The final pairing of the final round of the 2024 Masters is off the first tee.
Leader Scottie Scheffler and Colin Morikawa each hit picturesque opening drives Sunday afternoon. If he wins, Scheffler will have won the Masters in two of the last three years. If Morikawa were to claim his first green jacket, it would be his third major championship and would leave him a U.S. Open Title away from achieving the career Grand Slam.
Cam Smith has closed to within five shots of Scheffler. He is -2 for the day and -3 overall through three holes. Further down the leaderboard, Tom Kim carded a final round 66 to finish at +5 for the tournament.
Masters Debutant Ludvig Aberg birdied the second with a smooth 22-foot putt. Sitting at +600 on the live odds board, Aberg aims to become the first debutant to win the Masters since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. Shortly after Aberg and Max Homa birdied the second, Scottie Scheffler (+100) saved par on number two, maintaining his one-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa and Homa. Xander Schauffele (+2500), now 1-under on his round, is another contender just four back of Scheffler.
Collin Morikawa gets up and down at the No. 4 to save par, while Scheffler (-105) fails to convert the par save. Now just one back from the World No.1, Morikawa is +400 to win the Masters. Phil Mickelson finishes this year’s tournament with a 2-over-74 round and 8-over on the round, earning him the “Top Senior” honors.
On Saturday, the event kicked off with a thrilling start, chipping in for a birdie on the first hole. Scheffler (-115) rolled in a remarkable 34-foot birdie putt on the third hole to go up by two. The excitement was palpable, but unfortunately, the early round magic was short-lived.
After the turn, Scheffler played holes 10 and 11 3-over par, finding himself two-back of the quartet at the top of the leaderboard at 6-under par: Collin Morikawa (+350), Max Homa (+750), Bryson DeChambeau (+2000), and Nicolai Højgaard (+10000).
Scheffler, though, gathered himself, summoned the magic few can, and joined the group atop the leaderboard with a lengthy putt on 13 for eagle.
With a win Sunday, Scheffler would put on the green jacket twice in the past three years and join a select group of 17 who have earned the title of Masters Champion at least twice in their careers.
Yet, the golf world might have to sweat out more than just Scheffler’s performance Sunday.
Scheffler’s wife, Meredith, is pregnant with the couple’s first child and due at the end of the month. For the first time in Scottie’s career, she could not make the trip to watch her husband compete in a major because her doctors advised her not to travel.
Scheffler has vowed to leave “at a moment’s notice” should his wife go into labor. He said the birth of their first child would trump any win he could earn on the golf course.
If he stays through the whole competition, Scheffler will have to grind through a tough final round with many skilled golfers chasing him.
There were four within four strokes, including two former major champions trying to chase him down.
Morikawa’s third-round 3-under-69 had him just one stroke back. With a win, Morikawa will win his first green jacket and third major championship. (He won the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship.)
DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open winner, was within shouting distance of the lead after holing out from the fairway on 18 for birdie. The LIV golfer sits four back and his shot at glory is still alive.
The saying “no lead is safe at Augusta” comes from the many Masters’ winners who overcame larger than three-stroke leads on Sunday. Here are of the more notable comebacks in Masters’ history:
- In 1978, Gary Player was seven back, but a blazing 64 led him to win his third and final Masters.
- Nick Faldo’s 1996 win over Greg Norman after his 67 helped erase a six-stroke deficit, earning Faldo his third Masters victory.
- Tiger Woods joined the others who overcame seven-stroke deficits to win the Masters for the fourth time in 2005.
Likely the most memorable Masters chase-down was in 2016 when Danny Willet was down five strokes with just six holes left to play. With help from Jordan Spieth’s quadruple bogey on 12, Willet went on to win the green jacket.
According to GolfWeek.com, the eventual Masters Champion has come from behind when trailing after three rounds 31 different times. However, Nick Faldo in 1989 was the last Masters Champion who started the round outside the Top Four and down by more than three strokes.
The post Scottie Scheffler leads 2024 Masters going into final round appeared first on NBC News.
