The stroll to the 11th tee box was a subdued swagger, with confidence and strength emanating from every step of defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy. After all, he had birdied the previous hole and topped the leaderboard at 13 under par on Saturday, four strokes ahead of his nearest competitor, Cameron Young. His focus and intent were palpable 30 feet away as he first addressed the ball and then let rip a monster drive down the fairway. Soon after, though, that focus faltered.

At the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, the 90th edition of the Masters, among the most prestigious sporting events in the world, had, until then, been looking to be a one-sided affair. By the end of Friday, McIlroy seemed to be playing with power and precision, but seemingly no pressure. Then, during the third round, he found the water on the 11th, which helped land him a double bogey. The next hole, a par 3, decreased his lead by another stroke, and suddenly Cameron Young had closed the gap and would tie McIlroy at 11 under by the end of the round. Saturday, referred to as “Moving Day” in the sport’s vernacular, certainly lived up to the moniker as Young bettered his score by seven strokes, while Sam Burns and Shane Lowry are just one and two strokes back, respectively.

In regard to Sunday’s final foray, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed fictional detective Sherlock Holmes would say, “the game is afoot.” And despite McIlroy’ early dominance Thursday and Friday, the mystery of who ultimately wins the tournament today may continue to the very end, with intrigue comparable to last year. That’s when, as the golf world held its collective breath, McIlroy clinched the title on his last put.

Returning as the favorite this year, McIlroy may have a mixed mindset. “You got some pressure off your shoulders; in his case, Grand Slam champion,” two-time Masters winner Bernhard Langer tells Robb Report. “But at the same time, you want to prove to all the competitors, and the rest of the world, that you are the best, and you want to do it again, and again, and again.”

Langer knows this as well as anyone, having won in 1985 and 1993, and competing at Augusta through 2025. “Last year I decided to make it my last one as a player,” notes Langer, now 68 years old. “This is my first experience outside the ropes, if you want to call it that . . . it’s tough, it’s bittersweet,” admits Langer. “Maybe I should have played a couple more years, because I’m still playing pretty good—but the course is very long.”

Then there’s the next generation of players striving for their own green blazer, the revered token of both victory and membership into perhaps the most coveted club in all of sports, that of Masters champion. For 26-year-old Ludvig Åberg, that jacket was just missed in 2024, when he finished second overall to Scottie Scheffler. Asked how his mental preparation has changed as he makes his third appearance at Augusta, Åberg is quick to respond. “I don’t need to spend as much time trying to figure out the golf course,” he tells Robb Report. “I feel like I can sort of focus on preserving my energy a little bit more . . . But you still have to execute. You still have to hit the golf shots and do that over four days.”

Despite the more than four decades between them, both Åberg and Langer share more than the Masters in common. Each are ambassadors for Mercedes-Benz, one of the tournament’s four primary sponsors. “I think there’s a long tradition of brilliance and excellence, and I think both of them kind of resemble that,” notes Åberg in reference to Augusta and the automaker. “There’s a reason why it’s been almost 20 years since Mercedes and [the] Masters got together, and I feel very fortunate to be a part of both.”

For Langer, that shared tradition is about continual refinement. “The Masters is, in my eyes, the best tournament in the world . . . the innovations they have, the changes they make year after year, to improve, to get better,” says Langer. “That’s what Mercedes is . . . every year they’re working on innovations. That’s why Mercedes is involved.”

Interestingly, another generational talent joining Mercedes at the Masters this year is basketball phenom Caitlin Clark, a tour de force in the WNBA and a fan of the fairways herself. “Golf is one of my escapes during the season,” stated Clark in a Mercedes-hosted conversation moderated by ESPN’s Laura Rutledge. “Just going outside and playing even seven holes at night after practice, and playing twilight golf, like, that’s one of my favorite things to clear my mind.”

When asked her thoughts on the weekend rounds, Clark wanted the contest to be close. “Last year is going to be really hard to top with just the way everything played out, and Rory winning his last of the Grand Slam . . . it was such a vivid memory,” Clark told Rutledge. “I’m hoping for another moment like that on Sunday.”

Speaking with Robb Report on Saturday morning, Langer was confident in his prediction of the weekend’s result. “I think Rory is going to win it, just because he’s very comfortable. He’s putting better than I’ve seen him put in a long time,” says Langer. Yet he presciently noted that any player might “shoot 65 from the pack and get closer and put some pressure on [McIlroy] tomorrow,” which is exactly what Cameron Young did. “That’s the fun part about golf and Augusta—you never know,” says Langer. “There’s a lot of volatility on this golf course.”  

What’s not uncertain, however, are the 27 pairings and their tee times for today’s final round. Leading off the action will be Aaron Rai and Charl Schwartzel at 9:06 a.m. EDT, with Cameron Young and Rory McIlroy the last to set out, having  a start time of 2:25 p.m. EDT.

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