AUGUSTA, Ga. — After a rocky start, Rory McIlroy has navigated 14 challenging holes and is tied with Justin Rose and Ludvig Aberg for the Masters lead at Augusta National Sunday.
It took two holes for Bryson DeChambeau to surpass McIlroy on the leaderboard and quickly cast doubt on McIlroy’s chances of finally winning the Masters. Two holes later, McIlroy showed he could take a punch and recover.
A day after setting a Masters record by starting with six consecutive threes, McIlroy took a double-bogey six on the first hole, giving back two strokes. It was only the second double bogey Sunday on the opening hole.
DeChambeau, who started the day two back, parred the first hole to forge the tie.
Then, just as he did on the first hole, McIlroy wound up with his drive in a fairway bunker on No. 2. He scrambled to make par, but DeChambeau countered with a birdie to take a one-stroke lead.
McIlroy rebounded under immense early-round pressure with birdies on the third and fourth holes to reclaim a three-stroke lead.
They both hit par on the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth holes. McIlroy delivered birdies on the ninth and 10th holes while DeChambeau settled for two more pars. Both stumbled on 11, with McIlroy hitting bogey and DeChaumbeau sliding down the leaderboard with a double bogey. McIlroy rallied to hit par on 12, but DeChaumbeau hit a bogey that pushed him down to a tie for ninth at six-under.
McIlroy wobbled again, hitting double bogie on 13 and a bogie on 14, opening the door for Rose and Aberg
McIlroy, Rose and Aberg are tied at 10-under, with Rose through 17 holes and Aberg through 16. McIlroy will get a chance to make a final uncontested push for the elusive green jacket.
Follow the Masters leaderboard here and check back soon for more updates.
