Rory McIlroy takes Masters lead after 2 monster drivers, eagle chip-in

They say you “drive for show and putt for dough,” but Rory McIlroy is certainly challenging that narrative on Saturday at the Masters.

Starting the third round at Augusta National at six under par two shots off Justin Rose’s 36-hole, McIlroy blistered his opening tee shot 331 yards, over the bunker on the right side of the fairway and then got up and down from 104 yards for an opening birdie.

He then hit another gargantuan tee shot on the par-5 second, again flying the bunker before hitting his second over the green and chipping in for eagle to take the outright lead.

In the pairing behind him, Bryson DeChambeau buried a 45-foot birdie putt of his own at the 1st, but McIlroy’s chip-in happened just moments later to steal the spotlight, sending roars throughout Augusta National.

It all started with McIlroy’s monster tee shot at No. 1, 16 yards longer than anyone else on Saturday. CBS’s Jim Nantz initially sounded worried after McIlroy’s tee shot started directly at the bunker on the right side of the fairway.

“This is on a concerning line,” Nantz said.

But much to the CBS cameraman’s surprise, McIlroy’s tee ball flew the bunker by some 10-15 yards, leaving just flip wedge to the green (the drive was initially wrongly reported at 371 yards). To his credit, McIlroy seemed confident the bunker wasn’t in play, recoiling and immediately plucking his tee from the earth.

From 104 yards, McIlroy pitched his second just beyond the pin and spun it back to eight feet, where he would sneak the putt in on the right side for a birdie to climb within one of Rose’s lead.

Then on No. 2, where McIlroy had struggled with his two prior tee shots this week, missing one in the right bunker and the other in the right trees, McIlroy flew the bunker this time, getting a kick off the back of it and releasing out, 369 yards from the tee.

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From the fairway, just 219 yards from the flag, McIlroy flew a 6-iron to the back edge of the green and it bounced just through the green, leaving him a chip for eagle.

Moments after Dechambeau made his long birdie to tie the lead, McIlroy jumped both him and Rose by holing the chip. Faced with a severe right-to-left slope, McIlroy’s wedge redeemed him after pitching into the water on 15 two days ago, leading to a momentum-killing double bogey. On Saturday, McIlroy played the break to perfection and curled the ball in for an eagle.

His momentum continued to the 3rd and where he hammered another drive, this time a cut against the slope, in front of the green, pitched on to six feet and made the putt again for a four-under start through three holes and a two-shot lead. After par at the 4th, he smashed another huge drive at No. 5 and made an 18-footer to get to 11 under and extend the lead to three.