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Rory McIlroy entered this week's Masters Tournament with an unbelievable amount of pressure on him. It has been 11 years since he last captured a major championship, winning the 2014 PGA Championship. But it is the Masters specifically that has been his personal bugaboo. It remains the only major championship McIlroy is yet to win.
So, a victory this week would not only snap his major drought but also complete the career Grand Slam. Only five golfers have ever done that.
He started his third round on Saturday in third place, two shots behind Justin Rose. Less than an hour into his round, he held a three-shot lead. That is because McIlroy came out white hot, making Masters history along the way.
Rory began his day with six consecutive threes, becoming the first player to ever accomplish that feat at The Masters. Interestingly, that was not what caught Billy Horschel's attention though.
While playing the par-4 7th, McIlroy's approach shot missed the green. It left an awkward third and a difficult up-and-down. But the Northern Irishman did it flawlessly, chipping the ball within tap in distance.
That is when PGA Tour pro-Billy Horschel put the shot into perspective for fans.
“The chip Rory just hit on 7 was so good,” Horschel wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Few ppl understand how tough that chip was to get to a tap in. Easy to leave 10 feet short or hit it past and have 25 feet.”
Indeed, it is very easy to make bogey from down there. The slope of the seventh green at Augusta National is no joke, nor are practically any of the greens at the historic track.
Rory McIlroy needed to clear the ridge to avoid leaving his ball well short. But if he was a bit too aggressive in doing so, the ball would surely run past the hole and leave him with a lengthy putt for par.
Instead, the four-time major champion executed to perfection.
He made par and headed to the 8th hole with a three-shot lead. Since then, he dropped a shot and holds a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau and Corey Conners.
