McIlroy fights for repeat as last-round Masters drama begins

Defending champion Rory McIlroy, last in driving accuracy, has spent much of his time in the trees but still shares the lead entering the final round of the Masters (Hector Vivas)

(Hector Vivas/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP)

Co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young were among those set for an afternoon showdown at firm and fast Augusta National as players began Sunday's final round of the Masters.

A back-nine shootout was set to unfold for the green jacket and a record top prize of $4.5 million from a record $22.5 million purse.

Defending champion McIlroy and third-ranked Young, last month's Players Championship winner, were on 11-under par 205, one stroke ahead of Sam Burns with Ireland's Shane Lowry two adrift.

McIlroy is trying to join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only back-to-back winners in Masters history.

England's 45-year-old Justin Rose, a three-time Masters runner-up who lost a playoff last year to McIlroy, was on eight-under with Australian Jason Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, a four-time major winner seeking his third Masters crown in five seasons, was four off the pace on seven-under with China's Li Haotong.

Young and McIlroy were set to tee off in the final pairing at 2:25 p.m. (1825 GMT).

Even with lightning-fast greens baked intensely over a rain-free week, traditional Sunday pin placements were expected to help produce sensational shotmaking and typical closing drama with spectator roars through the Georgia pines.

World number two McIlroy, a five-time major winner, has struggled off the tee but scrambled his way to a share of the lead despite squandering a 36-hole record six-stroke edge.

The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland leads in driving distance at 337.3 yards but ranks last in driving accuracy, having missed half the fairways over 54 holes.

Young, the 2022 British Open runner-up, fired his best Masters round on Saturday with a 65 to rally from eight back to join McIlroy in the last duo. The 24-year-old American won his first PGA Tour title last August in Greensboro.

World number 33 Burns, another American chasing his first major triumph, last won at the 2023 WGC Match Play. His last stroke-play title was in 2022 at Colonial but he leads this week in reaching greens in regulation.

Lowry, ranked 32nd, aced the par-three sixth on Saturday to become the first Masters player with multiple career holes-in-one with his first at 16 in 2016.

The 2019 British Open champion holed the trophy-clinching putt for Europe in last year's Ryder Cup and has trimmed his score a stroke every round after a 70 on Thursday.

Rose, the 2013 US Open and 2016 Rio Olympic champion, has said all week the fight to end his "nearly man" run at Augusta will not come until Sunday's back nine and he needed to position himself for that. He managed 10 birdies in last year's final round to force a playoff with McIlroy.

Day, 38, was a runner-up in his 2011 Masters debut and four other top-10 finishes since.

Scheffler, last year's British Open and PGA Championship winner, could complete the greatest 36-hole comeback by a Masters winner.

The 29-year-old American was 12-strokes behind McIlroy before firing a bogey-free 65 on Saturday with an eagle and five birdies.

The greatest 36-hole comeback in Masters history, and the best final-round rally to win as well, was Jack Burke recovering from eight strokes adrift to win the 1956 title.

Li, fourth in last year's British Open, was in the hunt for the lead Saturday before bogeys at the par-five 13th and 15th holes and 18 foiled his bid.

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