The Albany Gazette - McIlroy begins Masters final round as repeat drama looms

A back-nine showdown for the green jacket and a record top prize of $4.5 million featured major winners and rivals seeking their first elite crown.

Defending champion McIlroy and third-ranked Young, last month's Players Championship winner, were on 11-under par as they teed off, and were soon joined at the top of the leaderboard by Sam Burns, after a birdie on the first.

"It's a matter of staying in my own lane," Young said before his round. "Everybody is going to have their runs. I've got to wait for mine."

McIlroy, seeking a sixth major title, 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, chipped in from 27 feet to open with a birdie and reach nine-under.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, a four-time major winner seeking his third Masters crown in five seasons, sank an eight foot birdie at the first hole to reach eight-under.

Australian Jason Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner, parred the first to stay on eight-under.

Good scores were on offer early.

Norway's Viktor Hovland made five birdies on the front nine, added a 53-foot birdie putt at 11 and two-putted from 42 feet to birdie the par-five 13th. He found water over the green to make double bogey at the par-five 15th but answered with a five-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th on the way to a 67.

Sweden's Ludvig Aberg opened with three birdies to reach six-under while American Gary Woodland fired a six-under 66, his career low at Augusta.

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 to inspire spectator roars through the Georgia pines.

World number two McIlroy 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.

American Young, the 2022 British Open runner-up, fired his best Masters round on Saturday with a 65 to rally from eight back. He could become the third straight Players winner to capture the Masters the following month.

World number 33 Burns, another American chasing his first major triumph, leads in reaching greens in regulation but he last won at the 2023 WGC Match Play.

Shane Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, 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.

Rose, the 2013 US Open, managed 10 birdies in last year's final round to force a playoff with McIlroy.

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 on Saturday before firing a bogey-free 65.

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.

(O.Garcia--TAG)