He was never going to do it any other way, was he? And more power to one of sport’s great entertainers for that. Here’s a final reminder of how the top of the leaderboard looks after all that absurd drama. One of the great Masters Sundays? Without question. Rory did his best to lose it once, twice, three times … but always came back swinging. His astonishing irons into 15 and 17 will surely go down in Masters lore; his dam-busting emotion when he finally secured his holy grail certainly will. Congratulations to Rory, and commiserations to Justin Rose, whose brilliant final round of 66 was in vain, but who will always be part of one of the Masters’ greatest stories. What a Tournament! It’s been a blast, thanks for reading these blogs.

-11: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose
(McIlroy beat Rose at the first play-off hole)
-9: Patrick Reed
-8: Scottie Scheffler
-7: Im Sung-jae, Bryson DeChambeau
-6: Ludvig Åberg
-5: Xander Schauffele, Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Corey Conners
-4: Harris English, Max Homa
-3: Bubba Watson, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt McCarty, Tom Hoge, Collin Morikawa
-2: Hideki Matsuyama, Davis Riley, Tommy Fleetwood, Daniel Berger, An Byeong-hun, Viktor Hovland
-1: Aaron Rai, Michael Kim

Some more from Rory McIlroy. “Just really proud about how I bounced back … I don’t know if any Masters champions have had four doubles in the week! … maybe I’m the first … there was a note in my locker this morning from Angel Cabrera wishing me luck … he was the player I played with in the final day in 2011 … it was a nice touch … it’s been 14 long years … thankfully I got the job done … I’ve carried that burden since August 2014 … the career grand slam … watching a lot of my peers get Green Jackets in the process … it’s been difficult … I try to approach this Tournament with the most positive attitude … today was difficult … I was unbelievably nervous this morning … really nervous on the first hole … the double calmed me down … it was a heavy weight to carry … thankfully I don’t have to carry it … it frees me up and I know I’m coming back here every year which is lovely.”

A philosophical Justin Rose speaks to Sky Sports. “I felt yesterday put me a little too far back … I tried to remind myself that Sunday at Augusta is a very special place to be … it was a day to enjoy … I went about my business … around the turn I clicked into gear and felt so good … so comfortable … to bury that putt on 18 was an amazing feeling … I’m getting closer and closer and sometimes you’ve got to bang on the door … you can only take confidence from the way I’ve played … really pleased with where my game is … my name isn’t etched into those historic trophies but there’s not a lot I can do different.”

Our man at Augusta, Ewan Murray, has filed his report. Here it is!

… then the outgoing champion Scottie Scheffler presents Rory with his Green Jacket. A bit of a struggle to get the second arm in. “Oop! We got it. There we go!” Then a handshake with chairman Ridley. “Thanks Fred, thank you so much.” A blow-out of the cheeks in relief. He’s got his Green Jacket! This clearly means everything. It’s such a heart-warming moment. Rory McIlroy: Masters champion at last!

More from the new champion Rory McIlroy: “I was really nervous going out … it’s almost as though the double bogey on 1 calmed my nerves a little bit … how I responded to setbacks is what I’ll take from this week … [his emotional reaction] was 14 years in the making after the four-shot lead in 2011 … I feel like I could have got it done there … a lot of pent-up emotion that came out on the 18th green … it makes all the close calls worth it … I want to say hello to my mum and dad who are back home in Northern Ireland … [breaks down a little] … I can’t wait to celebrate this with them.”

The Butler Cabin. “An unforgettable Masters … as exciting as we’ve had in our history,” says Fred Ridley, the chairman of Augusta National GC. “Rory, your play today was amazing … now you’re the Masters champion, how does that feel?”

“Aw … um … it feels incredible … this is my 17th time here … I started to wonder if it would ever be my time … the last ten years with the burden of the career grand slam on my shoulders … I’m sort of wondering what we’re all going to talk about going into next year’s Masters! … honoured and thrilled … so proud to be able to call myself a Masters champion.”

Post-round postbag. “Do we think any movie could ever be written with more twists and turns than this final Masters round?” – Colin Livingstone

“When I was a lad back in Dublin many years ago I thought the pinnacle of Irish golfing achievement was Christy O’Connor Jr’s 2-iron at the Belfry or Ronan Rafferty topping the European Order of Merit. Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee multiple major winners from our little rocky outpost in the Atlantic. And yet, with all of the respect in the world to Messers Harrington, McDowell, Clarke and Lowry, this is entirely different gravy. An Irishman winning the Masters, a career grand slam to boot, and perhaps the most beloved golfer since Seve, Godspeed young (it’s all relative) Rory!” – Niall Mullen

“I always thought he’d win, but he really should have won by about five. Maybe four … or two … or one” – Adam Hirst

“He simply does not do normal, does he?” – David Howell (not that one)

“Pub just gone mad!” – Matt Cooper (of 10.22pm fame)

“Highly entertaining coverage of last few holes of Masters. Thank you. You were a little slower than my sister via WhatsApp, but you used bigger words and fewer curses, so the delay was understandable” – Sinead Quealy

Better update that super-elite list of players to have completed the career grand slam, then!

• Gene Sarazen (1935)

• Ben Hogan (1953)

• Gary Player (1965)

• Jack Nicklaus (1966)

• Tiger Woods (2000)

• Rory McIlroy (2025)

That is some company to keep.

A lot of cheering, hugging, crying. A psychedelic mixture of delight and relief. He deserved it. He deserved it all right. The shots into 15, 17 and 18 in the play-off … straight out of the top drawer. Eventually he runs out of people to hug, and stops to tell the gallery, with perfect comic timing: “Now I gotta go and get a green jacket!”

McIlroy has a quick sob then uncurls himself and gets up again. Then he screams into the ether. He embraces his friend Rose. He embraces his caddie. He holds his head in his hands again and stares into the distance for a moment. A mixture of sheer delight and relief. He thanks the Augusta National gentry, then heads for his wife Erica and daughter Poppy, the latter of par-three contest fame. Has there ever been a more emotional winner? It’s hard to think of one. He’s struggling to regulate his breathing, such is his emotion! This means everything. The patrons go wild. Real love. Real noise. Rory! Rory! Rory! The shout heard round the world.

Rose grimaces in the knowledge this could be it. McIlroy does the 360 around the four-footer. He’s got this for the Masters. And the career slam. He wastes little time, and …

… sending it wide right. He didn’t give it enough to the left, and it drifted away from the target. Rose waves his arm around, perplexed. He tidies up for par. A second chance coming up for Rory!

Rose realistically has to hole this. It’s a 15-foot downhill putt. Nick Faldo on Sky says it has a small bit of left-to-right movement on it. Left edge. Rose circles the scene to work it out for himself before drawing back his putter and …

Rory wastes no time, and sends a glorious wedge into the heart of the green. It’s a fair distance past Rose’s ball, but spins back. For a while, it looks like stopping right next to Rose, but keeps on spinning back, and eventually comes to a halt three feet from the flag. Advantage McIlroy, but that’d suddenly look a lot longer if Rose makes his birdie putt. Especially after the uncertain manner in which he went about his last crucial putt on this green a few minutes ago.

As McIlroy looks on anxiously, Rose takes aim from 157 yards. And he whips a pearler over the flag, leaving himself a fairly straight 15-footer coming back. Over to Rory, from 128 yards in the centre of the fairway.

Rose to take his second shot first. He’s down the right side of the fairway, and might have to consider one or two overhanging branches. He should be fine to shape around them. There’s space.

McIlroy is the first to arrive at the tee. Rose turns up a couple of minutes later … and he’ll hit first. He sent his tee shot against Sergio into the pine straw down the right. This time he hugs that side of the hole but remains in the fairway. His heart would have been in his mouth for a second there. Then Rory replicates his perfect drive of a few minutes ago; he’ll be hoping his second is better this time. Both men in good position.

Rose contested the last play-off at the Masters, back in 2017. Sergio Garcia beat him on the first play-off hole, No 18 … and it’s 18 where we’re heading now. Sudden death. If they’re still tied after this, then we’re off to 10. Then back to 18 if needs be. And 10 again. And 18. And so on.

That was a poor putt. Hit with no conviction at all. The contrast between McIlroy, from five feet, and Rose from 20 was night and day. The look on Rory’s face as he wandered off suggested he knows it. From the centre of the fairway with wedge in hand, as well. Such a weird round: the approaches to 15 and 17 as out-of-this-world as the mistakes on 13 and 18 were dismal. Play-offs are always difficult to predict, but you’d have to think Rose is the favourite, as he’ll surely be far happier to be here. Who’d have thought the 44-year-old veteran would make it?!

Rory prowls around the putt. He doesn’t waste time. He draws his putter back, and …

To his great credit, Bryson doesn’t hang about either. Two putts and it’s a par, and he’s signing for a 75. It just didn’t happen for the US Open champion today. Over to you, Rory.

Rory is fortunate that he’ll be going first. He’s not hanging around, either. No point standing around stewing. He splashes out to five feet. It didn’t need much more to be stone dead, but now he’s got one of those to win the Masters. Rose stroked his in from 20 feet along a similar path. It’s fairly straight, with just a little right to left. But before he can meet his destiny, Bryson has to putt out.

… and from 125 yards he sends his second into the bunker to the right of the green! He holed out from this bunker three years ago en route to a 64 and second spot. Now he’s got to get up and down to win, or a play-off looms!

Bryson on 18 in regulation. What he could charge Rory for that now. Over to McIlroy then …

The 2018 champion Patrick Reed finishes with par, and signs for a 69. He’ll end the week in third spot. A disappointing 75 for his playing partner Corey Conners, who never recovered from missing that tiddler on the 1st. He’s -5.

Rory McIlroy is surely just one good drive away from career grand-slam glory. And here’s that perfect drive, exactly when he needs it. Smashed down the middle, a gentle fade taking it around the corner, the ball landing in the middle of the fairway. So close to joining an elite gang of all-time greats now. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

An ignominious end to Ludvig Åberg’s week. He sends his tee shot into Lyle’s Bunker, then batters his second straight into its face. His third finds the bunker to the right of the green. He blades his next one across the green and down a swale, from where he’s unable to get up and down. A triple-bogey seven. He was dreaming of a Green Jacket 20-odd minutes ago! He finishes at -6.

Rory has to wait for an out-of-position Bryson to chip, then take two putts. Bogey, and DeChambeau drops back to -7. (He’d birdied 16.) It’s an excruciating couple of minutes for McIlroy, who prowls around anxiously. But eventually he gets his go, and makes no mistake. Birdie, and … well, let me hand over to Verne Lundquist Simon McMahon: “Please tell me WTF is going on, Scott. In your life have you ever seen a final round like this?”

-12: McIlroy (17)
-11: Rose (F)
-9: Reed (17)
-8: Scheffler (F)

Rory sends his drive down the middle of 17. Then another high draw. “Go! Aw go! Aw go! Go! Go! Go baby go!” He sounds a bit desperate. Has it gone wrong? No sir! No sir! It’s another shot of outrageous quality, from 196 yards to two feet. This final round is positively trippy. Out of this world. Golf from another planet. What a Tournament! But how will it finish? Nobody knows anything.

Scottie Scheffler pars the last and signs for a 69. He ends the week at -8, just three off the lead, without ever having his best stuff. Meanwhile on 17, a wild and wonderful eagle for Patrick Reed, who holes out from 146 yards, one bounce of the green and in. He rises to -9, and all of a sudden, that three-putt bogey from three feet on 13 feels so very costly.

Justin Rose already has a US Open to his name, of course. But that still might be the biggest putt of his life. It was a fairly straight one from the centre of the green towards the pin front left. A little right-to-left movement. Hit with great conviction. No point dying wondering. It was always dropping. He lifts his cap to acknowledge the crowd as they go wild. A clenched fist. He looks to the sky for a quick word with absent friends. What a round!

McIlroy can’t make the eagle putt, which kinda ruins the effect a bit. “I knew it!” cries one of the patrons. But it’s a birdie that gives him sole ownership of the lead again. DeChambeau scrambles par, getting up and down from the dropzine. Meanwhile up on 18, Justin Rose is on in regulation, but facing a long birdie putt.

-11: McIlroy (15)
-10: Rose (17), Åberg (16)
-8: Scheffler (17)
-7: Im (F), Day (16), Reed (16), DeChambeau (15)

Is that the same guy who just chunked a wedge into Rae’s Creek?! Much depends on McIlroy’s ability to close the deal, but if he does, that shot will go down in Masters lore, right up there with Sarazen’s albatross and Tiger’s chip. On Sky, Paul McGinley notes that it turned 40 yards in the air. It was an absolute work of art. Given the context of what just happened, it’s a breathtaking effort.

McIlroy appears to blocked out by the pines down the left of 15. Or is he? Before he can decide what to do, DeChambeau dunks his second into the pond. Then a carpe-diem moment for Rory. He goes for it! Taking on the pond, he whip-cracks an iron around the trees from 208 yards, drawing into the heart of the green, his ball rolling to six feet. It’s not quite Gene Sarazen, but there’s another shot that will be heard all around the world! The roar itself will have reached North Carolina, for a start.

McIlroy batters his drive at 15 down the left of the fairway. It’s on the short stuff, but whether the branches of the pines on that side will affect his second shot remains to be seen. Meanwhile on 16, Åberg sends his tee shot over the flag, back-right of the green, and onto the fringe. He never looks like making the 20-foot left-to-right curler, and the par keeps him at -10. Then on 18, Justin Rose crashes his tee shot down the middle. If only he’d done that in the play-off with Sergio back in 2017, huh.

McIlroy sends his wedge at 14 past the flag, assuming the backstop on the bowl-shaped green will bring it back. But the fringe holds it up. His right-to-left curler stops one dimple short of dropping. Another shot gone. Meanwhile Bryson makes birdie to get back to -7. Up on 17, Rose chips crisply over the flag to seven feet, but he’s got a tricky downhill par putt. He spends a long time over it. To be fair, this could be his last chance for Masters glory. But he never looks like making it. A ginger prod that’s always staying wide left. Bogey as well. Look at this now!

-10: Rose (17), Åberg (15), McIlroy (14)
-8: Scheffler (16)

Rory manufactures a slice from the trees down the right of 14. He reaches the front of the green, only for the ball to take a vicious 90-degree kick to the right and stop short of the green. But there’s similar trouble for Justin Rose on 17: the new co-leader finds trees to the left and can’t reach his green either. And to add further intrigue, Ludvig Åberg sends his second at 15 wide of the bunker to the right of the green, but gets up and down for a birdie that takes him to within a shot. He’s 10 and could have a share of the lead soon, depending on McIlroy and Rose’s ability to scramble.

Rory McIlroy wears a look of stunned, queasy bewilderment. He’s just gift-wrapped two shots to the field. Half of the gallery had their hands on their head when he chunked that wedge into the creek. And now he’s carved his tee shot at 14 into the pines down the right. He bounced back from those double bogeys on Thursday. He bounced back from the double bogey at 1 today. Now he’s got to find something for a third time. But so close to home, so far down the line, does he have anything left in the mental tank?

Rory can’t make his putt. A soft touch to set it on its way, but it’s always staying out on the right. A double-bogey seven, with a wedge in his hand from the centre of the fairway. Then over on 16, Rose makes his birdie putt, and yelps of delight, despair, elation, depression and confusion erupt all across the property!

-11: Rose (16), McIlroy (13)
-9: Åberg (14)
-8: Scheffler (15)
-7: Im (F), Day (14), Conners (13), Reed (13)

That came out of nowhere. McIlroy had looked a bit tight on 11, but seemed to bounce back well with that measured par on 12. And now this. He pitches his fourth from the dropzone to 11 feet, but it’s a treacherous downhill dribbler. Huge putt coming up here, and on 16 where Rose is lining up a birdie …

Birdie for Justin Rose at the par-five 15th. He’d carved his second into the bunker to the right, but bashed out to a couple of feet and tidied up for birdie. And he’s got a huge chance of making another on 16, hitting one of the shots of the day at 16 to five feet. The pin’s not in its usual Sunday position this week, tucked back-right where it was positioned 50 years ago, when Jack Nicklaus won one of the great Masters.

Bryson whips a lovely shot out of the bunker to the back of 12. But there’s no way of stopping it, and it rolls 12 feet past. He can’t make the putt coming back, and at -6 his race is run. Two careful putts for Rory bring a par. Then he sends a 3-wood down the middle of the par-five 13th. Further up the hole, Patrick Reed showcases his knowledge of Augusta National by landing his third a good 30 feet past the flag and letting the gradient of the green gather his ball back to three feet. That’s one of the shots of the week …. but he shoves the birdie putt wide right, then pulls the one coming back wide left. A three-putt from three feet, and the bogey puts an end to his bid. He’s -7.

Ludvig Åberg nearly steers in a 30-foot right-to-left swinger on 13 for eagle. So close but birdie will suffice and he joins Justin Rose in second spot. He’s -9. Meanwhile Scottie Scheffler whips his second at 14 to four feet, and moves into a tie for fourth at -8, not relinquishing his title without a fight. “In a pub in Shrewsbury,” reports friend of the hole-by-hole report, Friday’s co-host Matt Cooper. “The cries of ‘Stop! Stop!’ were superb for Rory’s approach at 11. The cheers when the ball did halt even better. Never known an atmosphere like this for golf.”

The storied 12th, then. Patrick Reed has just made an outrageous par here. Having left himself with a downhill lie in the bunker at the back, he splashes out to ten feet then tickles in the putt. The 2018 champion remains in the hunt at -8. Now it’s Rory’s turn. He finds the green. Not close, but dry and safe. Bryson, whose head has gone at the moment, sends his effort into the bunker at the back. He’ll need a Reed-style scramble if he’s to retain any hope at all.

From the dropzone, Bryson chips to seven feet. He misreads the putt he’s left with, imagining way too much left-to-right turn, and that’s a double out of nowhere. Rory meanwhile half-duffs his wedge, leaving it 11 feet short. He can’t make the par saver and that’s a bogey, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse when his second shot was heading towards the pond. And he might not be aware at the moment, but due to events elsewhere, he’s still got a four-shot lead.

-13: McIlroy (11)
-9: Rose (14)
-8: Åberg (12), Reed (12)
-7: Scheffler (13), Day (12), Conners (12), DeChambeau (11)

Things are going Rory’s way elsewhere, too. Justin Rose drives into trees down the left of 14 and can’t reach the green in regulation. He isn’t able to get up and down. He’s -9. Meanwhile Åberg can’t save himself from the swale at 12 and slips back to -8.

In fact McIlroy’s ball continued a way past the big tree down the right, so he’s got a way in to the green. A low hook underneath the branches. Which he doesn’t execute particularly well. He gets the right-to-left shape, but underhits it, and the ball dribbles towards the pond on the left. It’s heading in, isn’t it? No! It stops on the fringe and stays dry. What a huge stroke of good fortune … and is inevitably followed by DeChambeau succumbing to the pull he’s been battling all week, dunking his ball into the drink from the centre of the fairway. Wow. A look of grim disappointment spreads across DeChambeau’s face. The golfing gods did McIlroy a solid there.

McIlroy booms a long drive down the right of 11. The ball is taken off by the camber of the fairway towards the trees. His route to the green might be blocked by a thick trunk. DeChambeau down the middle. Meanwhile on 12, Åberg pulls his tee shot long and left, and is fortunate not to find the azaleas. He’ll have work to do from the swale.

… Rory makes his birdie putt on 10! Just perfectly judged, a gentle right-to-left slider that was always tracking in. He softly punches the air, before walking off stony faced. He’s clearly not letting himself get carried away. That must be so hard, though, because with Bryson only making par … well, look at this.

-14: McIlroy (10)
-10: Rose (13)
-9: Åberg (11), DeChambeau (10)
-8: Conners (10), Reed (10)

A couple of big putts. First up Justin Rose, whose big left-to-right curler from 27 feet on 10 nearly drops for eagle. The width of a dimple away, if that. So close! The birdie takes him into second spot. That’s three in a row, and five in seven holes! The 2015 and 2017 runner-up looking to make it a hat-trick of second spots … or even one better? He’s -10. Then Ludvig Åberg rams one in from 25 feet on 11 to save his par, having opted to lay up rather than take on the pond that did for his dreams last year. He’s -9. The leaderboard is due an update, but let me get to that in a minute, because …

Bryson’s second into 10 considers toppling down the bank to the left of the green, but hangs on. Rory drops his club at the end of his follow-through, but it’s unnecessary drama, because he’s fired a dart straight at the flag! He’ll have an uphill look at birdie from 15 feet. Viktor Hovland made his eagle putt on 15, incidentally. He’s -2.

This is where things started going wrong for Rory back in 2011, of course. But he’s not bothering the windows of the Butler Cabin today. Instead he clacks his drive down the middle of the fairway. Perfection. Bryson there too. Meanwhile we have a new clubhouse leader: Harris English, whose 68 today means he ends the week at -4.

The final pairing hits the turn … so welcome to the start of the 2025 Masters Tournament!

A big matchplay back-and-forth on 9! From the centre of the fairway, Bryson wedges to six feet. McIlroy replies by knocking his to seven. Rory’s up first, and his putt is straighter. In it goes, and suddenly the pressure is ramped up on Bryson, who misses his birdie effort low on the left. All of a sudden the gap at the top is four!

-13: McIlroy (9)
-9: Rose (12), Åberg (10), DeChambeau (9)
-8: Conners (10), Reed (10)
-7: Im (14), Scheffler (11), Day (10)

Viktor Hovland comes this close to replicating Gene Sarazen’s famous Shot Heard Round The World. A wood crashed arrow-straight from 239 yards on 15 that half-plops in the hole but pings the flagstick and somehow stays out! Wow. It would have been just the second albatross / double-eagle on 15 in Masters history …

Craig Wood had missed out on the inaugural title by one stroke, but looked odds-on to win in 1935, in the clubhouse with a three-shot advantage over his only real challenger. But that challenger was Gene Sarazen, who was still out on the course, in the middle of the par-five 15th having clattered a 250-yard drive down the 485-yard hole. He was playing with Walter Hagen, who upon hearing the news of Wood’s clubhouse mark, cried: “Well, that’s that!” Sarazen shrugged and replied: “They might go in from anywhere.” Whereupon he drew his four-wood back and landed his second on the front of the green, the ball rolling to the far-right corner and into the cup for a double eagle. Now level with Wood, he parred his way in, then breezed the 36-hole play-off. His albatross became known as The Shot Heard Round The World, and one which put the Augusta National Invitation Tournament on the map.

(from this old article)

Rory and Bryson bash their drives at 9 down the middle. All good and well, but there are more stirrings coming from behind! Because Ludvig Åberg swishes his second pin high to 15 feet and makes the putt from the fringe, while Justin Rose plonks his tee shot into the heart of 12 and walks in the putt! That’s his fourth birdie in six holes, and now look!

-12: McIlroy (8)
-9: Rose (12), Åberg (10), DeChambeau (8)
-8: Conners (9), Reed (9)
-7: Im (14), Scheffler (10), Day (10)

McIlroy’s third into 7 stops 25 feet short of the flag. DeChambeau’s effort sails 35 feet past. A pair of pars, so with another hole chalked off, that’s slightly advantageous to Rory … except folk in the peloton behind are making waves. Eagle for Im Sung-jae on 13, for example … a fourth birdie in a row for Patrick Reed, at 9 … and magical birdie for Justin Rose at 11, a 60-foot rake when two putts across a green tilting towards the pond wasn’t a given!

-12: McIlroy (8)
-9: DeChambeau (8)
-8: Rose (11), Åberg (9), Conners (9), Reed (9)
-7: Im (13), Scheffler (10), Day (9)
-6: Homa (13)

Scottie Scheffler blooters a 338-yard drive down the left of 10. Just a cheeky wedge in, but he only just finds the front of the deep green, the pin back left. He nearly drains a 60-footer for an absurd birdie, but that’s a par and the defending champion remains at -7. Not out of it, but not with much wriggle room left.

Rory and Bryson take turns to wedge out of the high-faced fairway bunker on 8. Meanwhile up ahead on the green, the 2018 winner Patrick Reed cards his third birdie on the bounce to insert himself into the story at -7. Birdie for Corey Conners too, and he’s -8. Meanwhile Jason Day nearly holes out from the centre of the 9th fairway, but is more than content with the tap-in par. He’s -7 as well.

Once again, McIlroy finds a fairway bunker with his drive, this time on 8. He lets his head drop for the first time in a while. That’s going to be a lay-up. DeChambeau has the opportunity to apply a little pressure … but follows Rory into the bunker! He’d asked his caddie whether he was able to carry that trap, but reality has given him a different answer.

You’d think it’d be impossible for Rory to leave his downhill birdie putt short. But he does. It’s a still a par, though, one he’d have begged for when watching his tee shot curl into the trees. Bryson, who couldn’t afford a bogey there, completes his outrageous up and down. Not sure who’ll be the happier about that. Both will feel they’ve got away with one; both will also feel they could have come away with more.

-12: McIlroy (7)
-9: DeChambeau (7)
-8: Åberg (8)
-7: Rose (9), Scheffler (9), Conners (7)

Big mistake by Bryson, who from the centre of the 7th fairway, dunks his second into the bunker guarding the front of the green. He fires a confused glance down at his iron and checks the number. Over to Rory, in the trees on the left. He viciously flashes a wedge from 153 yards over the treetops … and when the ball eventually comes back down from the heavens, it pitches right next to the pin before skipping eight yards past. He roars with laughter, hard. He and his caddie enjoyed that. But it’s back over to Bryson, who splashes out of the bunker and sends his ball miles wide left and long, but cleverly so, using the tilt of the green to bring it all the way back to a couple of feet. That’s wonderful. So smart and so well executed.

Rory has been so wayward off the tee today. He takes a fairway wood for safety on 7, only to flay another into trees, this time on the left. Bryson takes iron and splits the fairway.

Rory does well to putt through the fringe, up and over a hump, to kick-in distance. Par. But he’s given Bryson a read of the big left-to-right break. DeChambeau sets his putt off on the correct line … but doesn’t hit it, the ball one turn shy of dropping. Another chance to eat into McIlroy’s lead is spurned. Elsewhere, Corey Conners nearly holes out from 135 yards on 7, but has to settle for a tap-in birdie, while Scottie Scheffler makes it three birdies in four holes at 8. He couldn’t, could he? It’s not completely beyond the realms, is it?

-12: McIlroy (6)
-9: DeChambeau (6)
-8: Åberg (7)
-7: Rose (8), Scheffler (8), Conners (7)

Ludvig Åberg smiles ruefully as his birdie putt up 7 horseshoes out. He was walking after that one in anticipation. He remains at -8 but looks to be enjoying himself. Meanwhile back on 6, Rory and Bryson take turns to find the top tier of the green with their tee shots, the former’s ball rolling a few inches off the back, the latter on the dancefloor and with a significantly shorter putt. What a wonderfully unpredictable tussle this is shaping up to be. “I thought I was made of pretty strong stuff,” writes Matt Emerson, “but I’ve had to resort to Dr Chablis’ Patented Nerve Settler. A large dose at that.” Good idea, Dr Golf approves. Mine’s in the special cold cupboard, ready to go the very nanosecond jackets are draped.

We have a new clubhouse leader. And it’s a man who is used to it. Bubba Watson shoots 68 and the 2012 and 2014 champion finishes the week at -3.

Rory makes his up and down on 5 without too much fuss. But Bryson rams his birdie effort through the break and leaves himself four feet coming back. It’s a must-make given the way the hole has gone … and he nails it. That took nerve, because otherwise it would have been three three-putt bogeys in a row.

-12: McIlroy (5)
-9: DeChambeau (5)
-8: Åberg (6)
-7: Rose (8)
-6: Scheffler (7), Day (6), Conners (6)

The defending champion Scottie Scheffler isn’t finished yet. Birdies at 5 and 7 and he arrives on the fringe of the action at -6. Meanwhile it’s back-to-back birdies for Justin Rose, whose second from 281 yards at the par-five 8th nearly clatters the flagstick. No albatross, and no eagle either, the ball ending up 28 feet past the hole. But he takes two putts for a birdie, and he’s still in the hunt.

McIlroy’s ball has finished deep in the trees, near a thick trunk, but he’s spotted a route out. He whips a high wedge through a small gap of sky visible among the branches, and sends his ball just to the left of the green. Still plenty of work to do for his par, but to even have a chance after that wild tee shot is a result. But we could be seeing another swap in the lead, because DeChambeau swishes his second from the centre of the fairway to 15 feet. Yet another matchplay back-and-forth coming up!

The leading duo will need to keep looking over their shoulder for Ludvig Åberg. The 25-year-old Swede finished second last year on debut, and he fancies the same again, perhaps even more. He sends his tee shot at the par-three 6th pin high to 20 feet, then rolls in the left-to-right swinger for his second birdie of the day. He’s just four off the lead, and Rory’s in a spot of bother on 5 in the pines.

-12: McIlroy (4)
-9: DeChambeau (4)
-8: Åberg (6)

Rory strokes in the birdie putt, and what a comeback this has been! He’s now got a bigger lead than he had at the start of the round. What a very strange game golf is. But there’s no way this is over, because he flays a wild drive at 5 into the trees down the right, while Bryson splits the fairway. Expect quite a lot more to-ing and fro-ing. Good luck confidently predicting the outcome!

-12: McIlroy (4)
-9: DeChambeau (4)
-7: Åberg (5)
-6: Rose (7), Day (5), Conners (5)
-5: Im (9), Homa (9), Scheffler (6)

Bryson is faced with a 75-foot putt from the fringe at the back. A huge left-to-right break. He sets it off with too much pace, and it only starts breaking when ten feet past the hole. He can’t make the one coming back, and Rory’s two-stroke lead is restored. And he’s got a birdie putt from eight feet coming up! Meanwhile Justin Rose isn’t giving this up yet. Birdie at 7 and he’s back to -6. Another fist pump.

Well, well, well. Hats off to Rory McIlroy, because he looked so anguished after the body blows of 1 and 2. But he’s already come back from a dark spot once this week – responding to those late double bogeys on Thursday with a spotless 66 the day after – and he’s fighting his way out of this one too. Having wrested the lead back off his playing partner, he’s now cracked his tee shot at the 232-yard par-three 4th pin high, giving himself a good look at birdie from nine feet. Now it’s Bryson’s turn to look a little rattled, and the pull that was afflicting him yesterday returns with a vengeance, his ball toppling off the back-left of the green with the pin front right. But if anyone has the scrambling skills to save par from here, it’s Bryson, who kept on doing it yesterday. This already has the feel of a duel for the ages.

Bryson’s chip onto the 3rd green only just holds. The ball threatens to topple back down the bank but stays up. Rory meanwhile gathers himself at last, lobbing elegantly up the bank to nine feet. Bryson to putt first from 30 feet. He misreads, the ball breaking nine feet left of the flag. Some work to do. Rory then cranks up the matchplay-style pressure by steering in his left-to-right birdie curler … and Bryson, having changed his mind twice over the line to take, misses his par putt to the left! The lead flips again!

-11: McIlroy (3)
-10: DeChambeau (3)
-7: Åberg (4)
-6: Conners (4)
-5: Im (8), Rose (6), Z Johnson (6), Scheffler (5), Day (4)

It’s back-to-back bogeys for Justin Rose. He does extremely well to lag a 93-foot putt up the monster 5th green to five feet, but doesn’t look comfortable over the par putt and he’s back where he started the day at -5. “Should we start calling Rory ‘Shark’?” wonders Rich Fulcher.

Two putts from 30 feet – the first lagged up nicely to kick-in distance – scrambles par at 2 for Rory McIlroy. Bryson DeChambeau, who had pulled his approach 60 feet to the left, appears to seriously underhit his first putt, but it keeps on trickling, trickling, trickling and finally stops eight feet from the cup. He tidies up for his birdie, and grabs the lead. Two holes that’s taken to overturn.

-11: DeChambeau (2)
-10: McIlroy (2)
-7: Åberg (3), Conners (2)
-5: Rose (5), Z Johnson (5), Lowry (4), Day (3), Reed (2)

Rory McIlroy is seriously shaken all right. His wedge into 2 from 90 yards, his third shot, is no good at all, failing to release after checking, and stops 30 feet from the hole. He closes his eyes in despair, cocks back his head, then squats down on his haunches, three more juicy titbits for the cod psychologists among us. None of that looks promising, and that’s before we get to the actual golf. “I think he missed his spot by ten yards,” suggest Sky’s Butch Harmon of Rory’s wedge in.

Justin Rose hands back one of his early birdies by three-putting 4. The tee shot was nowhere close, but the first putt was a big misread, ten feet too long and wide left. He slips back to -6. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy whips out of the fairway bunker on 2, after looking ruefully at the initial mark made by his ball on the face. A foot higher and his drive would have cleared the trap. The small margins.

A palpable sense of shock around the 1st green. Rory not quite in 2011 Thousand-Yard Stare Mode yet, but he does look slightly stunned. And then, having watched Bryson rip a huge drive down the left of 2, he finds fairway sand again. About as disastrous a start as he could have feared. Too much thinking? Certainly in the pre-round interviews with CBS, there was a faint whiff of anxiety as he explained how he’d spent all morning trying to think about anything but golf. Bryson by contrast used the word “fun” once and “excited” twice. A lot for bar-room psychologists to unpack there. Pull up a stool and join me.

Another birdie for Justin Rose, this time at 3. Shane Lowry birdies 2. And Max Homa, who only just survived the halfway cut, birdies 5 and 6. Meanwhile back on 1, Rory McIlroy’s approach pings 15 feet past the flag. His par putt slips by on the left, a good four feet past. And he can’t make the one coming back. A double-bogey disaster to start for McIlroy, whose lead has evaporated in the shortest of orders! Bryson DeChambeau gets up and down for his par, and now look. Now look!

-10: McIlroy (1), DeChambeau (1)
-7: Rose (3), Åberg (2), Conners (1)
-6: Lowry (2)
-5: Homa (6), Z Johnson (3), Scheffler (3), Day (2), Reed (1)

Poor Corey Conners. A third wheel. And now he’s just yipped a par putt on 1 from little more than 12 inches. Back to -7, and that’s the sort of gaffe that can shred the nervous system to ribbons. Mind you, behind him, Bryson’s route to the green is obscured by trees, and he can only punch out to the apron, while Rory, faced with the steep bank of the bunker, is forced to take his medicine and chip out. So both fighting to save their pars.

“Fore please! Now driving, Rory McIlroy!” His tee shot dunks into the bunker down the right of the fairway. We don’t get a view of it, but it sounded like it plugged. Bryson DeChambeau up next, and he hoicks his drive into the pines down the left. Will either player have a shot into the green? Both with nerves a-jangling all right. And with that, destiny is set in motion.

Min Woo Lee holes out from the bunker at the back of 18, just like Rory McIlroy did three years ago when shooting a final-day 64. Then his playing partner Justin Thomas bundles a chip up from the bank to the left of the green, and that disappears for birdie as well. They finish +6 and +2 respectively, and in a good humour. They could sell those two shots for a big chunk of change later on.

Corey Conners will believe he can nip between Rory and Bryson as they trade blows, and steal away with the Green Jacket. Why not? He’s already got three top-ten finishes here on his resumé, and has the steady fairways-and-greens game that works real nice around Augusta National. He whacks his opening drive down the middle. Meanwhile up on the green, it’s an opening birdie for last year’s runner-up Ludvig Åberg, who moves to -7, and won’t consider himself out of this just yet.

Opening pars for Scottie Scheffler and Shane Lowry. They remain at -5. Im Sung-jae is no longer alongside them, having been unable to get up and down from the bunker guarding the front-right of the par-three 4th. The 2020 runner-up slips back to -4.

Nothing went right for Justin Rose yesterday. His flat stick was stone cold, he shot 75, he spent a fair proportion of the round grumbling away at his perceived bad luck. But he’s in a much chipper mood this afternoon. Sending your approach on 1 from 162 yards to eight feet, then rolling in the birdie putt tends to help with stuff like that. A little fist pump, then a giggle with his caddie, and he moves to -6. Again, like Collin Morikawa, he’s surely too far behind to have much of a chance of winning, unless both Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau do a Ken Venturi. (Jack Burke Jr came from eight back on Sunday in 1956 to win, but he needed the then-amateur Venturi to collapse to 80 to pip him by a stroke.) Still, let’s rule nothing out yet.

Quite a few experts tipped the in-form Collin Morikawa this week. It’s not quite happened for the 2020 PGA and 2021 Open champion, but he’s not been far off, coming into the final day having posted two level-par rounds of 72 sandwiching a 69. He’s surely too far off the pace to threaten today, unless the wheels come off all three of the leading trio, but he’s just followed up birdie at 2 by stroking a 25-footer across 3 for another. Im Sung-jae meanwhile birdies 2, and these lads are the first pair to make inroads near the top of the leader board.

-12: McIlroy
-10: DeChambeau
-8: Conners
-6: Reed, Åberg
-5: Morikawa (3), Im (3), Day, Scheffler, Lowry, Rose

Hideki Matsuyama can’t get up and down from the bunker at the front of 18, and finishes his week with his first bogey of the day. Such a shame but that’s a 66 for the former champ, a full 13-shot improvement on yesterday’s fiasco. He ends his Tournament at -2, and is the early clubhouse leader. “Matsuyama’s combo has a real Fenerbahçe vibe to it with that canary and navy,” observes Grant Tennille. I was thinking Boca Juniors, but we can go with Fener. He’s at least refrained from making a lunge for playing partner Akshay Bhatia’s nose, you’ll be pleased to hear.

The first match is back in the clubhouse. Lone wolf Brian Campbell sends his second over the flag to 14 feet, then hits his putt 13 feet and 11 inches. Shame, one more turn and he’d have finished the week at level par. But that’s a final round of 68 that’ll earn the world number 113 a few extra pounds and points.

It’s Rory McIlroy’s turn to chat to the Tiffany Network, and he’s asked how he whiled away the hours this morning. “Fortunately Sunday mornings are good for sport … I watched Carlos Alcaraz play tennis in Monte Carlo … a little bit of soccer … a little bit of F1 … just tried to keep myself distracted with other sports … but once you get to the golf course things kind of settle down and you get into your routine … you get going and do what’s familiar, which is comforting … just trying to go through my strategy for today … turn up with the same attitude I’ve had the last three days … I’m certainly not expecting to get off to that start again [the six consecutive threes at the start of yesterday’s round] … just hitting the first fairway, the first green, then go from there … I can only control the moment that’s right in front of me … that starts on the first tee shot … if I can do a good job controlling those moments thereafter I’ll be in a good spot.”

Bryson DeChambeau, who spent a loooong time on the range yesterday evening, is asked by CBS Sports what he was up to. “Getting my face alignment a little more consistent … that’s what you gotta do to get your golf ball around here … hopefully it pays off today … I’m just excited … I’m excited for the opportunity … I’m gonna have a lot of fun today … it’s going to be a great battle.”

Also going along very nicely today: Brian Campbell. The low amateur at the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, the 32-year-old Californian is making his Masters debut this week, reward for winning his first PGA Tour event a couple of months ago at the Mexico Open. He’s going round with a marker, Augusta National member and Jeff Knox de nos jours Michael McDermott, a player who has also made his mark in the amateur game, beating future pro JB Holmes at the 2003 US Amateur. Anyway, Campbell’s made seven birdies through 17 holes, three bogeys taking off some of the shine. But not all of it. Par up the last and he’ll be signing for a valedictory 68. He’s +1 for the Tournament.

… and to illustrate, here’s Hideki Matsuyama. The 2021 champion was very much in the hunt going into Moving Day, starting his round a mere five strokes behind the 36-hole leader Justin Rose. But the 33-year-old Japanese fell out of contention in grim style, shooting a birdie-free, seven-over 79. Today however he’s back to his blistering best, with birdies at 3, 6, 8, 9, 14 and now 15. No dropped shots yet, and he’s hauled his way back up the standings to -2. It’s not quite up there with Nick Dunlap’s 90-71, but it’s quite the turnaround nonetheless, and a fine example of the possibilities out there today.

The weather gods are smiling on Augusta National today. It’s sunny, as warm as it’s been all week, and there’s not too much in the way of wind. A light swirl here or there may cause some indecision and a little local difficulty, but nothing that should cause too much concern. There’s a score out there. Go get it.