Augusta, Ga. – It's time, right?
We have already been here. Several times in the last 3,898 days, in fact. It is therefore easy to doubt that it is finally the moment when Rory McILroy accomplishes the thing that has suspended his career.
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But after Micoy's Historic Samport on Saturday at the Augusta National Golf Club It gave him two shots before the field entering the last day of play at the Masters, it must be that. He may never have a better chance.
McILroy displayed a second consecutive line 66 in the third round of the Masters on Saturday, which moved him to 12 under the week and sent him to the last twinning with Bryson Dechambeau on Sunday with the green jacket on the line.
“I still have to remember that there is a long way to go, just as I said yesterday,” he said. “Eighteen holes. Me, as much as anyone, I know what can happen on the last day here. ”
McILroy opened on Saturday with two birdies and an eagle, which came out of a jet in the par-5 second, to immediately take the lead after having started two shots.
When he reached the seventh hole, he had six 3S rights – which is a masters record.
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“It was a great way to start,” said McILroy. “Just to get out of the blocks like that, I think that, to finish yesterday afternoon in training today, it's quite long. There is a lot of anticipation and a kind of anxious energy that accumulates. You want to go out and play.
“So you know, with all that to go out and start the way I did it was incredible.”
McILroy rebounded on a pair of Bogeys in the back also, and stuck his approach to the 15th by 5 – where he made one of his two double Bogeys on Thursday – just six feet from the pin to install another eagle. When this one fell, McILroy's advance had raised four.
But Dechambeau reduced the advance to only two after having made three stews in his last four holes, which brought him to the last group with Mcilroy.
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“It's going to be a little rowdy and a little noisy,” said McILroy about Sunday's final matching, which is probably a bit of an understatement.
It is not only the fact that McILroy has a chance to avenge his loss against Dechambeau de Pinehurst last summer. But that is what is at stake for him with regard to his career. A victory for McILroy would mark his first major title since the PGA championship in 2014. This period of drought sometimes felt more like a curse. He has never won at the Masters either, which is the last victory he needs to become the sixth golfer, and the first since Tiger Woods, to win the big career home.
It's a lot of pressure.
Unlike his opponent, McILroy planned to return home on Saturday evening, to relax and put away his phone. (Dechambeau said he would be on his phone late at night.) The goal was to stay awake through the second episode of the third season of “Bridgeton” of Netflix. McILroy fell asleep during the first episode Friday evening.
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With everything that is looming in the final round, and it is well aware of what happens, McILroy tries to keep a stable head.
“I came here by talking about being the most complete version of myself as a golfer,” said McILroy. “I just have to continue to remember this and remember that whatever the situation or the scenario in which I am tomorrow, I will be able to manage it.”
Sunday evening, it will be the best moment in McILroy's career. Or, if the green jacket landed on someone else's shoulders, it will be there with the worst.
There is no more between the two.
