Alert – The Masters 2025 Day Three LIVE: Leaderboard and updates as Rory McIlroy battles around Amen corner after sensational start – as Bryson DeChambeau and Shane Lowry chase down Northern Irishman

Bryson and Rory will go head-to-head on Sunday once again after their duel at the US Open last year.

They didn’t play in the final round together at Pinehurst but they will tomorrow at Augusta National and Rory has the edge over Bryson.

What a Sunday we have in store!

Bryson DeChambeau finished in style, just how he started, draining a stunning long-range putt from the fringe of the green to finish his round at 69 and goes into the clubhouse at ten-under-par – two shots back from Rory McIlroy.

He’s been brilliant today, but has left a few shots out there on the course, with his putting letting him down.

Justin Rose also wraps up his third round on a sour note, with a bogey on the 18th – his fourth of the day.

Just as good as yesterday, Rory McIlroy has wrapped up his round with a 66 and is the overnight leader at 12-under par.

He battled well today but it feels like he left a couple of shots out there.

The Northern Irishman could have wrapped up his round with a birdie on 18 but just left his putt wide of the hole.

Connors, meanwhile, has also enjoyed a great round of golf, getting down to eight-under-par, having begun his round at -6.

A frustrated Scottie Scheffler vented at his performance on Saturday after he toiled with his putting to wrap up his Saturday at level par.

It was a tricky day for Scheffler who birdied the second and the 15th but was let down by a bogey on seven and again on the par-three 12th.

‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ he said reflecting on his round.

‘At times I felt good, at times I felt bad. I just couldn’t really get anything going. I think I ended up with even, which felt like I had to scramble a lot today, actually.

‘I got off to a good start today, but after that I didn’t really feel like I gave myself enough opportunities, and the opportunities that I did have, I didn’t really quite take advantage of.’

Even despite the underwhelming third-round score, Scheffler felt he had battled well around Augusta over the past two days.

‘Today and yesterday were days where I could have shot myself out of the tournament. I battled really hard both days. Today I made some great up-and-downs. I think I only had two bogeys for the day, which some of the spots I put myself in I felt like was a decent job of only making two bogeys.

‘Going into tomorrow, have a good front nine and start moving my way up the leaderboard and you never know what can happen on the back nine. Just going out tomorrow, just try to get off to a good start, and maybe start like today, just hole a few more putts.’

Here comes Bryson! After a little bit of a slump back to -7, DeChambeau has made up some ground on Rory with a duo of birdies at 15 and 16.

The LIV Golf star dropped a lovely chip onto the green before putting out for birdie, before putting his tee shot on the par-three 16 within five feet of the hole.

Bryson is one of golf’s great entertainers. The Mad Scientist is always a great watch not just for his booming drives and precision approach play, but his antics around the course.

Put it this way, you never know what to expect from the two-time US Open champion.

Whether that’s ripping up a sign at last year’s tournament, using experimental 3D-printed irons, or his relationship with US President Donald Trump.

‘He [called me] before the final round at Doral last week, so that ended up not going so great, but it is what it is,’ DeChambeau said.

‘I always appreciate a phone call from the President, any President.’

Interestingly, Bryson, since joining LIV appears to be loving his golf more than ever and has changed his approach to the sport.

He had been a bit of a pariah on the PGA Tour previously, but now, he is one of the most loved golfers on the tour.

Bryson brings bags of entertainment to many, which is brilliant for golf because this game needs characters.

For him, it’s largely been down to the work he’s done creating content on YouTube.

‘YouTube golf has made me feel like a kid again. When I started out, I was like, man, this is going to be a lot of work.

‘And once we started putting in challenges that were fun and interesting and different, it kind of made me feel like I was that, you know, 11-, 12-year-old going out with your friends and just trying to play as good as you can and do something crazy and different.’

DeChambeau had wowed fans earlier this year after his hole-in-one challenge series, which saw him attempt to get an ace by chipping over his house.

‘It really makes you think, as well, when you get a different set of golf clubs in your hand, as a kid you get another club if your hand, okay, maybe it’s not perfect, but you have to figure out a way to get it done. So that kind of brought out that aspect of me, and I do feel like it’s aided in that. When I am doing the course record series, it’s focusing my brain up to the maximum extent. So it’s not like it’s costing me a lot of energy and I’m not gaining much out of it. I’m actually focusing myself and saying, hey, you’re on camera, you have to execute. There’s nothing else you can do besides play your absolute best. So it gets me in a really cool mentality, as well. It’s been a great benefit.’

DeChambeau though admits he’s not been hitting the ball as well as he’d like this week, despite finding a bit of rhythm in his swing on Friday.

He is constantly fine-tuning his clubs, swing and game and it will be very interesting to see what he plays like when he finally feels like he has perfected his swing.

With our final group now pulling into their final three holes, let’s quickly refresh ourselves on the leaderboard.

• R McIlroy -12
• B DeChambeau -9
• C Conners -8
• P Reed – 6
• L Aberg -6
• S Lowry -6
• J Day -5
• S Scheffler -5
• Z Johnson -4
• N Echavarria -4
• X Schauffele -4
• SJ Im -4

Justin Rose is the third-oldest solo leader after 36 holes of the Masters.

He has battled back through injuries over the years and struggled with his swing, but the 44-year-old has shown this weekend that he is one of the best players in the world.

Some analysts and commentators haven’t given Rose that much respect over the past few days, and while he’s toiled with the course and his putting today, Rose has been brilliant throughout the week.

Pressed on whether he had a message for those who doubted him, the world No 39, who is currently seven under, tied in fifth on the leaderboard flatly replied: ‘No. which is good.

‘Glad you told me now, not this morning. That’s probably why I’m not going to watch TV all afternoon. So thank you, yeah. What do they know? That’s why they are pundits.’

The former Masters champion missed the cut on Friday afternoon.

Despite coming into the tournament in resurgent form, Sergio Garcia struggled around Augusta on Friday, having gone in overnight at level par, to finish four-over.

And his wife, Angela, has now spoken out on what Garcia did after missing out on a ticket to the weekend…

Shane Lowry’s moved back to third having moved back down to seven-under following a birdie on 13.

But on the 16th he just, narrowly, survives throwing his ball in the pond on the par-three, with the ball bouncing on the bank before just trickling off into the small greenside bunker to the left of the green.

His playing partner, Matt McCarty, isn’t as fortunate, with his ball hitting the bank before bouncing back into the drink.

Lowry, meanwhile, is enjoying an excellent season so far in 2025, with the 2019 Open Champion featuring in seven tournaments, finishing inside the top-10 in three of those events – one of which was a runner-up placing behind his good mate Rory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

He’s in blistering form at the start of the season, with Lowry, and while he’s always seen smiling and laughing out on the course, he means business this week at Augusta.

Look, I don’t come here just to enjoy myself. I come here to compete. Look, we had a lovely group. Bryson played great. Hideki played well. I played well. We kind of fed off each other. It was nice being out there. The crowds were big. I could see Rory was doing something today, which was good for him.

This is what we practice for. This is what you get up out of bed in the morning, for late tee times on Saturdays and Sundays of majors. I got myself a late tee time tomorrow afternoon and hopefully I can go out and do something pretty good and get myself a late tee time Sunday and take it from.

Lowry chips out of the bunker sending his wedge up the hill but it trickles down back towards the water and the hole and stops just behind the hole, missing it by a couple of inches! Fine margins.

Here’s his birdie on 14!

After chipping into the pond on Thursday, McIlroy has just produced a stunning iron shot into the green from around 150 yards out.

His ball plonks onto the green and he’ll have a six-foot eagle putt to go down to 12-under-par and take a four-shot lead on Conners.

The Canadian also delivered a brilliant strike into the green on 15 and could also putt out for an eagle, with his ball rolling just shy of McIlroy’s.

Here’s McIlroy’s chip off the bank on 14…

Jordan Spieth enjoyed a solid round today but his frustrations were clear as he traversed around 18 holes.

The 2015 Masters champion notably struggled to keep his golf ball on the greens today and had fumed after his round at how his iron play had ‘killed him’ over the past two days.

But there was one other thing he was incensed about during his press conference on Saturday afternoon and his comments could raise some eyebrows inside Augusta Country Club…

Nick Faldo posed for a pic with 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer at Augusta yesterday.

Caroline Wozniacki and Roger Federer were both present at Augusta taking in the sights and sounds of this beautiful golf course on Saturday.

The tennis great, who is Rory McIlroy’s ex-fiancee, shared several pictures of the trip to Augusta, posing with tennis great Federer for a snap!

A tough day for Min Woo Lee who started the day one-under-par, battled to claw another shot back but came unstuck on his back nine.

He conceded bogeys on the 10th,11th, 13th. 14th and 17th to drop back to four-over-par on Saturday.

The Aussie golfer has now been handed a one-stroke penalty by rules officials for an incident that took place on hole 13. It appeared rules officials determined that he had caused the ball to move on the fairway due to his actions near to where the ball had landed.

It means he’ll now move to five-over-par.

In the years before he joined LIV, many had raised eyebrows and been skeptical over what Bryson DeChambeau was trying to achieve in the sport.

He wowed audiences on the PGA Tour for his incredible driving numbers and forced other pros like Rory McIlroy to alter their games to keep up with his massive driving stats.

He also feuded with Brooks Koepka for a period, which culminated in the pair settling their beef in a 12-hole match at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas back in 2021.

The pair are now best pals – notably taking on Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler last year in a 2v2 match, before playing together in the Par 3 Tournament on Wednesday.

But Rory McIlroy’s former putting coach, Phil Kenyon has hailed Bryson as one of the most considered and interesting players in golf.

Speaking to Oddspedia, he said:

People’s perception of Bryson DeChambeau has changed a lot since he left the PGA tour. I always found Bryson a very engaging, thoughtful, and interesting person. When I came across him on the PGA tour, I’d often chat with him. He was always very polite; he’d come over and ask a question occasionally.

And I might see him doing certain things and say: “Hey what are you doing there?” He’s very considered in his approach. As a coach, I would take an interest in what he would do.

His YouTube channel has allowed people to get more of an insight into who he is, what he does, and the kind of person that he is. For him that’s been great and allowed people to get more of an understanding of what he’s actually like, the side that other people wouldn’t normally see.

Sometimes when you’re just viewing people in the ‘arena’, under the most extreme amount of pressure, you just see one certain side of them.

First Conners, now Bryson, the 12th hole is causing a lot of issues right now with Bryson also finding the sand with his pitching wedge on the 150-yard par three.

It was a lovely strike from the two-time US Open Champion and he’s been excellent out of the sand already this week, but it’s a difficult shot to play and, like Conners, he’ll need to get a lot of loft on this to get it to catch on the green.

Rose, meanwhile, plonks his tee shot right onto the green! He’s dropped to six-under after a bogey on the 11th.

Star-spotting is a popular pastime for many of those lucky enough to get a ticket for the Masters and this year has been no different.

On Friday, tennis ace Roger Federer was spotted walking Amen Corner with his agent, while eyebrows were raised over the presence of Rory McIlroy’s ex, Caroline Wozniacki.

Read more below…

Corey Conners is plugged big time in the bunker on 12!

I’m not sure what club he’s taken on that, but the wind is swirling on the 12th right now, moving from right-to-left across the green.

McIlroy, meanwhile, plonks his approach right onto the green with the ball just trickling onto the second cut on the back of the green.

It’s a shame for Conners who’s played brilliant over the past few holes to get back to second on the leaderboard. He’s going to have to get right under this to claw it out.

McIlroy has just flown an eight-iron 186 yards down the fairway towards the green on 11. That is nearly 30-yards more than your average golfer can fire their eight-iron.

But McIlroy can’t quite find the heart of the green, with the ball appearing to get caught in the wind trap at the bottom of the hill on 11, before trickling onto the fringes of the green.

His pitch is OK, not the best. He misjudges the slope a touch but it doesn’t matter as he holds on to make par.

Meanwhile, I’ve just found this great image of McIlroy after making contact with the golf ball. His swing is a thing of beauty and you can see how much power he’s putting on the golf ball here, compressing it into the ground as he flies it towards the green.

The five-time Masters champion has not been seen at Augusta this year and was also not present at the Champions Dinner earlier this week.

It comes as Tiger announced that he had ruptured his achilles, an injury he sustained earlier in the year while practising at home.

Woods recently announced he was dating Donald Trump’s ex-wife, Vanessa, sharing several snaps of the pair on social media.

But questions have been raised over his absence and some insiders have now revealed to why Woods isn’t at The Masters this year…

Both Corey Conners and Justin Rose have birdied the eighth hole here, but Rory McIlroy struggled.

He hit back with a par on the ninth but conceded another birdie on the 10th hole.

After commending him for his work on his putter, McIlroy left two putts from around 10 feet wide.

He moves to nine-under with Corey Conners now making up more ground on the Northern Irishman with a birdie on 10 to go eight-under.

The pair make the turn and now head into Amen Corner…

Amongst all the furore of Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau’s fast start, Corey Conners has been very quietly going about his business and has moved to third in the ladder, tied at -7 with Justin Rose.

Similar to McIlroy’s shot from the pine straw on Friday, Conners played this beauty of a shot out from off the fairway and managed to get his ball to check on the green after a couple of bounces despite the tricky lie.

He’s also been cheering on his playing partner today with the Canadian giving McIlroy a big thumbs up after the world No 2 chipped in for eagle on the second.

Back to Rose now, and the overnight leader has had a very different start to his round compared to yesterday.

With McIlroy, DeChambeau and now Lowry all making a play for the top spot, Rose has dropped back to six-under alongside Corey Conners and Jason Day.

Rose has struggled with his putting today, leaving shots out there on the greens at four and seven, which really doesn’t represent the week he’s had.

For his first round, Rose was averaging 1.39 putts per hole. On Friday, he struck 1.50 per-hole. Today he’s up to 2.14, which is nearly half a putt more than the average for today from the rest of the field (1.64).

Interestingly, this is the 10th time Rose has held at least the share of the lead at the end of a round at the Masters and the third time he has been the solo leader at the end of the first and second rounds of the Masters, having also done the same in 2004 and 2021.

But Rose isn’t out of this just yet. He showed a great deal of patience on Friday and just needs to find a vein of form to pull himself back up the ladder.

And he does just that! A birdie on the eighth keeps him within three strokes of McIlroy at the top of the ladder.

Looks like he found his ball but he couldn’t hack the ball out from the trees.

He tries again and flies a low runner out back onto the fairway before sending his approach into the heart of the green.

We were thinking he’d be lucky to get out of this with a six at best, but somehow he’s miraculously escaped with a bogey on the par four!

His he sent his put about 40 feet to the right of the hole but has brilliantly rolled the ball into the cup!

Some of the golf we’ve seen this afternoon has been on another level.

Billy Horshchel is singing Rory Mcilroy’s praises after his beautiful chip on the seventh.

Victor Hovland, who is now down to -6, after he slashes his drive on the 10th hole deep into the thick bushes that are situated on either side of the fairway.

There are no stewards around there to help him find his ball either, and it looks like could be in a spot of bother here.

Reacting to the shot in the studio, Rich Beem and Butch Harmon, who have come out with some pearlers tonight, raised concerns for Hovland’s golf ball.

The Sky cameras appeared to zoom in on a bush, with Harmon suggesting Hovland might have to take a walk through the ominous-looking foliage.

Beem quipped: ‘I wouldn’t even go in there to look for my kids!’

Not a great finish for Fitzpatrick who began the day level par.

The Englishman has endured a difficult time of late, splitting with his caddie Billy Foster after the Players and had looked somewhat resurgent this week at The Masters, coming into the weekend at evens.

He has played well today, battling to get into minus figures, but two bogeys on the 16th and 17th undid his hard work with the Yorkshireman closing the day with a 74.

Elsewhere, his Ryder Cup team-mate Jon Rahm toiled with the course all day and, at one stage, had cut his score card down by four shots, but ran out of steam in his final three holes, conceding two bogeys on 17 and 18.

That is uncharacteristic of the 2023 Masters Champion, who in his first two rounds this week, hadn’t conceded a bogey in the final six holes of both his first and second rounds.

‘If he holes this one, I’m going in, I’m done,’ Butch Harmon tells Sky Sports Golf, as he watches Rory McIlroy address his ball on the right side of the fairway.

It’s not in but it’s an incredible golf shot all the same.

‘That is beautiful,’ Harmon says, as he watches the Northern Irishman dink the ball onto the dance floor before the ball trickled to within three feet of the hole.

He taps in the putt for what is simply an outstanding scramble with McIlroy slinging his driver out wide to the right of the fairway. From a tight lie, McIlroy plonked a short iron out from a crowd of patrons to just off the side of the green.

Yesterday, Shane Lowry told reporters that seeing his name going up the big white leaderboards around Augusta National was one of the best feelings ever.

‘You know when you’re on that big white leaderboard you’re doing something all right,’ he said. ‘That’s the thing here, I said it yesterday, there’s only 10 names on the leaderboard. You feel like everyone is going well, and you just have to stay in your own lane out there and commit to what you’re doing.

‘But yeah, it is nice to see your name up there and try and keep pushing on from there.’

And Lowry will be watching his name creeping back up the leaderboard again thanks to his brilliant start to his third round.

He’s moved to tie Justin Rose for third place with Rose at seven-under-par with a birdie on the sixth, placing his tee shot within five-feet of the green before draining his putt.

Rory’s scorecard for the first six holes: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.

Staggeringly, McIlroy’s feat this afternoon makes him the first-ever player to card consecutive threes in the first six holes of his round.

He’s in a bit of trouble here on hole seven, slicing his ball way over the right side of the fairway beyond where the patrons were standing.

Meanwhile, Bryson has clipped a stunning shot out of the greenside bunker on fifth to save par!

A beautiful 12-foot putt from McIlroy sees him extend his lead to eleven-under par to birdie the par-four fifth.

A stunning approach with his nine iron from around 160 yards out (yes, a nine iron!) saw McIlroy tee himself up for the putt, which was perfectly weighted.

He’s now five under through five and if he keeps this up, he’s going to smash the 66 he carded yesterday…

Drive for show, putt for dough – the old adage goes.

Bryson and Rory are well known for their insane and sometimes superhuman ball-striking abilities. Today, they are giving us a masterclass in how to hit a golf ball off a tee, both averaging over 190mph ball speeds.

But it’s not all crash, bang and wallop from these two incredible players.

From what we’ve seen from them both over the first five holes, their short game is absolutely dialled.

McIlroy’s chip on two for eagle and Bryson’s putt on the second for birdie, for example. While the LIV Golf star dropped a shot on the third for an errant putt on the third, they have both been brilliant so far in and around the greens.

The Northern Irishman appears to have been working on his putting for a little while now and has dropped to 10th on the PGA Tour for strokes gained with his flat stick and fifth for his one-putt percentage.

The energy at Augusta National now the leaders are out is phenomenal. The course is built around a series of hills and valleys that form a giant bowl.

The roar that greeted McIlroy’s eagle on the 2nd felt like it shook the ground. It’s going to be a hell of an afternoon.

Right, let’s check back in on the leaderboard quickly as there’s been a LOT of action with Bryson having also just gained a shot on three.

• R McIlroy -10
• J Rose -8
• B DeChambeau -8
• C Conners -6
• J Day -6
• S Scheffler -6
• S J Im -6
• S Lowry -6
• M McCarty -5
• Z Johnson -4
• P Reed -4
• T Hatton -4
• V Hovland -4

The biggest drive of the day so far goes to Rory McIlroy with this monster strike.

McIlroy makes a par on the fourth hole and has teed off on the fifth and my goodness he’s just hit another monster.

On Friday, McIlroy out-drove the rest of the field by nearly 30 yards, with his best drive coming in at 320 yards.

I’m also just looking at his driving stats on the range this morning, and McIlroy hit four drives, two of them carried over 320 yards with the Northern Irishman getting ball speeds of 192 and 190.

Phenomenal.

The two-time US Open champion has responded with a birdie of his own to cut the deficit to nine-under-par.

Bryson could have drawn level with McIlroy too, with the American finding himself on the green in three shots, but left his long-range putt wide of the green.

He and Rose have made their way to the tee box on the par-four third and but Bryson has hooked his drive into the patrons on the left side of the fairway.

It’ll leave him with a decent shot into the green, with the fairway bending around to the right. It doesn’t look too bad-a-lie either, not quite fluffy to get it up so he’ll maybe have to choke down on the club here.

DeChambeau is golf’s great entertainer, the mad scientist as many call him. His antics around the course twinned with his brilliance mean he is one of the most loved players in the game right now.

Riath Al-Samarrai dives into the genius behind the US star and why he’s risen to becoming one of the best in the world…

Rory McIlroy is now down to -10 and is TWO shots clear of Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose!

It’s another birdie for Rory who is now staggeringly nine-under for the last 12 holes – wow.

After his chip in on the second, he pitches on to the green at three, with his wedge shot just catching the green to give him a seven-foot putt, before tapping in!

Here was his celebration I mentioned earlier. It’s not often you go birdie-eagle-birdie at the start of a round of a major championship – let alone The Masters. It was particularly muted, which is interesting to see. McIlroy certainly has his eyes on one thing and one thing only.

There is a huge crowd following McIlroy and he has just sent them wild with a centimetre-perfect chip for eagle at 2. The Northern Irishman is in the lead.

Bryson has ben well below the field average this week for putts, averaging 1.41 per hole.

The average currently sits at 1.65…

Wow! That was an incredible five minutes.

We’ve had three leaders in the last 25 seconds with Bryson nailing a stunning 30-foot putt, while Rory McIlroy has just EAGLED the second with a stunning chip-in on the second.

That was an insane chip and as Dame Laura Davies says on Sky Sports, the Northern Irishman didn’t get too excited there with his celebration – perhaps knowing there is still a big job to do. The Northern Irishman delivered a reserved fist bump to the air before high-fiving his caddie, Harry Diamond.

Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose have teed off on No 1, which means we are now fully underway for the third round at The Masters.

Meanwhile, McIlroy has just opened his account on Saturday with a birdie on the first to move to second on the ladder at seven-under-par.

Mail Sport’s Mike Keegan reflects on his second round below…

Scottie Scheffler opened up on how the conditions at Augusta played havoc on his round on Friday afternoon.

I mean, I had a couple three-putts. I didn’t hit as many fairways. I got myself in trouble off the tee on 18.

It’s really tough out there with the conditions. Extremely challenging when you get greens this fast and you get that much wind, especially when it’s gusty. It can be quite challenging.

I did a good job of making some key up-and-downs, and I had the chip-in on 12, good up-and-down for par on 13, took advantage of a look there on 14. Overall I felt like I did some good things out there to stay in the tournament.

Now, it seems he’s certainly making the most of the fair weather today at Augusta, having just knocked in a birdie on the par-five second.

Even after finding his tee shot in the huge bunker in the middle of the fairway, the world No 1 clipped a wedge shot to within three feet of the hole before tapping in for a birdie.

Rory’s drive was an absolutely bomb sending it 371 down the middle of the fairway on the first.

He’s got about 70 yards on playing partner Corey Conners, with McIlroy landing his approach slap bang in the heart of the green.

A great start from the world No 2.

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Im Sung-jae has just knocked this beauty of a chip in on the second!

It puts him tied for fifth place at five-under-par!

Friday marked the sixth bogey-free round that McIlroy has ever posted at Augusta National.

Interestingly that puts him second in the all-time standings, alongside Gene Littler, for the most bogey-free rounds at The Masters. Jack Nicklaus, of course, tops that leaderboard.

It was also the low round of the day, marking the second time in his Masters career that he has posted the best round of his career. The first time was back in 2022, where he shot a 64 in his first round, but would go on to place second behind Scottie Scheffler.

The stats and the numbers are trending in McIlroy’s favour after his brilliant round yesterday.

He almost seemed defiant in the way he played, following a mixed opening round, which was summed up by his brilliant scrambling on the 14th hole to make par having previously made an eagle with another stunning approach from the pine straw on the par-five 13th hole.

‘I think overall just proud of myself with how I responded today after the finish last night,’ he said after yesterday’s round.

‘I just had to remind myself that I played really good golf yesterday, and you know, I wasn’t going to let two — you know, two bad holes sort of dictate the narrative for the rest of the week.

‘But yeah, just ultimately, yeah, just proud of how I got back into it today.’

What was interesting though about his comments yesterday was that McIlroy doesn’t feel he has anything to prove to anyone.

With the weight of expectations weighing on him coming into this week as he looks to end his 11-year wait for a major, win the career grand slam and finally get his hands on a coveted Green Jacket, Rory’s mindset is in a fascinating space at the minute.

‘I don’t think I proved anything,’ he said when quizzed on his brilliant second-round performance.

‘If anything, I just backed up the belief that I have in myself, and I — and the belief that I’m as resilient as anyone else out here.

‘You know, again, like I’ve — I’ve been really proud of how resilient I’ve been the whole way throughout my career, and I think today was just another example of that.’

He admitted that he was a little frustrated after his performance on Thursday.

But after turning things around yesterday, he was in a much brighter mood.

‘Not as frustrated, obviously. But I mean, it’s — it’s only — it’s only halfway. You know, we’ve got 36 holes to go on a very, very tough golf course. Anything can happen.

‘You know, and all I’m focused on is trying to hit a good tee shot in the fairway on the first hole tomorrow.’

Earlier in the week, McIlroy said that he was ready to embrace heartbreak. He has experienced heartbreak in the past 12 months having come so agonisingly close to winning the US Open and ending his major drought after being pipped by Bryson DeChambeau.

And with the American playing so well this week so far McIlroy could well find himself once again battling Bryson, or his Ryder Cup colleague, Justin Rose, for the lead come Sunday at Augusta.

A better day for the 2015 Masters champion – Spieth wraps up his round at one-under par having posted a bogey-free 69, carding birdies on eight, nine and 13.

His approach play was pretty excellent out there today, despite Spieth notably getting angry when he missed the green on 14.

Speaking on his performance, he said:

Yeah. It was a bit better. My iron play killed me the last two days, and to be brutally honest with you, it was primarily mud balls. It’s just so frustrating because you can’t talk about them here. You’re not supposed to talk about them. Mud balls can affect this tournament significantly, especially when you get them a lot on 11 and 13. They’re just daggers on those two holes.

They’ve done a better job — there’s like less than normal, but I still had them today on those holes, too. I had them yesterday on those holes. It’s something to pay attention to for sure for leader groups, because you just have to play so far away from trouble or lay up when you’d normally go for it, just random stuff, because it will affect it significantly.

And if you’re on the wrong side of the hole you’re either in the water or you almost can’t make par depending on what hole it is. I just felt like today was a bit better with the iron play for me, especially early, and I just stayed alive the first few holes and then finally got a couple good looks and made them.

Scottie Scheffler will join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, to become only the fourth player to defend a Masters title, should he claim the Green Jacket on Sunday.

He’s teeing off alongside Tyrrell Hatton here at the first and in typical Scottie style, stripes a lovely shot down the fairway. Perhaps he’s just aimed it a little to the left with the ball just finding the first cut, but that’ll leave him with a nice shot into the green, with the fairway bending around to the right.

Hatton goes a little wider of Scottie’s ball and he’ll have a trickier shot getting his ball out from around the trees that stand on the left side of the fairway.

Scottie’s been in mixed form this week. Having missed out on the start of the PGA Tour season after sustaining a bizarre hand injury while making some ravioli at Christmas he’s struggled to return to the form that he showed in 2024 where he won seven titles.

After shooting a low 68 on Thursday, he toiled with the golf course on Friday just holding on to finish one-under for the day, after bogeying two of his final three holes.

Despite hit troubles, you can not rule the two-time Masters champion out and he’ll be looking to bounce back today with a low score.

Now, legendary putting coach Phil Kenyon has opened up on what it’s like to work with the world No 1. Speaking to Oddspedia, he said:

You get exactly what you see from Scottie. He’s a really normal person. Sometimes you can be around some of the guys and they’re not normal. But Scottie is really down to earth. He’s great to work with; he’s a very humble and hard-working person. He’s extremely motivated and competitive so he’s an ideal student!

I wouldn’t say he’s a particularly technically minded golfer. He plays with a lot of feel and a lot of instinct. So again, you’ve got to find the right way to encourage the development of his skills in a way that’s comfortable to him and in a way that he doesn’t get bogged down.

He works extremely hard. I would say you have to manage how hard and how much he works. But that just comes from an absolute ruthless competitiveness, where he says to himself, ‘I’ll just work harder than anyone else.

We’ve got Justin Rose, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton all set to tee off in the next hour.

So grab a cuppa and settle in as this is going to be an incredible few hours of golf.

Meanwhile, half of the field has already made their way out onto the course and former Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson is interestingly making a play for the lead, having birdied six of his last eight holes.

Johnson has just stuck a stunning iron shot 170 yards to the pin on 16th to leave himself a one-foot putt.

So let’s quickly check in on the leaderboard as the featured groups take to the course.

• Justin Rose -8
• Bryson DeChambeau -7
• Corey Conners -6
• Rory McIlroy -6
• Zach Johnson -5
• Scottie Scheffler -5
• Tyrrell Hatton -5
• Matt McCarty -6
• Shane Lowry -5
• Jason Day -4
• Rasmus Hojgaard -4
• Viktor Hovland -4
• Collin Morikawa -4

It’s been an agonising weekend for Nick Dunlap after he imploded on Thursday to finish 18-over par.

Dunlap carded seven bogeys and five double bogeys in his first round to post the worst round of the week.

The 21-year-old, who has two wins on the PGA Tour and is ranked 42nd in the world, turned things around on Friday, coming in one-under-par for his day, but still carded three bogeys on his final three holes.

On Friday, Dunlap broke his silence on his nightmare round, taking to Instagram to reveal it had been the ‘lowest’ he’s ever felt on a golf course.

‘The most humbling and humiliating yet exciting and rewarding game there is,’ Dunlap wrote. ‘In possibly the lowest point I’ve ever been golf never fails to teach you lessons. It’s the worst feeling to put everything you have day in and day out into something and feel as if you’re getting worse and there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. ‘No one sees or talks about the rough and struggling times. People, including myself, only skip straight to the good and don’t think anything like this would ever happen. Until it does. One thing I have learned is to never quit and to always keep moving forward. No matter what. It will in fact get better and it will be quite rewarding when it does. ‘Not sure if anyone needed to hear this but I needed to hear myself so excuse me lol. ‘Time to keep moving forward.’

A golf fan was banned from ever attending Augusta National last week.

It came after he was the victim of a case of mistaken identity.

After finding out that he had been successful in The Masters’ ticket lottery, golf fan, Josh Knauer’s hopes of attending the hallowed country club turned into nightmares.

Here’s why…

Rory McIlroy’s former putting coach, Phil Kenyon, believes McIlroy will win another major but that feat is becoming harder for the World No 2, given the expectations on him.

Kenyon also added what it takes to become a major champion revealing to OddsPedia what McIlroy once told him about Scottie Scheffler’s game.

Rory McIlroy is an unbelievably talented player. You would expect and hope for him that it won’t be that long before he wins another major. But you’ve got to be on it. It’s so competitive, and there are so many good players, you can’t just turn up and wing it and get your major. As time has gone on, it has become harder for him with that extra pressure.

But he is too good a player to not win another major and if he wins one, there’ll be another one coming around the corner pretty quickly. He’s probably one of the best players to ever walk the earth. He’s a phenomenal talent. The talent I don’t think has ever been in question. He’s phenomenal. It’s just how he gets the best out of that talent.

It’s also about him eliminating the mistakes. Rory puts himself into position. His game is so good. If you look at some of the close calls he has had, it’s just a loose shot here or there, a missed putt here or there, and it makes a difference.

One thing that Rory mentioned about Scottie is how well he can plot his way around the golf course and eliminate the mistakes. It’s not the great shots that win major tournaments, it’s how good your bad ones are and about eliminating the mistakes. So, he’s just got to get better at that.

Wow that was special! Tom Kim produces an outstanding chip to bounce his shot in for a birdie to finish up level for his third round!

It’s been a tough day for the South Korean who has mixed in four birdies and four pars for his third round to remain two-over-par for the week.

Tommy Fleetwood has got off to a mixed start for his third round at the Masters, bogeying his first but recovering with a birdie on the par-five second.

He chipped his approach on No 1 to the back for the green before getting caught out by the contours of the green on the first, leaving his putt 8 feet short.

Things went from bad to worse after he sprayed his second shot on the next hole into a group of patrons on the right, but produced a sensational recovery to put his approach three feet of the hole – setting himself up for an easy birdie putt.

Xander Schauffele, who is playing with Fleetwood, is on fire right now. He’s -2 through two, and agonisingly just missed out on an eagle putt on the third hole.

McIlroy has arrived at Augusta as he looks to improve on his low round of 66 on Thursday.

Speaking on what he has to do today to launch an attack on Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose ahead of him, McIlroy said to CBS Sports…

I think more of the same I was a little happier with how things finished yesterday compared to Thursday.

It’s the same mindset today, go out there today, take care of what I’m doing. Don’t look around. Don’t try and watch the leaderboards this week – even though their big and white and pretty unavoidable.

So just let the score come to me and don’t try to push the score too much. Just try and follow the same plan that I followed yesterday.

I wonder if anyone will find the water on 13 today?

Hackers around the world will have felt the pain of Alabaman Nick Dunlap after he carded a disastrous 90 in the first round. The 21-year-old, who followed it up with an impressive 71, was nowhere near recording the worst 18 holes played out at Augusta.

That dubious honour should go to Billy Casper, who presumably was short on eagles, let alone kestrels, when he needed 106 strokes to get around on his final Masters visit in 2005.

However, Casper, the 1970 champion, is not in the record books after he decided to withdraw before signing his card.

Instead, Charlie Kunkle – who did not take up golf until leaving college – holds the record with a 95 in the final round in 1956. Kunkle was 42 at the time, crashed his car on Magnolia Lane thanks to nerves and had to cope with brutal winds.

The worst score recorded on a single hole is 13 with three players – including Sergio Garcia – who put five balls in the water on 15 in 2018.

The Everton fan tees it up in alongside Xander Schauffele in what’s set to be an interesting group.

Fleetwood and Schauffele will open their third round two-under-par.

The Brit, who clinched a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but has never won on the PGA Tour, despite having won the Race to Dubai in 2017 and having placed second in the US Open, The Open, and third in The Masters.

Could Fleetwood make a charge up the leaderboard today? Perhaps.

Here, Mail Sport walks through the secret to Fleetwood’s success on the golf course…

It’s a lot.

The Masters has just revealed the prize pot for this year’s tournament stands at $21million (£16.05m). For comparison, the Players Championship interestingly had a prize pot of $25m.

That’s a lot of cash.

The winner will receive $4.2m (£3.21m) while the runner-up will bank $2.26m (£2.05m) while third place will pocket $1.42m (£1.09m).

Interestingly, the golfer ranked 50th will pocket $52,920, while all those who did not qualify for the final 36 holes will pocket $25,000.

A bizarre moment unfolded on Friday after Scottie Scheffler was given the meme treatment.

The two-time champion sent golf fans wild after he bizarrely decided to sit down in a bush while he was trying to find his ball on the 18th hole.

Scheffler, 28, spent a good while wading through the trees to find his ball.

Upon discovering where it had landed, he decided to take a seat and was seen gazing off into the distance.

But fans online poked fun at the world No 1.

He’s sunk to the ground on his knees in anger after sending his golf ball long over the back of the 14th green.

He let out a roar of anger and looked like he was going to slam his clubhead into the ground, but considering his wedge play so far today, I don’t think he’ll have too many issues getting out of bother here.

Meanwhile, Matt Fitzpatrick has clawed back another shot with a birdie on the fourth.

Spieth’s bunker paly hasn’t been great this week.

He’s gotten up and down from 33 per cent of the bunker shots he’s hit this weekend.

But after a lovely little chip out on the deep bunker at the back of the green on 13, Spieth sets himself up for a shot at birdie and drains his put from around eight yards out to put himself in minus figures.

Many golf fans have been left upset by ESPN’s Masters coverage after they didn’t put Bryson DeChambeau on their TV coverage.

In a rather bizarre story, Bryson, one of golf’s most popular stars, was not included in the Masters highlights, and Lil Wayne wasn’t too happy about the move.

He wrote: ‘The Masters blew it with this lack of coverage on Bryson!!! They gotta stop hatin’ on the LIV s***. This man is killin it out there and I can’t watch’.

He wasn’t the only golf fan annoyed by the coverage.

‘No Masters Bryson DeChambeau featured group on ESPN is a disgrace to professional golf,’ one social media user wrote.

‘Bryson DeChambeau is thrashing Augusta right now, and we can’t watch it. Thanks Masters… fix your app @TheMasters,’ another added.

It’s a big eagle at the eighth for Cantlay. Our early groups appear to be really ripping into this hole today with, Spieth and Rahm both having carded birdies already today on the par-five.

Cantlay, though has done one better. He’s launched a lovely drive straight down the middle of the fairway to set himself up with a 281-yard approach into the green.

The American pulls out a metalwood and rifles his shot 282 yards to leave himself 6 feet to the green.

A stunning effort that puts him one-under as he approaches the turn.

The two Masters champions are giving it a really good crack today after just missing the cut on Friday.

Spieth is about to make his way through Amen corner and after his birdie on the eighth he dropped another shot on the ninth, again showing his brilliant putting skills to roll in a left-to-right 20-footer to birdie the par four.

Rahm, meanwhile, is up to T22 in the leaderboard at one-under-par having started his day at +2.

It’s been a hugely impressive start for the Spaniard, but he’s still battling. After birdieing his first three holes, he gained a shot on the fifth with an errant drive which was followed by a three-putt costing him.

Rahm would pull the stroke back on the eighth, following in suit of Spieth, with a birdie.

Jets have been flying in from all over the US to Georgia this week for The Masters.

This crazy graphic shows the insane number of flights that are pulling into Atlanta Airport, but staggeringly, it costs a pretty penny to park your jet at the airport.

Read more below…

A few notable faces have been spotted under the famous oak tree outside the clubhouse in the past 24 hours.

One of those was Roger Federer, a guest of his sponsors at Mercedes Benz and Rolex. I gather he attended a high-end dinner at the course on Friday evening and was among the last to leave.

The wife of European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, Diane, is a tennis fan and was said to be hanging off Federer’s every word.

Another visitor to these parts was Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, who of course is also chairman of Newcastle United and has bankrolled the LIV tour.

It is understood he had a meeting with Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley – Al-Rumayyan is known to crave membership to this most exclusive club and is yet to have had success…

In a bizarre story that emerged on Thursday, amateur star Jose Luis Ballester found himself in a bit of a pinch.

The Spaniard, who missed the cut on Friday night having finished 10-over-par, had to relieve himself after tapping in a birdie on the 12th.

He admitted he’d forgotten where the bathrooms were as he approached the tee box on the 13th and quickly nipped off to the water hazard around next to the 13th tee box to have a wee in Rae’s Creek.

He told reporters after his round: ‘I’m like: “I really need to pee”.

‘Didn’t really know where to go, and since (Thomas) had an issue on the green, I’m like: “I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much,” and then they clapped for me.

‘Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.’

Ballester revealed that he had apologised to the club following the incident.

‘I already apologized to the club,’ Ballester said. ‘I think we just move on from this moment. It will not happen again.

‘I know there has been a lot said about what happened on social media, but I try to stay away from all that.’

He added that he wasn’t able to find a secluded spot, with thousands of patrons walking around the grounds.

‘They saw me,’ Ballester added. ‘It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.’

The water body was named Rae’s Creek after Augusta National’s former property owner John Rae, who passed away in 1789.

It’s been a turbulent year for Matt Fitzpatrick.

It was only a few years ago that the 30-year-old was flying in form, winning the 2022 US Open, the 2023 RBC Heritage and then helping Team Europe clinch the Ryder Cup that same year.

But Fitzpatrick has, bizarrely, slumped over the past 12 months.

He finished 2023 ranked No 8 in the Official World Golf Rankings. But has since slumped to 74th in the world. In 2025, he has missed three cuts and has not finished inside the top 20 players in the seven events that he’s played this year.

In fact, since June of last year, Fitzpatrick’s highest placing in a tournament was a T18 at the FedEx St Jude Championship.

After missing the cut at the Players Championship this year, he decided it was time to part ways with his caddie, Billy Foster, who admitted he was disappointed by the move but revealed Fitzpatrick has struggled.

‘Obviously, it’s very disappointing because we’ve had so many good times together and so many great victories. Matt struggled. It’s out there in the results. He hasn’t played well for six to eight months, [he] feels the time to change is right, freshness is everything and that’s fine, you just gotta accept the way it is,’ Foster said to Prime Casino.

Despite that, things seem to be looking up for the Englishman.

Fitzpatrick appears to have shaken off the issues that have shrouded him over the past four months and is flying high at Augusta. He will begin his third round today at level par having carded a 71 on Thursday but dropped off the pace slightly yesterday, posting a 73.

In any event, he is playing with a lot more confidence.

The Brit has hit 71 per cent of fairways this week and found the greens 61 per cent of the time.

His putting stats are slightly above average too compared to the rest of the field, with Fitzpatrick hitting 1.56 putts per hole during his second round, while the rest of the field were scoring at around 1.63.

While he still sits seven shots off the lead, it is interesting to see a resurgent Fitzpatrick competing at a great level again following a turbulent 12 months.

It’s not been a great start on Saturday for Fitzpatrick, though, who has just hooked his drive on the first into the trees on the left side of the fairway.

Jordan Spieth is slowly moving back up the leaderboard on Saturday.

In true Spieth style, he’s just scrambled from the pine straw to make a birdie on the par-5 eighth, sending his wedge shot to within 10-feet of the hole.

Spieth annoyingly couldn’t get under the ball enough from the pine straw to get it to check – but it didn’t matter, with the American putting out for birdie.

The 31-year-old, who won around this track in 2015, also copped a telling-off from his caddie on the 18th fairway yesterday.

The golfer was flirting with the cut line and had become incensed with his game after he slashed his ball into one of the overhanging trees on the fairway.

Check out what his caddie told him below…

Let’s just refresh on the top of the leaderboard and there are plenty of players in with a shout of climbing up the ladder on Saturday. Here’s the top-10 and ties.

• Justin Rose -8
• Bryson DeChambeau -7
• Corey Conners -6
• Rory McIlroy -6
• Scottie Scheffler -5
• Tyrrell Hatton -5
• Matt McCarty -6
• Shane Lowry -5
• Jason Day -4
• Rasmus Hojgaard -4
• Viktor Hovland -4

Here comes the 2023 Masters Champion.

After a dismal opening two rounds, Rahm has come out to play and has birdied the first three holes.

He had started the day at +2 after making the cut by the skin of his teeth on Friday night and wasn’t too impressed with his form.

But today, his putter has been hot, sliding in a putt from off the green on the third hole having just drained a lovely putt from 18-feet out on No 2.

On Friday, Rahm had been very critical of his opening two rounds.

Not good. I mean, I grinded and got a lot of good up-and-downs to be able to break par and hopefully make the cut. But just a lot of bad swings and then a lot of mistakes when I was in a good position.

I must say, yesterday and today, there was quite a few iron swings that I thought were good that just — whether we got the wind wrong or just other things that happen at Augusta that didn’t end up either on the green or close enough for it to be a birdie chance, and then after that, I just feel like I hit a lot of good putts and nothing went in.

Just little things like that that at major championships can set you back quite a bit. I have a pretty big mountain to climb to have a chance tomorrow or to have a chance come Sunday.

‘Scheffler and Rory running up the leaderboard,’ Harmon tells the Sky Sports studio!

On Friday, McIlroy’s 66 was the low round of the day. It was the second time in his Masters career that he has posted the best round of the day notably having achieved the feat in 2022, where he placed T2 after Scottie.

It was also the sixth bogey-free round of McIlroy’s Masters career, putting him second alongside Gene Littler for the most bogey-free rounds after, who else, but Jack Nicklaus.

Mail Sport’s Mike Keegan reflects on his round below!

Phil Mickelson said he ‘wished I played better’ but ‘had a lot of fun’ as the three-time champion returned to Augusta this week.

Despite having experienced so much success here over the years, the LIV Golf star was not able to book himself a spot at the weekend, missing the cut after wrapping up his Friday afternoon five-over-par.

The 54-year-old left-hander, though, was not downbeat by the result.

‘I had a lot of fun. I wish I played better,’ he said on Friday night.

‘I thought it was great. I thought that it was challenging with the wind today, but the greens were more receptive. I think they put some water on it knowing that. I thought it was playing, fun, great challenge, hard. It’s the Masters; I love everything about it.’

Mickelson had been going well on Friday, having got back down to one-over-par through the turn.

That would have got him through to the weekend. But the American imploded on the 15th hole, putting a ball into the water to card a double bogey.

He’d follow that up with another bogey on the 16th, dunking his ball into the water on the par-three, before adding another shot to his card on the 18th.

‘I’ve been playing good golf this year, and so I’m disappointed with my score this week,’ Mickelson said.

‘But I’ve been playing some good golf. I’ll get back at it here soon.

‘I did, yeah. I really thought I was going to play well and get right in it. I can’t remember — I haven’t missed very many cuts here, and I’m surprised that I missed one this year because I was playing really well heading in.’

Interestingly, Mickelson has only missed the cut three times at the Masters in 32 starts at the tournament.

A Happy Masters Saturday to you from our leader Justin Rose!

The tournament is missing quite a few big names as the weekend gets underway. I sat in the grandstand overlooking the 15th green for an hour or so late on Friday evening and got there just in time to see three-time winner Phil Mickelson dump his wedge approach into the water. A few minutes later, he did the same at the 16th and his chances of making the cut disappeared.

It felt sad to see the golfers on the 15th waiting for him to take a second tee shot and then watching as he trudged past them towards an early flight home.

Some rumours had been swirling that Donald Trump could be set to make an appearance at The Masters this week.

The golf-loving US President in recent months had been helping to mediate talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf as their merger talks continue to rage on, though it seems at a glacial rate.

Trump, meanwhile, is not expected to be at The Masters this week, despite the speculation he could pop up at Augusta, having already attended the Super Bowl this year.

It also comes as The White House issued a presidential message this week ahead of the masters.

The President wrote: ‘The Masters is more than just a golf tournament – it’s a tradition unlike any other. Every April Augusta National becomes the centre of the golf world bringing together players and fans across the globe to witness history in the Making.

‘From the beauty of its famed Second Nine through the Georgia pines to the drama of Amen Corner, The Masters represents excellence, perseverance and the pursuit of greatness – the very ideals that define our nation.’

Read more on who the US President thinks will win below…

A remarkable bit of play just now from Joaquin Niemann. The LIV star sends a booming drive down the middle of the fairway on the third hole and he’s got about 50 yards to the green.

Niemann winds up a wedge shot but uncharacteristically chunks his club head on the ground before making contact.

The ball skips into the air about 10 yards and leaving him with more work to do to get on the green but this time, he makes no mistake, dropping the ball onto the dance floor with pinpoint accuracy, before trickling it into the hole.

Remarkable play from the Chilean who has been brilliant on the LIV Golf tour this season.

Just adding another shot of the week to my big list, I’ve just remembered Justin Thomas also produced this epic chip to eagle the second on Thursday afternoon.

He’s had an interesting year so far. Having struggled with his swing over the past few seasons, notably missing the cut at the Players, The Masters and the US Open in 2024, Thomas has spun things around and is playing his best golf for a long time.

He has been unfortunate this year, coming agonisingly close to winning The American Express and the Valspar Championship, placing as a runner-up in both tournaments.

Thomas, a two-time PGA Championship winner, has a love-hate relationship with Augusta. In his past two appearances, he’s missed the cut twice. Despite that, he finished fourth here in 2021 and T8 in 2022, his best placings at Augusta.

At level par, I think he’ll be an interesting player to watch today. He is ranked eighth on the PGA Tour for his approach play and with perfect conditions out there at Augusta right now, Thomas can really take advantage to claw a few shots back.

Pimento cheese or egg salad sandwich? That’s the debate that has raged among many golf fans who have attended The Masters over the years.

It’s almost a right of passage for any golf fan at Augusta National to check out the food stand and try all of the options that the iconic golf club puts on for its patrons.

But fans have, for many years lost their minds over the prices of food and drink options at The Masters.

Here’s why…

I’ve been looking at some of these pin placements and wow, we could have a crazy day around the greens today – especially with the wind expected to pick up this afternoon.

Hole two looks to be particularly tricky. Players might be able to draw the ball into the hole considering this 585-yard par-five doglegs around to the left from the tee. But with the pin just in front of a deep greenside bunker, attacking the flag will certainly be tricky today.

It’s a similar story on the 12th hole, with the flag just ahead of the small bunker that sits between the green and the water hazard on the iconic par three.

Plus on the par-three 16th, the flag is very close to the water hazard that sits just to the left of the green. Fly the ball a little to short and you’ll be in the drink!

Taking stock of Rory’s epic 66 on Friday, Oliver Holt has given his verdict of how the Northern Irishman bounced back into contention following a disappointing finish on Thursday evening.

Check it out below…

We are underway at The Masters!

Tom Kim, Jordan Spieth and Joaquin Niemann have just got underway after the trio avoided being cut on Friday afternoon, having posted cards of two-over-par.

Spieth had been in solid form coming into this week, considering he had undergone surgery on a wrist injury last August.

It’s not been the best season for Spieth, who returned from injury at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. He’d place T4 at the WM Phoenix Open, before being cut at the Genesis Invitational. But coming into the week he’d place T12 at the Valero Texas Open.

Reflecting on his game, the 31-year-old, delivered a positive update of where his game stands.

I think I’ve been — I think if I — like I set a goal that I was open about at Pebble Beach, which was to try and have a chance to win an event prior to the Masters. I’ve had a couple Sundays where I definitely could have done it.

So I think pretty good, all things considered. Still felt like I’ve been playing catch up obviously. I’ve played less events than most guys. I missed two of the elevated events, which I’m not in any of them. I’m fortunate to be getting exemptions into ones coming up, which will be really nice and to feel maybe like it’s a little less catch-up to do and to get myself in contention against the best players in the world.

So doing it here is a good start. I’ve got a big stretch ahead. I’d like to work my way back into — if I’ve got 11 events out of the next — sorry. Nine events out of the next 11 weeks, I’d like to have definitely a few good looks on a Sunday.

I’ve been thinking about my shot of the tournament so far and I’m very torn as there’s a lot to pick from.

Rory McIlroy’s shots from the pine straw yesterday on 13 and 14 were simply epic. While his eagle on 13 was epic, his composure to strike out of the pine straw on 14 to make par was sensational. It brought back memories of Bubba Watson’s insane wedge on hole 10 back in 2012.

Bryson was magnificent with his wedges on Friday and this chip shot in from the sand is another of my top strikes of the day.

Collin Morikawa opted to play a texas wedge on hole 16, and boy, it was a fantastic effort down the slope.

This list wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from the World No 1, who comes into Saturday on five-under-par. He had a mixed day on Friday but this at hole 12 was magic.

Speaking of chipping in, check this beauty out from Akshay Bhatia. He is one of the most creative players with his wedges and he showcases his brilliant precision with this epic chip.

And what about this monster putt form Viktor Hovland…

Let me know your favourite shot from the first two rounds in the comments!

Frankie Fleetwood, son of Tommy, melted hearts earlier this weekend after he gave a very serious interview to Sky Sports Golf, during Wednesday’s Par Three tournament.

Fleetwood Jnr sent his dad, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy into hysterics after he revealed he had been ‘practising as hard as he could’ to try and land his golf ball on the green of the ninth hole.

In what was an adorable interview, the seven-year-old added: ‘I’m just not reaching it this year. But I’m just trying my hardest.’

Check out the full interview below…

Now listen, I’m not going to get too ahead of myself. But with the Ryder Cup coming up, you can’t help but think Luke Donald will be quietly pleased about how well the Europeans have been playing at Augusta.

In fact, Donald has been spotted at Augusta this week and will no doubt be relishing how well European golfers have been playing at the start of the 2025 PGA Tour season.

Of the 16 tournaments that have been played since the start of 2025, six events have been won by European players, with Rory McIlroy winning two of those.

Sepp Straka was the first, clinching The American Express back in January, Thomas Detry dazzled for his first PGA Tour victory at the WM Phoenix Open. A week later Ludvig Aberg claimed victory at the Genesis Invitational before Viktor Hovland bounced back from an indifferent vein of form to win the Valspar Championship.

While the Europeans lead the US contingent now 6 wins to five on the PGA Tour, their form in the majors has left a lot wanting.

The last European to win a major was Rahm in 2023, with the US stars dominating at the last seven majors.

‘Seven in a row from the US is not ideal,’ Donald told Mail Sport. ‘Again, it would be great just to keep that vibe and the momentum going with a European win. It doesn’t have to be this week but at least one of the majors going into Bethpage.

‘They won quite a few before Rome and it didn’t make a difference.

‘Individual versus team – it is a different mindset. Majors versus Ryder Cup. It is not necessary but it would certainly be very nice.’

This week, Justin Rose has excelled to lead heading into both Friday and Saturday.

McIlroy endured an underwhelming start but brought himself back into contention in his second round, showcasing his scrambling play to head into the clubhouse at -6.

Shane Lowry has enjoyed an excellent season on the PGA Tour and impressed with his short game at Augusta to finish on Friday T5.

Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton have also both been excellent.

Winning in the States will be a tough ask for Luke Donald’s men, considering the calibre of American players they’re up against but from what they’ve been showing in the first quarter of the season, the European stars are certainly here to play.

While Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy made the headlines yesterday for their brilliant performances, Friday wasn’t a great day for everyone at The Masters.

In fact, several big names missed the cut on Friday.

Open Champion Cameron Smith has endured a difficult run of form on the LIV Tour of late, notably battling his swing at LIV Golf Miami last week to finish one-over par.

The n finished at +5 after again struggling with his swing. He was one of multiple LIV players to miss out on a ticket to the weekend, with past champion Sergio Garcia also missing the cut, along with Brooks Koepka, and past champions, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.

Ryder Cup hero, Robert Macintyre also struggled on the first two days, falling to six-over par after carding bogeys on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes on Friday afternoon.

Billy Horschel, interestingly, was another who missed the cut, despite claiming that he felt he had produced one of the best performances at The Masters for some time.

I’m still trying to unpack this moment from Thursday.

Max Homa punched a shot out from under the trees but bizarrely a man, carrying a flag was stood in the middle of the fairway.

The man, unaware Homa was playing, was struck in the back by the ball…

What do you make of this?

So we have some mouthwatering groups coming up today, with Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau headlining as the final pairing and will be heading out at 2:40pm EDT/ 7:40pm BST.

Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy is due to head out just before them alongside Canadian star Corey Conners at 2:30pm EDT/ 7:30pm BST.

One group I am particularly keen to watch is Tyrrell Hatton’s match-up with Scottie Scheffler. The Englishman has been brilliant this week and starts his round at -5, level with the defending champion.

Tommy Fleetwood and Xander Schauffele will head out at 1:10pm EDT/ 6:10pm BST in another exciting group, with The Open Champion and Fleetwood, who is still searching for his first victory on the PGA Tour, both sitting at two-under par coming into Saturday.

First up, though, we’ll have Tom Kim leading us into Saturday, with the South Korean star set to compete on his own, having just made the cut finishing at two-over par on Friday night.

Here’s some of the featured tee times for today…

• Tom Kim – 9:50 AM EDT / 2:50 PM BST
• Joaquin Niemann / Jordan Spieth – 10:00 AM EDT / 3:00 PM BST
• Danny Willett / JT Poston – 10:20 AM EDT / 3:20 PM BST
• John Rahm / Zach Johnson – 10:30 AM EDT / 3:30 PM BST
• Patrick Cantlay / Akshay Bhatia – 10:40 AM EDT / 3:40 PM BST
• Aaron Rai / Justin Thomas – 11:30 AM EDT / 4:30 PM BST
• Matt Fitzpatrick / Wyndham Clark – 11:50 AM EDT / 4:50 PM BST
• Xander Schauffele / Tommy Fleetwood – 1:10 PM EDT / 6:10 PM BST
• Patrick Reed / Collin Morikawa – 1:20 PM EDT / 6:20 PM BST
• Ludvig Aberg / Hideki Matsuyama – 1:30 PM EDT / 6:30 PM BST
• Rasmus Hojgaard / Victor Hovland – 2:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM BST
• Scottie Scheffler / Tyrrell Hatton – 2:10 PM EDT / 7:10 PM BST
• Matt McCarty / Shane Lowry – 2:20 PM EDT / 7:20 PM BST
• Rory McIlroy / Corey Conners – 2:30 PM EDT / 7:30 PM BST
• Justin Rose / Bryson DeChambeau – 2:40 PM EDT / 7:40 PM BST

Pristine fairways, white sand and pink azaleas.

There really is no place quite like Augusta National.

It’s been a windy week so far in Georgia but thankfully we’ve had no rain. Let’s hope it stays that way!

Conditions on Saturday will perhaps be better for the early starters, with winds expected to pick up to between 5-10mph around 1pm with a mix of sun and clouds expected later on.

It’s moving day at The Masters, one of the greatest days in the golfing calendar and plenty of players are primed to launch an attack on the top of the leaderboard.

It’s been Justin Rose’s week so far, with the Englishman playing absolutely out of his skin at Augusta National to lead heading into the weekend.

Rose managed to get to -9 on Friday but would gain a shot on the 17th hole bringing him back down to eight-under par, and one shot clear of Bryson DeChambeau who has climbed to -7 with a brilliant second-round 68.

After struggling on Thursday with his approach play, Rory McIlroy delivered the performance of the day, beautifully playing out of the pine straw on the 13th and 14th holes to set himself up for a low score of 66 and trail DeChambeau by a shot at the close of play.

We’re expecting a breezy day at Augusta National and with the greens firming up, players will need to be dialled in with their approach play.

Here’s the hole locations for round three!