Patrick Reed stays in the Masters driver’s seat

The third round had a couple of outstanding performances.

Patrick Reed shot a 5-under-par 67 in the third round of the 2018 Masters on Saturday. He ended the day 14-under for the tournament, three shots ahead of second-place Rory McIlroy. Those two will make up the final group on Sunday, as Reed hunts his first major win. He’s led since the end of the second round on Friday and picked up steam on Saturday.

Reed wasn’t perfect. He made three bogeys and left a couple of makable putts on the Augusta National greens. But he made two eagles on the back nine, and he had enough massive steps forward to offset his couple of small steps backward. He played Augusta’s four par-5 holes at a combined five strokes below par to set himself apart.

McIlroy was excellent in his own right. He started the day at 4-under for the championship, in fourth place and five shots back of Reed. He shot a 7-under 65, highlighted by shooting an absurd 31 on the opening nine holes. His best moment of the day was an eagle at the par-5 eighth, where he chipped in from 23 yards after running a 3-wood from the fairway off to the right of the green. He played a bogey-free round and kept moving up.

Reed-McIlroy is an excellent final pairing for golf fans. The two had an emotionally fraught match against each other at the 2016 Ryder Cup, which Reed (and Reed’s American team) ultimately won over McIlroy and Europe. That round included McIlroy excitedly screaming after holing a putt in the midst of a hostile American crowd at Hazeltine and Reed, later, wagging his finger at McIlroy after winning a hole by sinking his own difficult putt.

Of course, the Green Jacket could go to neither of them. Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler, the world’s No. 3 and 7 players respectively, will play in the second-to-last group to tee off Sunday. Those two are right at the tippy top of any discussions about the best players in the world not to win a major yet, along with Hideki Matsuyama and probably even ahead of Reed. Either of them could win if Reed and McIlroy slide just a little bit.

Rahm, McIlroy, and Fowler all shot rounds of 65 on Saturday — an incredible collection of play all at once, even by three of the world’s greatest players. There’s so much talent at the top of the leaderboard that there’s virtually no way Sunday isn’t a blast.

Here’s the leaderboard after 54 holes: