Masters 2025: The only thing better than Rory McIlroy’s historic Saturday start was social media’s giddy reaction to it

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If you were late to your couch on Saturday afternoon, you missed one of the most incredible hours in Masters history as Rory McIlroy opened his third round birdie-eagle-birdie, including back-to-back 370-yard nukes and an exquisite eagle chip-in on the par-5 2nd hole. Rory’s scintillating stretch took him from three back to three clear in the blink of an eye as the Internet scrambled to keep up. The reactions ran the gamut, from impartially informational to stupified drooling, cresting in a tidal wave of support for the man most in need of a green jacket. Even if you remain a Rory agnostic, we encourage you to sit back, relax and enjoy the game within the game.

In that spirit, let’s start simple with modern society’s only true universal language: memes and gifs.

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That last one is a bit wide of the mark. McIlroy is more like Charles Barkley with the green jacket on the line than Miami Heat-era Lebron, but the NBA meme format seemed to be popular nonetheless.

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Then we had the nerds, who channeled the natural human impulse to jump around and scream “OH MY GOD HE’S DOING IT, HE’S REALLY DOING IT!” through cold, hard numbers. Chicks dig stats, kiddos.

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As the initial rush of endorphis subsided, however, so came the creeping realization that it was only Saturday, and you cannot win the Masters on a Saturday. Rory fans have been here before, after all.

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Is it better to have loved and lost than never loved at all? That’s a question Rory fans may have to answer come Sunday evening. In the meantime, think happy thoughts and give in to the power of the dancing crabs.

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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com