jim Nantz asked on the broadcast as Rory walked to the hole where he lost his lead in the 2011.