Like Rory Mcilroy, he seized Masters control to set final duel with Bryson Dechambeau
It was the shirt listened to all over the world. Stopped on the first tee a Augusta NationalThe open and inviting fairway extends in front of him, Rory mcilroy I evaluated a situation that saw so many times before. Fifty -one times before in a major the northern Irishman made the weekend, so often in the run at the beginning of the day; So often sliding away at some point in the last 36 holes. In the last decade, Every despair has brought new doubts; Each young lady almost lengthening the scars through the greatest golf talent of its generation.
From the label to the equipment, Caddy to coach, almost Every aspect of Mcilroy’s approach It has been questioned in the 11 -year drought: the curiosity that is a dangerous career for the record that is not yet heard. In Masters’ week, control only increases; While the wardrobe and the career Grand Slam remain incomplete and until the green jacket is worn, then it will remain.
One would then forgive Mcilroy for a degree of caution while drawing the driver from Bag to the first. You cannot win the masters On Saturday, but you can certainly lose it, as Mcilroy knows. A fabulous 66 on Friday had seen him return to the dispute, but it was a brilliant round that revealed vulnerability: some missed fairways, not all the Greens found in the regulation. Surely this was time to play the percentages and play us safe; Solid, rather than spectacular, to facilitate the round.
But this is not Mcilroy’s style. Taking the long bunker to target the right edge of fairway in Tea Olive, Mcilroy has deployed a declaration of intent; The club crack through the ball puts a PEP in its passage as he urged him forward. There are some golfers on the field who would not dare to try to free that bunker; For a batter of this ability and power, he barely took his thoughts.
And 371 yard later, Mcilroy’s ball finally stopped; A gap wedge, a short bird putt, the perfect start. Somehow, it would be even better: the landing of L’Aquila per second, the advantage has secured with four other three following. No golfers had ever done three in the first six holes in Augusta; But this, despite all its defects, is no other golfist. Arrives, the command was two after the 66 of Mcilroy – a duel looms with its conqueror of Pinehurst Bryson DechambeauWhich in the end found a miracle to take impetus on Sunday.
The electric beginning has revived a captivating Saturday to create a master full of fiction fiction. Wherever I looked at the “day in motion” were stories to tell. Jason Day I looked somewhere near his best and I will have drawings on other first 10. Justin Rose He showed all his tricks to remain with the next generation until his strength began to steal. The debutant Matt McCarty was incongruous in a company exalted but unlikely in contact until the route went back.
But from the beginning there was a trio to which the eye could not help but be drawn. In Scottie SchefflerDechambeau and Mcilroy, Golf has three conflicting men but an extraordinary talent, each of whom represents a thread of modern game. A victory for anyone of them would bring a meaning beyond money and the famous tailoring: Scheffler becomes only the fourth to be repeated here; Mcilroy the sixth to complete a Grand Slam; Dechambeau hit a robust blow for Liv Golf just when it was necessary.
There would have been called floating fortunes, but Mcilroy could not start faster. Dechambeau clung to his coatings with the type of climbing that he had to add to his game to compete here. Once a man of daring statements on how he could hit this course, the American has learned to appreciate his seductive contours and curves. For once, Scheffler seemed agitated, unable to make his game go after not having converted an immaculate iron in the first green.
When Mcilroy somehow climbed a par to the seventh, it seemed that he could be one of those round. As it was, a shot dropped before the turn, but one who would have made his hand slip on that opening if I had offered him a number of 32 strokes in front.
Until the turn they went to say their prayers and then in Amen Corner, Mcilroy on the back of another Bogey. An advantage of four shots had become one. It seemed like a worryingly familiar story and the worst moment for an oscillation.
But Mcilroy established while the others faltered. Brash Bryson has returned, briefly-impacision that cost Dechambeau after a strong expansion to 11 and 13, on both sides of a Bogey inflicted by bunker. Corey Conneurs offered the opposite approach, simple and safe to remain among the closest challengers of Mcilroy.
Yet the Northern Irishman has returned again. A dozy of an approach out of 15 left six feet for two other blows earned; It went into it. Only once previously had he recorded two eagles in an important single round, and this ended with a claret jug at the Royal Liverpool in 2014.
A good omen? Perhaps Mcilroy is now beyond superstition. We were here before, of course. From Augusta in 2011 to Pinehurst last year, the story is instructive, a non -finished tournament until it is over, the presence of Dechambeau a recurring motif. His exceptional goal from the fringe, which enters a Putt at 18 at home, but can be seen as a tournament moment. It is one of the few who can go to hit with Mcilroy, but the psychological battle could be equally fascinating.
But from the first blow on Saturday, a measured Mcilroy looked at a winner of the Masters waiting – if not now, when?
Leaderboard Masters after the third round
-12 Rory Mcilroy (66)
-10 Bryson Dechambeau (69)
-8 Corey Conners (70)
-6 Patrick Reed (69), Ludvig Abarg (69)
-5 Scottie Scheffler (72), Shane Lowry (72), Jason Day (71), Justin Rose (75)
