The Masters 2025 Round 3 LIVE: Leaderboard and scores as sensational Rory McIlroy surges into lead

Steady eddie golf from Jason Day as he trots into Amen Corner with five consecutive pars having extricated himself from quite the predicament behind a magnolia tree. -6. A productive 11, 12, 13 – tricky though that is – could put the pressure on.

Par saved. The run of threes will not continue but given where he stuck his tee shot, that might be his best hole yet.

It’s just so smooth. A potentially troublesome chip is played with just about perfect weight, drawing a thumbs up from Corey Conners as McIlroy sets himself up for a short putt. It won’t be a seventh three but a four should be his.

At the sixth, Bryson DeChambeau has a trickier par attempt. A bit of left to right…scooting in! He’s sticking in there.

Right, can Rory McIlroy dig himself out of the mire? He’s got a little lucky to avoid the pine straw, instead sitting in the second cut. How does he play it? Punch out? Send up a flyer and hope?

The latter, it seems. Up it goes, down it comes…long and left, but in the game. A par is his best hope but we know he’s in a confident mood.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. A first real sign of vulnerability in this remarkable Rory McIlroy start, wiping one into the trees at the seventh. That’s down by the 17th tee box – though given how he’s playing, he might just find an angle to the flag.

Oh, Rory McIlroy is in the zone. Six threes in a row to start his round – the first player in Masters history to ever to do that. This par at six needs saving, too, but a nerveless putt never looks likely to end up anywhere other than buried at the bottom of the cup.

A hole behind, Bryson DeChambeau very nearly finds a miracle out of the backside bunker. A second salvaged par from the sand from him in a row will keep him in check.

A birdie at the sixth for Shane Lowry continues a dream day so far for those of an Irish persuasion. He joins Justin Rose, whose just lost a shot at the fourth and hasn’t yet got going, at seven under.

Five under through five! Rory McIlroy raises a palm to the patron, another lengthy birdie putt disappearing without so much of a wobble. This is extraordinary.

Just when Viktor Hovland was beginning to threaten, dropped shots at five and six see him slide again. An eventful front nine so far for Hovland, who suggested yesterday that he felt his swing was currently only at a seven out of 10 – for a player known for tinkering, you do wonder if Hovland will ever be totally happy with his game.

Yep, a bogey for Bryson at the third. He admonishes himself as he knocks it in – he knows he’s played that poorly.