GOLF: Scheffler storms back into contention to put Masters on notice

With the eyes of Augusta National fixed firmly on Rory McIlroy and his Masters record six-shot halfway lead, Scottie Scheffler reminded the golf world on Saturday that the best player on the planet is never truly out of a tournament.

Beginning the third round a seemingly insurmountable 12 shots off the pace, world number one Scheffler produced one of the great moving-day charges in recent Masters memory, firing a bogey-free, seven-under-par 65 to match the low round of the week and thrust himself back into the conversation.

"I did what I needed to do," said Scheffler, who is now seven under on the week. "Went out and executed to give myself some opportunities, and more of that tomorrow, and I think I'll be in a good spot."

The round was a masterclass in controlled aggression. Scheffler drained a six-foot eagle putt at the second and then reeled off four birdies in a blistering five-hole stretch around the turn — just as McIlroy was dropping a shot at the first to trim his own lead.

Scheffler, the reigning PGA Championship and British Open champion, could have been even closer.

At the ninth, his approach from the fairway grazed the edge of the cup before settling four feet away, drawing a roar from the packed gallery that seemed to shake the Georgia pines.

"I didn't fix anything," Scheffler said when asked to explain the nine-shot improvement on his Friday score. "I felt like yesterday I played a lot better than my score, and then today early in the round I felt like I got a lot out of it."

He was a birdie-birdie finish away from tying the course record of 63 that Nick Price shot in 1986 and Greg Norman matched in 1996, but his bid ended at the penultimate hole when his putt from eight feet slid just right of the cup.

Scheffler salvaged the shine on his round with a gritty par at the last — extricating himself from beneath a bush after a wayward drive, chopping back to the fairway, and then firing his third shot to within a foot of the cup.

The largest 54-hole deficit overcome to win the Masters is eight shots, a record set by Jack Burke Jr. in 1956. Scheffler is well within striking distance of history.

"I feel like I left a few shots out there but overall it was a good day," said Scheffler, who won the Masters in 2022 and 2024. "I don't feel like I am out of the tournament."

-Reporting by Frank Pingue in Augusta, Georgia, editing by Pritha Sarkar/Reuters