McIlroy hangs on for share of lead after madcap third round

This moment was a central storyline in the theatre, but for so long for McIlroy it seemed – to adapt the Masters motto – a perdition like no other. This is not the first time that Augusta National has turned a procession into a recession for the pacesetter and into a cavalry chase for the rest. And it was not the first time that McIlroy had seen his lead gobbled up and spat back in his face.

McIlroy knows from his own experience that shots here can scatter like confetti on the breeze. And if he cannot remember 2011, when he fired that final-round 80 – and believe it, he can – then this Saturday roller coaster can serve as a timely reminder.

From the off, his record six-shot advantage became two in less than half an hour. Patrick Reed, his sometime nemesis, birdied the first three and with McIlroy bogeying the first and failing to birdie the par-five second, the yawning gap was suddenly tighter.

No matter. Reed began to fade away, with his putter being anything but obliging (the 2018 champion eventually finished with a 72 on seven under and is not yet out of it) and after McIlroy hit a rare good drive on to the green at the par-four third and made his first birdie of the day, his scoreboard superiority was back to four. Not what it was, but healthy enough.