Rory McIlroy endured a really difficult third round at The Masters on Saturday as almost everyone else around him came out firing.
He carded a one-over-par 73 – one of only three players inside the top-40 who failed to shoot level-par or better on Saturday at The Masters.
The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland has driven the ball poorly all week long and that finally caught up with him on day three at Augusta National.
McIlroy looked to be slightly off his game from the very first hole on day three of The Masters, as he made a really sloppy bogey.
After his round, McIlroy admitted that he ‘didn’t quite have it’ on Saturday at The Masters, as his six-shot lead was completely wiped out.
Augusta National takes no prisoners and, while the course is certainly scoreable when players have their ‘A’ games, it bares its teeth whenever anybody is slightly off.
McIlroy found that out that hard way on Saturday as he was finally punished for some of his errant tee shots.
Max Homa has made Rory McIlroy’s third round at The Masters look even worse
McIlroy was one of very few players who found it tough going on day three at Augusta National.
As many players went low, including Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Young, the 36-year-old five-time major champion was in reverse pretty much all day.
Max Homa posted a third-round 71 at Augusta National, but he clearly felt as though he should have scored better.
The 35-year-old American spoke to reporters after his round on Saturday, and responded when asked how the golf course was playing.
“Pretty easy,“ Homa said.
“There’s random greens that are really firm. 17 is significantly firmer than any other green. 18 is starting to get baked out too. The front nine is pretty — I mean, very gettable. I didn’t feel like it was too fast, too firm.
“The back you just have certain holes play tricky, but I think it’s very gettable. The pins are not bad until you get to probably 16. 16 through 18 is going to be hard.
“But yeah, not too bad. Obviously the weather is amazing, so it helps.“
Those comments made McIlroy’s poor round look even worse.
We don’t just need to take Homa’s word for it, though.
Third round Masters stroke average the lowest of all time
The scoring average for the field on Saturday was 70.63 – the lowest third round scoring average in Masters history.
On day one, the field averaged a score of 74.6483 while that dropped down to 72.8461 during the second round on Friday.
The field then averaged more than two strokes less than that on Saturday.
Homa’s comments on the easy conditions at Augusta National made Rory McIlroy’s third round at The Masters look even worse.
And the stats prove just how far the Northern Irishman was off his game on Saturday at Augusta National.
McIlroy will certainly need to play a lot better if he is to defend the Masters title that he won in such dramatic fashion 12 months ago.
The golf course may well be set up slightly harder on Sunday, so if McIlroy is even just a little bit off his game, he could be in real trouble.
