Scottie Scheffler heats up on Masters moving day, closes in on Rory McIlroy | Opinion

AUGUSTA, GA – Holes 6 and 16 are located near one another at Augusta National, and as Rory McIlroy stood over his tee shot on No. 6, the patrons began to cheer over at the nearby hole.

McIlroy backed away from his tee shot, while the crowd at No. 16 gave Scottie Scheffler his due for a birdie.

Not just a birdie, but another birdie. Scheffler’s scorecard was full of them. He finished with a 7-under 65, after starting his round 12 strokes behind McIlroy.

Moments after Scheffler rolled in his 10-footer on No. 16, McIlroy missed the green on the par-3 No. 6.

Call it a microcosm of moving day.

The world’s No. 1 golfer was scorching hot throughout his third round.

The world’s No. 2 golfer was trying to fend challengers from all corners of the course, none more decorated than Scheffler.

Never mind what the leaderboard says, Scheffler will be the biggest threat to McIlroy on Sunday.

Scottie Scheffler needs a comeback. That's unusual

Scheffler stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall, so perhaps it’s no surprise sneaking up on someone isn’t his usual move.

He’s no underdog, so let’s resist the urge to call him one, even though he teed off more than 2½ hours before the leaders in Round 3, an indicator of the ground he’d need to close in his final two rounds.

Scheffler is a frontrunner’s frontrunner, ranked No. 1 in the world for 186 consecutive weeks, but to secure what would be a fifth major championship (and a third Masters), he’ll have to do something he’s never done before: Come from behind in the final round.

His past major victories came after he led through 54 holes.

Masters cheers start for Scottie Scheffler with an eagle

Scheffler couldn’t just hope for McIlroy to collapse. When you’re down by a dozen strokes with 36 holes to go, you need to stick some shots.

Scheffler pulled 7-wood on his 265-yard second shot at the par-5 second hole and let ‘er fly. He plopped it onto the dance floor and rolled in a 6-footer for eagle.

Seven holes later, he nearly holed out for another eagle. He settled for more red ink, a birdie. If you were out on the course early in the afternoon, you could hear the cheers coming from whatever hole Scheffler was playing.

By the time Scheffler made the turn onto the second nine, he’d trimmed his deficit to seven strokes.

He finished with five birdies to go with his eagle and, importantly, not a single bogey.

Another round like that, and we could exit this tournament with McIlroy slipping a third green jacket onto Scheffler’s shoulders.

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Scottie Scheffler makes clear he's top Masters threat to Rory McIlroy