AUGUSTA, Ga. – A throng of spectators stood on the hill to the right of the green at Augusta National’s third hole, jostling for the best possible spot to see the player that would be coming through in the next 10 minutes.
It was getting crowded out there, as it usually does on Saturday at the Masters when the leaders start to make their way around the course. But it was especially frisky at that moment
The large, human-operated leaderboard on the other side of the green had shown Rory McIlroy’s birdie on No. 1, getting him to 7-under par. Many of the fans had just seen McIlroy’s approach shot land just long of No. 2, assuming he’d make another birdie, sending them scrambling for position along No. 3.
And then, out of nowhere, one of those famous Augusta National roars echoed from behind, through the loblolly pines. It had to be Rory. It had to be an eagle. There’s no technology allowed on the golf course here, but sometimes the sound is so unique it tells you all you need to know.
As Shane Lowry walked onto the green, playing a group ahead of McIlroy, the scoreboard operator opened the door next to McIlroy's name and slipped in a red “9.” Indeed, it was eagle. For the first time all week, McIlroy led the golf tournament, sparking a frenzy of screams and high-fives so loud you might have thought he already won it.
What a start for Rory McIlroy.
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 12, 2025
He chips it in for eagle on No. 2. pic.twitter.com/TDXEVsM9Rk
Of course, McIlroy has not won the Masters yet. And what he’ll face when he wakes up on Sunday is nothing less than the most challenging, and perhaps most important, round of his career.
Because when he walks off the 18th green and toward Augusta National’s white clubhouse with its famous cupola framed by a crisp late-afternoon dusk, McIlroy will either be Greg Norman chasing something here he might not be destined to have or a forever member of golf’s pantheon, reserved for the handful of human beings who did something that makes them something close to immortal.
There’s little in between.
“I still have to remind myself there’s a long way to go,” McIlroy said. “(It’s) 18 holes and I just, as much as anyone else, know what can happen on the final day here.”
The final round of the Masters is usually about many things, converging into chaos and then clarity by the time they exit Amen Corner. But Sunday is mostly about one man and his many demons, here at Augusta National and elsewhere across his major-less last decade.
It’s going to be four hours of fascinating theater. For McIlroy, it’s either going to end as the best day of his career or the worst. And there is little chance this will be anything but eyes-glued-to-the-television golf.
Because we know the stakes, with McIlroy trying to become just the sixth player to win a career Grand Slam and cement his status as the greatest champion in the post-Tiger Woods era. Because for all the times he’s theoretically had a chance to win the Masters, going all the way back to 2011 when he was a 21-year-old who blew a four-shot lead, it’s never been this clear that McIlroy should win it.
Because we’ve watched him fail in a variety of ways to slam the door in the final rounds of majors, most notably at St. Andrew’s in 2022, at Los Angeles ...
