Saturday at The Masters: Rory's Rollercoaster, Past Champions Rise, and a Feel-Good Story

Saturday's play has been completed at Augusta National, and at the end of three rounds, most of the pre-tournament favorites have entered contention.

The course played much tougher today than it has the past two days, but in the early going, it looked like it could be a much easier day. Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth made runs early, but Rahm's playing partner, 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, made the most of the good conditions early.

Johnson fired a 66, which took him from the cutline to just eight back of the lead going into Sunday and tied for the best round of the day. The 66 was Johnson's best-ever round at Augusta National, and it put him in contention to be the oldest-ever Masters champion at 49 years old.

Generally speaking, the long hitters and those who could reliably keep the ball low and out of the wind thrived on Saturday. Long hitters, like Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, put up some of the lowest rounds of the day, along with strong iron players like Shane Lowry, Johnson, and Corey Conners.

Among the later starters, McIlroy took the tournament's reins early, going four-under through the first three holes and becoming the first player in tournament history to start a round with six straight threes. McIlroy would hover around 10-under for most of the day. While several players, including DeChambeau, second-round leader Justin Rose, and Scottie Scheffler, looked like they would make a run at McIlroy while he was sputtering, McIlroy held his nerve and found a late birdie and eagle to take him to 12-under. He holds onto a two-stroke lead going into Sunday. Should McIlroy win on Sunday, he would become only the second player to complete a career Grand Slam at The Masters and the first since Gene Sarazen 90 years ago. With a win, McIlroy would also become the sixth player to achieve the feat, next to Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods.

Conners, playing with McIlroy, became the main challenger along with DeChambeau. A Conners victory would be hugely popular, as he would be the second Canadian to win The Masters after Mike Weir in 2003. Additionally, Conners’ college golf coach at Kent State, Herb Page, is currently undergoing chemotherapy in an ongoing fight against pancreatic cancer. A win for Conners would be a feel-good story, not only for him and his Canadian homeland but also for the Page family. Conners enters Sunday's round in solo third, four strokes behind McIlroy.

DeChambeau, meanwhile, started the day one behind Rose, and he immediately pounced, carding a birdie on the first hole, but he never held the lead, as McIlroy immediately took the solo lead with an eagle on the second and never relinquished it for the rest of the day. After that birdie, DeChambeau played two-under the rest of the way and finds himself two back going into the final round, with his round being punctuated by a long birdie putt on 18 to pull within striking distance. Sunday's round will bring up memories of last year's U.S. Open, which DeChambeau won in a duel with McIlroy. This time, though, the two will be paired together instead of McIlroy being one group ahead.

Six-under sees a pair of players who both shot matching 69s today: Ludvig Aberg and Patrick Reed. Reed will play with Conners in the penultimate pairing tomorrow, while Aberg will play with Jason Day.

Four major champions populate the five-under part of the leaderboard. Lowry, Scheffler, Rose, and Jason Day all sit seven back after Saturday's play. Rose never got it going on the greens today, with a particularly poor three-putt on 16 followed by another on 18, leaving him seven back going into Sunday.

Main Image via