Rory McIlroy vs. Bryson DeChambeau: A Battle for Golf Supremacy

There are 18 holes between Rory McIlroy and a career Grand Slam. But Bryson DeChambeau is in the way.

From the fairway on the 15th hole at Augusta National, Bryson DeChambeau had a clear view of what was going on below. On the green, Rory McIlroy had landed his second shot like a feather and left himself a mere 6 feet for eagle. Even if he might not have seen the ball go in, the roar of the patrons told DeChambeau all he needed to know: McIlroy had made his second eagle of the day, this one pushing him to 12 under par and five shots ahead of DeChambeau.

With four holes left, catching McIlroy was far-fetched, but this was Saturday at the Masters, so the two-time U.S. Open winner simply had one thought on his mind: Get in the final pairing.

DeChambeau answered McIlroy's eagle with a birdie on 15. On the 16th hole, he made a short birdie putt and stopped to look across the pond and ahead to the 17th fairway where McIlroy was walking.

"Rory was kind of moving forward. He was at 12 under, and I was kind of chasing a bit," DeChambeau said. "When I made that, I looked up and I said, kind of as a statement, 'I'm still here. I'm going to keep going. I'm not going to back down.'"

Here we go again. Nearly 10 months after a thrilling finish in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst placed heartbreak on McIlroy's plate while awarding triumph to DeChambeau, the two will head into Sunday with a major championship in the balance. This time, they're in the final group together. This time, it's the Masters on the line.

"I think I still have to remind myself that there's a long way to go, 18 holes," McIlroy said after shooting the low round of the day to lead DeChambeau by two. "I, just as much as anyone else, know what can happen on the final day here."

There is no battle between good and evil here, no feud between LIV and the PGA Tour, simply two of the best golfers in the world trying to wrest the game's most coveted garment from one another on the sport's biggest stage.

Their games are, at times, similar. Both can bend courses to their will with their driver -- they are 1-2 in the field in distance this week -- and they often rely on the volatility of their approach game or putting to determine their scores. But to say that DeChambeau and McIlroy are polar opposites would be an understatement.

All you had to do to see as much was look at their respective walks off the 18th green. McIlroy made par on his last three holes and, as he was serenaded with cheers and standing ovations for his round, could muster only solemn nods to his constituency. DeChambeau finished his round with an electric shock to the system -- a 48-foot birdie putt on 18 -- and reacted by producing a fist pump before walking down the rope line and high-fiving everyone he could on his way to the scoring area.

"It makes me focus more," DeChambeau said of how he interacts with fans. "It's a fun thing that whenever I feel like I feed into the crowd, especially the patrons here, they give that energy back, and it's a cool feeling."

On the golf course (and the range), DeChambeau chases optimal launch angles and ball speed numbers, while McIlroy continues to harp on the fact that what he's after is not a number or even a score, but a feeling of being in control.

"If I can have that feeling," McIlroy said, "and if I can go home tonight and look in the mirror before I go to bed and be like, 'that's the way I want to feel when I play golf,' that, to me, is a victory."

Sunday will provide an ample stage for those differences between the two to show themselves. And yet the biggest of those is already written in the script: Since McIlroy won his last major, DeChambeau has won two.

There is almost no need to recount the heartbreaks McIlroy has experienced; they have become as much a part of the fabric of his story as the four majors he won from 2011 to 2014. At the Old Course in 2022, McIlroy was stuck in neutral as Cameron Smith chased him down and won the Claret Jug. In the 2023 U.S. Open at LACC, he couldn't engineer a comeback to outlast Wyndham Clark. Pinehurst last year was the most brutal finish yet. McIlroy missed two short putts and could only watch as DeChambeau got up and down for par on 18 to beat him.

Then there is the 2011 Masters where, at just 21 years old, McIlroy had a four-shot lead heading into the final round before shooting 80 and walking away empty-handed.

"That was 14 years ago," McIlroy said when asked about that tournament. "I'm glad I have a short memory."

On paper, there are 18 holes between McIlroy and his career Grand Slam. In reality, there are 11 years of close calls and heartbreaks and now, the last giant he failed to slay a year ago, standing in his way. A giant who is relishing the chance to step inside the cauldron again, keep his foot on the gas pedal and play spoiler in the encore.

"We both want to win very badly. It's going to be an electric atmosphere," DeChambeau said. "It'll be the grandest stage that we've had in a long time."