Masters moving day lacks spark for Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm

Five-time Tiger Woods tumbles down leaderboard at Augusta National after bad run of holes

After Friday’s Masters massacre and the excitement it brought, it had fallen a bit flat at Augusta National before the leaders headed out in the third round of the event’s 88th edition. Neither grand-slam chasing Rory McIlroy or the defending champion, Jon Rahm, could find the spark they needed to storm up the leaderboard after starting out ten and 11 shots off the lead respectively. McIlroy signed for a 71 and Rahm 72 on a day when something around 65 was required.

Adding to the disappointment for the patrons as they turned up looking for some early fireworks on the penultimate day in the season’s opening major, five-time winner Tiger Woods, who’d added to his greatness here by setting a new record of 24 consecutive cuts on Friday, tumbled down the leaderboard after dropping six shots in four holes to finish the front nine. He eventually carded a Masters-worst 82 and, on this visit to the Georgia venue at least, won’t be adding that sixth success he’d targeted earlier in the week.

This is McIlroy’s tenth attempt to become just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam after Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods. Both Nicklaus and Woods had spoken earlier in the week about how they feel confident he’ll get that Green Jacket one day, but, after failing to register a single birdie as he struggled to a 77 on Friday, it won’t be in this staging. He drove it well in the third round but, with the 15th being a prime example, he walked off lots of greens feeling exasperated about having to settle for pars.

Rory McIlroy reacts after missing a putt on the sixth green during the third round of the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

“Yeah, obviously conditions were a little easier than yesterday. Still tricky, though,” reported McIlroy. “Greens are firm. Some of the hole locations are really tough, especially some of the downwind holes with the pins at the front. Hard to get the ball close, and then you sort of just have to take your chances from 20, 25 feet. But definitely hit the ball better today, gave myself a lot of looks. Missed a few, but shooting something under par was a decent effort. I made three birdies today compared to zero yesterday. So nice to see some red numbers on the card. Yeah, it was a little better.”

For his latest bid to become one of the game’s greats, McIlroy turned up later than normal and was the last of the 89 players to register. That proved lucky for both Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia as they claimed Green Jackets in 2016 and 2017 respectively, but it’s not brought the performance and also a bit of luck that McIlroy is looking for. “All I can do is come here and try my best,” said the world No 2. “That's what I do every time I show up. Some years it's better than others. I've just got to keep showing up and try to do the right thing.”

Bidding to become the first back-to-back winner since Woods achieved the feat in 2002, Rahm reckoned the conditions had been “borderline” as wind gusts up to 40mph sent scores soaring on Friday afternoon. An average of 73.43 in the opening round jumped to 75.08, which represented the largest increase between the first two circuits here since 1976. The par-4 11th played closer to a par 5 with an average score of 4.629 while the 18th, where sand was blowing out of the bunkers across the exposed green as Woods putted out, was the second toughest at 4.427.

It’s difficult to tell if Rahm’s title defence has been impacted by him coming here lightly raced in comparison to 12 months ago following his switch to LIV Golf for a whopping $476 million, but, after admitting that his play on Friday had been “terrible”, the world No 3 felt a bit more encouraged by his Saturday effort.

Jon Rahm plays a shot on the first hole during the third round at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Warren Little/Getty Images.

“Today I kept in play off the tee, which is going to do a lot. Gave myself plenty of chances, but didn't really make any putts. But it's a hard golf course out there. Anything under par is a good round. Anything in the 60s is a fantastic round today.” Looking forward to the closing circuit, he admitted: “Bit of a sour feeling knowing you're not in contention.”

Two-time winner Jose Maria Olazabal, one of the players who inspired Rahm to play golf, made the cut here for the 20th time, with his weekend appearance on this occasion coming at the age of 58. Helped by the cut mark going down to six over at the end of Friday’s carnage, the Spaniard succeeded where fellow double champion Bubba Watson, as well as other Augusta National winners in Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia and also Open champion Brian Harman and two-time PGA Championship title holder Justin Thomas all failed.

“It is an achievement when you look at who has missed the cut,” said Olazabal after continuing to hold his own with a 75 on a day when 61-year-old Vijay Singh, the 2000 winner, started with a birdie but then slumped to an 82. “I mean, every year you have big names that don't make the cut. I don't look at those names. But I know that for me to play at the weekend here is just a fantastic achievement. Regardless of what players miss the cut.”

In addition to the main prize of a Green Jacket, Sunday’s winner will walk away with $3.6 million, which is up from $3.24m last year. A total pot for this event of $20m, which represents a $2m increase from 2023, matches what the USGA put up for last year’s US Open while the PGA Championship last year offered $17.5m and The Open was $16.5m. It’s not the money that matters, of course, in the majors, but this week’s purse is the same as the one that will be on offer next week on the PGA Tour in the RBC Heritage due to it now being one of its Signature Events.