The only thing that stopped Rory McIlroy in the Masters was running out of holes to play Friday.
McIlroy stood on the 12th tee in a tie with Patrick Reed and with a dozen other players bunched together in what was shaping up to be a compelling chase for the green jacket.
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Six birdies over his final seven holes for a 7-under 65 left everyone to wonder if they were playing for second. McIlroy’s fourth straight birdie to close out the best round of the week gave him a six-shot advantage, setting the Masters record for largest 36-hole lead.
“I knew I had some chances coming in when I was standing on the 12th tee, but I didn’t think I’d birdie six of the last seven,” he said. “It just shows what you can do around here.”
He did it in spectacular fashion. McIlroy twice made birdie on the par 5s after laying up from the trees. He twice had short putts on the par 3s. And if all that wasn’t enough, he chipped in from 30 yards up a slope so steep he couldn’t even see the hole.
The final hour of a fascinating day started to look like a victory lap for McIlroy, who spent 17 years trying to win the Masters and now looks like he can’t wait to do it again.
His tee shot over Rae’s Creek on the dangerous 12th hole landed 7 feet behind the flag. He birdied both par 5s after having to lay up from the trees. He took advantage of the lower pin at the par-3 16th for what amounted to a tap-in birdie.
And then he really sent the gallery into a frenzy when he chipped in from 30 yards on the 17th. McIlroy knew it was good because “I could see everyone in the grandstand start to stand up.”
And there was one more to go — another perfect approach that came down the slope to 6 feet for one last birdie.
That put him at 12-under 132, six shots clear of Reed (69) and Sam Burns (71). The previous record for the largest 36-hole lead at Augusta National was five shots by six players, most recently Scottie Scheffler in 2022. The first was Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper in 1936, the only player in that position who did not win the Masters.
If McIlroy holds on, he would become the fourth player to win back-to-back at the Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
He had a two-shot lead after 36 holes in 2011 and stretched it to four shots going into the final round before he famously imploded with an 80. That was the start of his Masters heartache that lasted until a year ago, when he triumphed in a playoff to finally prove he could win at Augusta National.
Maybe he should start thinking about next year’s menu for the Masters Club dinner.
“I know what can happen around here, good and bad,” McIlroy said with a smile. “You don’t have to remind me not to get ahead of myself. There’s a long way to go. I got off to an amazing start.”
Augusta allowed for that. It was warmer, brighter, drier. The wind wasn’t quite as strong and the gusts didn’t swirl as much. And there was much better scoring in part because of more generous pin positions, including on 16 and 18, where cleanly struck shots could feed toward the hole.
The scores were nearly two shots lower than Thursday.
That didn’t help everyone, least of all Bryson DeChambeau. He fought back from an opening 76 and was one shot below the cut line when it took him two shots to get out of a greenside bunker on the 18th, the second shot rolling off the false front back down to the fairway. He made triple bogey and missed the cut.
Reed was bogey-free until failing to save par on the final hole. That also cost him a spot in the final group Saturday with McIlroy. They were paired together in the last group in 2018, with seemingly all of Augusta on McIlroy’s side, only for Reed to win handily.
Burns birdied his last two holes to salvage a 71 and will be paired with McIlroy.