The ultimate pairing of the ultimate spherical of the 2024 Masters is from the primary tee.
Frontman Scottie Scheffler and Colin Morikawa every had a picturesque opening efficiency on Sunday afternoon. If he wins, Scheffler may have gained the Masters in two of the final three years. Ought to Morikawa declare his first inexperienced jacket, it could be his third main championship and depart him one US Open title away from a profession Grand Slam.
Cam Smith got here inside 5 photographs of Scheffler. He’s -2 for the day and -Three total via three holes. Additional down the leaderboard, Tom Kim carded a closing spherical 66 to complete at +5 for the event.
Masters debutant Ludvig Aberg birdied the second with a clean 22-foot putt. Sitting at +600 on the stay odds board, Aberg is aiming to grow to be the primary rookie to win the Masters since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. Shortly after Aberg and Max Homa birdied the runner-up, Scottie Scheffler (+100 ) saved the tie on quantity two by holding on. his one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa and Homa. Xander Schauffele (+2500), now 1-under in his spherical, is one other contender simply 4 behind Scheffler.
Collin Morikawa goes up and down on 4th for the tying save, whereas Scheffler (-105) fails to transform the tying save. Now only one again from world No. 1, Morikawa is +400 to win the Masters. Phil Mickelson finishes this 12 months's event with a spherical of 2-over 74 and Eight-over for the spherical, incomes him “High Senior” honors.
On Saturday, the occasion bought off to an exhilarating begin, claiming a birdie on the primary gap. Scheffler (-115) holed a exceptional 34-foot birdie putt on the third gap to go up by two. The joy was palpable, however sadly the magic of the early spherical was short-lived.
After the flip, Scheffler birdied the 10th and 11th holes in Three-over par, discovering two quarterbacks on the high of the leaderboard at 6-under par: Collin Morikawa (+350), Max Homa (+750), Bryson DeChambeau (+2000) , and Nicolai Højgaard (+10000).
Scheffler, nevertheless, rallied, summoned the magic few pot and joined the group atop the leaderboard with a protracted putt on 13 for eagle.
With a win on Sunday, Scheffler has donned the inexperienced jacket twice previously three years and joined a choose group of 17 who’ve gained the Masters title at the least twice of their careers.
Nevertheless, the golf world might must sweat extra than simply Scheffler's efficiency on Sunday.
Scheffler's spouse, Meredith, is pregnant with the couple's first baby and is due on the finish of the month. For the primary time in Scottie's profession, she was unable to make the journey to observe her husband compete in a serious as a result of her medical doctors suggested her to not journey.
Scheffler promised to depart “on discover” if his spouse went into labor. He mentioned the beginning of their first baby would trump any winnings they could make on the golf course.
If he’s to outlive the competitors, Scheffler may have a troublesome closing spherical with many expert golfers chasing him.
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It was 4 in 4 photographs, together with two former main champions making an attempt to chase him down.
Morikawa's third-round Three-under 69 had him only one stroke again. With a win, Morikawa will earn his first inexperienced jacket and third main championship. (He gained the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship.)
DeChambeau, the 2020 US Open winner, was inside shouting distance of the lead after he holed out of the golf green on the 18th for birdie. The LIV golfer is 4 again and his shot at glory continues to be alive.
The saying “no lead is protected at Augusta” comes from the various Masters winners who’ve overcome greater than three-stroke leads on Sunday. Listed here are essentially the most notable comebacks in Masters historical past:
- In 1978, Gary Participant was seven again, however a spectacular 64 noticed him win his third and closing Masters.
- Nick Faldo's 1996 victory over Greg Norman after 67 helped erase a six-stroke deficit, incomes Faldo his third Masters win.
- Tiger Woods joined others who overcame seven-stroke deficits to win the Masters for the fourth time in 2005.
Maybe essentially the most memorable chase on the Masters was in 2016 when Danny Willet was 5 photographs down with simply six holes to play. With assist from Jordan Spieth on the 12th, Willet gained the inexperienced jacket.
In response to GolfWeek.com, the eventual Masters champion has come from behind when he's gone after three rounds 31 totally different instances. Nevertheless, Nick Faldo in 1989 was the final Masters champion to start out the spherical outdoors the High 4 and go down by greater than three photographs.