Augusta braces for a main event

Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau will play side-by-side Sunday with a thrilling Masters on the line.

Rory McIlroy

This was golf unleashed. Rory McIlroy shoots a 3 on each of the first six holes. He bogeys a par-five (the 8th) and still shoots 66. Bryson DeChambeau begins by sinking a 45-footer on the first hole. He ends by sinking a 48-footer on the 18th hole.

No clump of Georgia pines could restrain the noise. It probably roiled the Gulf of Mexico. After years of desultory Sundays at Augusta National, McIlroy and DeChambeau will walk the fairways together in the fourth round, with McIlroy at 12-under-par, DeChambeau at 10-under-par, and the crowds at 180 over 90 BP with a heartbeat like a hummingbird’s. These are two of the best four players in the world today, and two of the top two in Q ratings. Expect several shots that will awaken the echoes, the legends and maybe even Frank Nobilo.

Contrasts abound, even though McIlroy and DeChambeau share a champion’s essence. DeChambeau was once the most outrageously long driver in the game. Now McIlroy is, although DeChambeau hasn’t gotten shorter. They both work religiously, with DeChambeau always the final man on the range.

They’re both thoughtful and they’ve been on top of the board almost all their lives. DeChambeau can become a U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, NCAA and Masters champ on Sunday. That’s me-and-Jack-and-Tiger territory. McIlroy, as you might have heard, can win his fourth different major championship. Only Nicklaus, Woods, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen have done that. The distinctive element here is that McIlroy had taken the U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA trophies by the time he was 25, in 2014. He has been bashing his head against the Augusta magnolias ever since.

Bryson DeChambeau

They might be great friends under different circumstances. But DeChambeau is a member of LIV Golf, and McIlroy has cast himself as the guardian of the PGA Tour’s castle ever since the game broke apart. And, last June, DeChambeau had a 3-stroke lead at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. But McIlroy, playing in the group just ahead, seized the lead with three holes to go and then bogeyed 15, 16 and 18, pushing a short par putt on the final hole that would have created a playoff. DeChambeau nailed a long bunker shot to within tap-in range to clinch it.

On Sunday, both men pointed out that other golfers are still in competition. Corey Conners, whose languid swing held up well as he walked with McIlroy, is at 8-under. Patrick Reed, the unloved 2018 winner who usually sticks when he lands on a leaderboard, is 6-under along with Ludvig Aberg. Two-time defending champ Scottie Scheffler has given up his 3-year habit of hitting every ball on the clubface, or canceling out his mistakes by holing chips from duck blinds, but he’s still at 5-under along with Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Jason Day.

However, the winner of every Masters since 2017 has been either first or second after 54 holes. It’s also true that golf’s rare one-on-one matchups have sometimes fizzled, with the top players paying too much attention to each other and dragging each other down. That is possible Sunday but it’s not the way to bet.

What made Saturday memorable was the number of unimaginable shots produced by the leaders. McIlroy chipped in for an eagle on No. 2. He’s had three of those this week, three more than DeChambeau. Perhaps his most urgent putt was a tough par-saver on No. 11. DeChambeau had those two long birdies but he also shot 69 although he ranked 47th, out of 53, in approach shots. His chip at 10 will be remembered if he wins on Sunday, and he was lethal from the sand. And, like Woods and Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson and other crowd favorites over the years, DeChambeau doesn’t spend a second locking down his emotions. When he rolled in a 4-foot birdie on No. 16, his eyes were bright and his fist was pumping and he looked ready to go 12 rounds with Canelo Alvarez.

McIlroy’s second shot on 15 will be a centerpiece of golf’s history if he ends up winning. But he also left reasons for doubt. At one point he led DeChambeau by five, with Conners between them. His 66 was tied with Zach Johnson’s for best in the field by three strokes, but it disguised a 5-foot birdie miss on No. 9, an 8-foot par miss on No. 8, and an 8-foot birdie miss on No. 17. Without much editing, this could have been a 63.

For the week, McIlroy has gotten birdies (or eagles) 40.5 percent of the time on holes where he’s reached the green in regulation. DeChambeau’s figure is 56.2 percent. McIlroy hasn’t yet made a birdie on a par-3. If he does start missing greens as the heat rises on Sunday afternoon, his chipping doesn’t inspire faith.

It is possible to overrate the implications of Sunday. As Paul McGinley of the Golf Channel pointed out, McIlroy will not retire to the beaches of Mauritius, or join the space program, if he falls short. He has been the world’s best player this year, with wins at The Players Championship and at Pebble Beach. But there’s always a moment of resolution, like Tom Watson one-upping Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1978, like Bubba Watson bending a tree ball onto the 10th green in the Masters playoff of 2012, like Woods putting his way into a U.S. Open playoff with Rocco Mediate in 2008 and then winning it on a disintegrated leg.

McIlroy, less than a month from his 36th birthday, has a two-stroke head start toward his own moment. Whatever happens, it won’t be for the faint of ear.