Augusta, Ga. – How does Augusta National do it? How do green jackets work their mojo to give us perfect moments of control, perfect matches, a perfect platform, year after year?
Whatever the reason – behind -the -scenes machinations, the benevolence of the golf gods, or good luck in the old -fashioned man – this year masters gave us exactly the match we wanted for a Sunday in April: Rory McILroy (-12) against Bryson Dechambeau (-10) for the greatest price of golf.
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Supervise it as you wish: the two most popular players in the head to face; The paragones of the PGA Tour and Golf Liv are fighting for the honor of their respective houses; The rest of one of the great United States opens in the history of golf. It is the rare test of strength that does not need an accumulation, but deserves each piece of the media threw, the drama and the historical weight that we can prepare.
The two took strongly different paths towards the final twinning of Sunday. McILroy started strong Thursday, so Carente out of the track with two double nine bogeys. He then corrected the ship on Friday, recover with a tour of six sous It wiped the whole spot on Friday.
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Dechambeau, on the other hand, started strong and stayed there, finishing Thursday three strokes of Justin Rose's advance and achieving this gap on Friday.
Saturday quickly made sure that this weekend will be either the largest or the worst in McILroy's career. McILroy carded six consecutive games to start his round, jumping from six sous in the five holes. He passed the rest of the field as if he were driving a Lamborghini and they educated as a climb, and he would not even make part of the head of the rest of the afternoon.
“To finish yesterday afternoon at the entrance today is quite long,” said McILroy after his round. “There is a lot of anticipation and a kind of anxious energy that accumulates. You just want to go out and play. So you know, with all this, to go out and start the way I did it was incredible.”
With McILroy who came out in a sudden advance and exceeding him through the third hole, Dechambeau had no time to rest or relax. He followed two fast birdies with a Bogey, then settled even by the day with another Bogey in the 7th. But he closed hot, with three birdies in the last four holes, and made that Sunday would be a grinding battle.
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Two moments stand out on Saturday, two moments that could well define how Sunday is going. First of all, McILroy's approach at 15, the hole that defeated it on Thursday was the perfection that created an eagle – and he knew it from the moment he left his club. His leg by descending towards the pin was as confident as he looked at Augusta in more than a decade.
A hole later, on the 16th, Dechambeau rolled in a Birdie putt to fill the gap on Mcilroy, and Dechambeau followed him with a look at the whole massive gallery around the hole.
“Rory went ahead of the front. He was 12 sous, and I was a little hunting a little,” said Dechambeau. “When I did that, I looked up and said, in a way as a statement, like:” What do you know? I'm still there. I will continue. I'm not going to go back. “”
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Dechambeau closed with a spectacular putt of 47 feet by 18 which reduced the gap to two. But as soon as he exulted in the joy of the chip, he had to remember a very important fact:
“Now it's on Saturday, right on the right,” he said. “So I have to say to myself:” Ok, calm down. This is not the end. So one day.
The two planned to take strongly different approaches – and totally in the character – from the previous night the most crucial round of their respective lives. McILroy intended to watch “Bridgerton” and stay away from his phone until Sunday evening; Dechambeau planned to watch a James Bond film by Pierce Brosnan and work his phone late at night.
At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, they will both arrive at the same point – the first tee in front of the Augusta National Club -World. And about four hours later, give or take a celebration or two, one of them could revel in a victory that changes career.
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“Tomorrow in this last group,” said McILroy, “it's going to be a little rowdy and a little noisy. I'm just going to have to settle down and really try to keep myself in my own little bubble and keep my head down.”
“It will be the biggest stage that we have had a long time,” said Dechambeau, “and I am excited for that.”
