AUGUSTA, Ga. — You can say Rory McIlroy will be in familiar territory on Sunday when he enters the final round of the 2025 Masters with a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau, six-under 66 on Saturday that started with an amazing six straight 3s pushing him out front. To date in his professional career, the 35-year-old Northern Irishman has been either tied or held the outright lead after 54 holes in 19 previous PGA Tour events. And 11 of those times he has gone ahead to claim victory, accounting for 39 percent of his 28 tour titles.
This also won’t be the first time that McIlroy heads into the final round of a major out front. Six times previously in major championships, McIlroy has been in this situation, including all four times he’s previously been victorious.
That said, McIlroy has never been atop the leaderboard when trying to close out the career Grand Slam, the large piece of history that looms with 18 holes to play at Augusta National.
Ironically, the first time McIlroy ever held a 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event was at the 2011 Masters, when he was up by four shots starting the final round and still ahead by one when he made his way to the second nine. Of course, we all know what happened next, a stunning back-nine 43 that en route to an 80 and a T-15 finish. Surprisingly, perhaps, McIlroy has never led any round at Augusta National since starting that Sunday out front 14 years ago.
Below you’ll see the complete list of McIlroy’s 54-hole leads, and how he finished out those tournaments. Interesting, his final-round scoring average when with the lead has been 69.79 stroke average.
Before getting to that list, here’s a breakdown of how he has fared with various types of leads.
Tied for 54-hole lead: 2 out of 6
Leading by 1: 4 out of 5
Leading by 2: 1 out of 2
Leading by 3: 1 out of 2
Leading by 4: 1 out of 2
Leading by 5 or more: 2 out of 2
Tournament, 54-hole Lead, Final Round Score, Finish
2011 Masters, 4 ahead, 80, T-15 (10 back)
2011 U.S. Open, 8 ahead, 69, Win (by 8)
2012 Honda Classic, 2 ahead, 69, Win (by 2)
2012 PGA Championship, 3 ahead, 66, Win (by 8)
2014 Honda Classic, 2 ahead, 74, T-2 (1 back)
2014 Open Championship, 6 ahead, 71, Win (by 2)
2014 PGA Championship, 1 ahead, 68, Win (by 1)
2014 Tour Championship, tied, 71, T-2 (3 back)
2015 Wells Fargo Championship, 4 ahead, 69, Win (by 7)
2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship, 3 ahead, 74, T-3 (2 back)
2019 RBC Canadian Open, tied, 61, Win by 7
2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude, 1 ahead, 71, T-4 (5 back)
2019 WGC-HSBC Championship, 1 ahead 68, Win (playoff)
2020 Genesis Invitational, tied, 73, T-5 (3 back)
2022 RBC Canadian Open, tied, 62, Win (by 2)
2022 Open Championship, tied, 70, 3rd (2 back)
2022 CJ Cup in S.C., 1 ahead 67 (-4), Win (by 1)
2023 Memorial, tied, 75 (+3), T-7 (7 back)
2023 Genesis Scottish Open, 1 ahead, 68 (-2), Win (by 1)
Masters 101: Answering all your frequently asked questions
How to watch the 2025 Masters
Power Rankings: Every player in the Masters field, ranked
50 defining Masters Moments, ranked
The most memorable Rules issues in Masters history
Before and after photos of Augusta National’s tree loss from Hurricane Helene
Every course change ever made at Augusta National
A brief history of Masters prize money payouts
15 people who ended up in the Masters penalty box
The Champions Dinner Tell-All, from those inside the room
When Lee Elder desegregated the Masters
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
