The third round of the 2026 Masters Tournament is in the books.
The winners today were the fans.
After it looked like Rory McIlroy could run away with the tournament, he struggled mightily on Saturday, which allowed a ton of players back in the tournament. Now we’re set up for an incredibly exciting final round.
Here are my five biggest takeaways from Saturday at the Masters.
1. Rory McIlroy was shockingly bad
I was a bit doleful yesterday about a potentially uninteresting Masters weekend. Thankfully, I was wrong.
I made a case why McIlroy could run into some issues, and it turned out to be true. The putter finally cooled off on Saturday, losing about a stroke on the greens as he shot 73. But more importantly, the wayward drives and left misses with his approaches really came back to bite him.
McIlroy beat only six players in the field in the third round. He lost 3.97 shots on approach, which was the second-worst in the field. If it wasn’t for more great scrambling out of the Northern Irishman, he probably would have shot even worse.
Now tied with Cameron Young and dangerous chasers like Scottie Scheffler and Justin Rose behind him, McIlroy is no longer in the driver’s seat and will need his best on Sunday to repeat. After leading by six with a very gettable setup again, it’s a shocking turn of events.
2. Scottie Scheffler is still inevitable
What a round. What a player.
Scheffler shot 65 on Saturday, and that somehow felt disappointing. After turning in 31, he had 8 feet for a birdie on 10, but he missed. He converted another 8-footer on 11 to get to 6-under. On 12, he missed a relatively straight birdie from 18 feet. On 13, he failed to make a birdie with an iron in his hands from the middle of the fairway, as was the case on 15. The world No. 1 added a missed birdie on 14 from around 10 feet and on 17 from inside 8 feet.
All in all, it was one of the best rounds of ball striking you will ever see at the Masters. He gained around 5.5 shots on approach to the field, two better than the next best on Saturday. And that was despite his driver and putter combining to be at field average.
If he can bring the same iron play on Sunday, it’s no question that Scheffler will be a contender, and we know that he brings an intimidation factor when he’s high on the leaderboard. We’ve seen him win all of his majors from ahead, so adding one with a charge from behind would be big for his career (although it is worth noting he came from behind to win Olympic gold two years ago).
3. Cameron Young was phenomenal, but may also face some regression
Young, the Players champion, matched Scheffler’s 65 in the third round and will tee off as the co-leader with McIlroy on Sunday.
Ranked 21st in the world heading to Bay Hill in early March, Young finished T3 and then won at Sawgrass the following week, charging him up to 3rd in the world headed to Augusta.
I’m not fully convinced Young is ready to back up his round.
Like McIlroy’s second round, Young did a ton of his damage on Saturday with his putting and chipping. The driver was wayward at times, but he got bailed out by some bounces off the trees. He also mismanaged some distances on the approaches and got bailed out with a bounce off a chair long on the 9th.
He’ll need to dial it in on Sunday with the ball striking on what I’d expect to be a tougher Augusta.
4. Augusta played easy again, but it may be ready to shine on Sunday
It’s time to let Augusta loose on Sunday.
The scoring average on Saturday was an extremely easy 70.63. That’s more than two shots easier than Friday, but much of that can be attributed to many of the field’s worst players not posting weekend scores.
I actually felt the course played much better in the third round. While scores were out there, we still saw some bounce in the greens and plenty of poor shots being penalized.
We’ll see some tougher pins in the final round after Augusta used a lot of feeder pins in the third round. Nos. 2, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 were all placed in their easiest spots of the week.
On Sunday, I’d only expect Nos. 7, 13 and (maybe) 16 to be in their easiest positions. For what it’s worth, we could see Augusta put the pin on 16 either back-right or in the bowl in the back-left.
Scheffler mentioned Augusta could choose to do what Bay Hill does and let the greens die on Sunday. It’s definitely possible. With how easy the course played over the last two rounds, a proper test with firm, fast greens could await players looking to put on the green jacket. I think it would be a great viewing experience.
5. A pair of veterans could make a Sunday charge
The third-to-last pairing on Sunday features a couple of veterans I would love to see win a green jacket.
Justin Rose and Jason Day both sit at 8-under, three shots back of McIlroy and Young. They’re right in the mix, and I think it will be a very popular group to follow tomorrow if they can capture some magic.
Day and Rose both get around here beautifully. While not having the firepower of the young guns in contention, the former world No. 1’s plot their way around Augusta and don’t make many mistakes.
If the greens firm up and conditions get tough, watch out for either 45-year-old Rose or 38-year-old Day to make a charge.
What were your takeaways from day three at the Masters?
Let me know below in the comments.