Rory McIlroy has set the mark. Now comes the hard part.
The World No. 2 and four-time major champion has to prepare for perhaps the most important day of his professional career. McIlroy shot a second consecutive 66 Saturday at Augusta National to lead the Masters by two shots at 12-under-par total. He’s searching for the final leg of the career Grand Slam for the 11th time, looking to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Trailing McIlroy is Bryson DeChambeau, McIlroy’s nemesis from the U.S. Open last summer at Pinehurst. DeChambeau drained a long birdie putt on the 18th hole Saturday here to sneak within two shots after driving it into the bunker off the tee. He birdied three of the last four holes too. The two men will be in the final pairing Sunday at Augusta National. Corey Conners and Patrick Reed will be in the penultimate group.
Here is a list of the pairings: (all time eastern)
9:40 AM: Brian Campbell
9:50 AM: Akshay Bhatia, Hideki Matsuyama
10 AM: Min Woo Lee, Justin Thomas
10:10 AM: J.J. Spaun, Brian Harman
10:20 AM: Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay
10:30 AM: J.T. Poston, Danny Willett
10:40 AM: Stephan Jaeger, Sam Burns
11 AM: Nick Taylor, Matt Fitzpatrick
11:10 AM: Charl Schwartzel, Tom Kim
11:20 AM: Tommy Fleetwood, Davis Riley
11:30 AM: Bubba Watson, Daniel Berger
11:40 AM: Sahith Theegala, Aaron Rai
11:50 AM: Denny McCarthy, Michael Kim
Noon: Harris English, Maverick McNealy
12:20 PM: Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann
12:30 PM: Rasmus Hojgaard, Ben An
12:40 PM: Max Greyserman, Jordan Spieth
12:50 PM: Matt McCarty, Tyrrell Hatton
1 PM: Tom Hoge, Davis Thompson
1:10 PM: Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa
1:20 PM: Max Homa, Sungjae Im
1:40 PM: Xander Schauffele, Nico Echavarria
1:50 PM: Zach Johnson, Justin Rose
2 PM: Shane Lowry, Scottie Scheffler
2:10 PM: Jason Day, Ludvig Aberg
2:20 PM: Corey Conners, Patrick Reed
2:30 PM: Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau
Main Image: Andrew Redington