Augusta, Ga. — Like Rory McIlroy, Scotty Schaeffler is chasing history this week.
He is about to join Jack Nicklaus as the only player in Masters history, winning the tournament in three of his four years and the first player to defend his title since Tiger Woods in 2002.
However, the 5-under par defending champion has a tall hill to climb in Sunday's final round at Augusta National, and enters the seven-shot behind McIlroy at 12-under.
Schaeffler, who won seven times last season and hasn't won this year, didn't look like himself this week.
“Sometimes, I felt good, sometimes I felt bad,” he said. Today and yesterday were the days when I was able to shoot myself from the tournament, [but] I fought both really hard.
“We're in tomorrow, we have a good front nine, we start moving up the leaderboard and don't know what's going to happen on the back nine. We can't control what other people are doing there.
John Larm's Masters frustration continued on Saturday. He cut the number on Friday at 2 under par.
And on Saturday, when it seemed he might get on the roll, he drilled two holes to get 4 under a day, giving 17 and 18 two shots to finish at 70.
“It's just as easy [birdies] They can come and you can become a little unhappy and start to struggle a little,” Rahm said. “I made quite a few par putts today to line up and post it.
He was asked what he wanted on Sunday and said, “Look, see if I can get out there and shoot 6 or below or under.”
Rahm, who won the Masters in 2023, joined Liv Golf and finished 76th last year.
Zach Johnson, who was paired with Rahm on Saturday, praised Rahm's form.
“His scorecard didn't show, in my opinion, how he actually played,” Johnson said. He's still a truly, truly impressive and incredible guy. ”
