Rory McIlroy takes the first tee on Saturday afternoon at Augusta National with a six-shot lead and a number attached to his name that no defending Masters champion has ever carried into a third round.
He will play in the final pairing with Sam Burns at 2:50 p.m. ET. Everything from 9:31 a.m. onward is what stands between the rest of the field and the start of his final 18 holes.
Round 3 of the 90th Masters Tournament is today. Here are the complete tee times, the state of the leaderboard, and the storylines that matter.
Full List Of Round 3 Tee Times
All players will tee off the first hole. The opening group goes at 9:31 a.m. Kurt Kitayama and Alex Noren start the third round.
From there, the field plays out in two-player pairings, a shift from the threesomes used in the first two rounds.
9:31 a.m. — Kurt Kitayama, Alex Noren
9:42 a.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Rasmus Højgaard
9:53 a.m. — Jon Rahm, Si Woo Kim
10:04 a.m. — Brian Harman, Corey Conners
10:15 a.m. — Sergio Garcia, Maverick McNealy
10:26 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Viktor Hovland
10:37 a.m. — Justin Thomas, Gary Woodland
10:48 a.m. — Samuel Stevens, Adam Scott
11:10 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka
11:21 a.m. — Aaron Rai, Jacob Bridgeman
11:32 a.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im
11:43 a.m. — Dustin Johnson, Russell Henley
11:54 a.m. — Harris English, Ryan Gerard
12:05 p.m. — Ludvig Åberg, Scottie Scheffler
12:16 p.m. — Collin Morikawa, Brian Campbell
12:38 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Matt Fitzpatrick
12:49 p.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Michael Brennan
1:00 p.m. — Jake Knapp, Xander Schauffele
1:11 p.m. — Ben Griffin, Max Homa
1:22 p.m. — Chris Gotterup, Brooks Koepka
1:33 p.m. — Jason Day, Cameron Young
1:55 p.m. — Haotong Li, Kristoffer Reitan
2:06 p.m. — Wyndham Clark, Tyrrell Hatton
2:17 p.m. — Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood
2:28 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Justin Rose
2:39 p.m. — Rory McIlroy, Sam Burns (final pairing)
The final pairing will be McIlroy and Burns, with Rose and Reed directly ahead of them in the penultimate group at 2:39 p.m.
Where The Leaderboard Stands
McIlroy enters at 12-under par. No player in the history of the Masters has ever held a larger lead at the 36-hole mark. The record is his alone now.
Six shots is the gap separating him from Sam Burns and Patrick Reed, who are both at 6-under. Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, and Tommy Fleetwood are tied at 5-under. Wyndham Clark, Tyrrell Hatton, Haotong Li, Kristoffer Reitan, Jason Day, and Cameron Young are all at 4-under.
Scottie Scheffler sits at 1-under for the tournament after a difficult second round that included water balls at the par-5 13th and at the par-5 15th that feeds into the 16th.
The world No. 1 and two-time Masters champion faces an enormous hill to climb.
He tees off today with Ludvig Åberg at 12:05 p.m., well before the leaders, needing the kind of round that essentially forces the leaderboard to change around him.
How Did Rory McLlroy Get Here?
The short version of Round 2 is this: McIlroy made a bogey at the 10th hole, then played the final seven holes in 6-under with four consecutive birdies to close. He shot 65.
Combined with his opening 67, it gives him 132 for two rounds, a number that has simply not been matched in the first two days of this tournament before by any player.
What makes the lead remarkable is that McIlroy himself acknowledged he did not play cleanly in either round. In Round 1 he hit only five fairways but still shot 67.
He said afterward:
“I think a fair score for me today would have been like 2-under maybe with some of the places I hit it. But again, I used my head and I didn’t compound mistakes.”
Then in Round 2 he recovered from that 10th hole bogey and played with the kind of back-nine efficiency Augusta National demands.
He also knew enough to not celebrate his position heading into the weekend. Anyone who has watched McIlroy’s history at this course knows exactly why.
In 2011 he led after 54 holes with a four-shot cushion, then shot an 8-over 80 on Sunday.
He was 21 years old and it defined a complicated relationship with Augusta National that didn’t resolve until last year’s playoff win over Justin Rose.
He said Friday night:
“I know what can happen around here good and bad. You don’t have to remind me what can happen around this place.”
He is 36 now. He has the green jacket. He is trying to become only the fourth player in Masters history to win consecutive titles, joining Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90), and Tiger Woods (2001-02).
It is a rare accomplishment by any standard, and he is positioned better than any player who has ever attempted it.
Why Chasing The Top Is Difficult At Augusta
A six-shot lead with two rounds remaining at Augusta National is not impregnable. The course has proven throughout the tournament’s history that it can destroy comfortable leads in a single afternoon.
Six shots with 36 holes remaining, and specifically six shots over a field that does not contain a player who has been clearly dominant this week, is a genuine advantage.
Sam Burns is the co-leader at 6-under and plays alongside McIlroy in today’s final pairing.
Burns has five PGA Tour victories but his most recent came in 2023 and he has not won a major championship.
He played solid golf through two rounds with an eagle to open Round 1 and steady scoring after, but whether he has the experience and firepower to close a six-shot gap on McIlroy at Augusta specifically is the central question of the next 36 holes.
Patrick Reed, at 6-under, is one of the more interesting players in the field entering the weekend.
Reed won the Masters in 2018 and knows how to win at Augusta.
He holed a 56-foot eagle putt on the par-5 8th hole in Round 1 and shot a 69 in Round 2. He goes off at 2:39 p.m. today alongside Justin Rose.
Rose’s presence at the top of the leaderboard has an obvious narrative dimension. He is the man McIlroy defeated in a playoff at this tournament last year to complete the career Grand Slam.
Rose finished at -5 for 36 holes and has made the top 10 at the Masters nine times in his career, only Jack Nicklaus has done it more often with fifteen. He has never won.
He goes out at 2:39 p.m. just ahead of McIlroy and Burns.
Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood, both at 5-under, tee off together at 2:17 p.m. They are Ryder Cup teammates and fan favorites, two European players who have not won a major in a while and would both be considered somewhat surprising if they were to be the one to chase McIlroy down.
Tyrrell Hatton shot a 66 in Round 2 and sits at 4-under alongside Wyndham Clark, Hatton at 2:06 p.m. is the player who came the most over the course of Friday and whose Round 3 form is worth watching.
Scheffler’s morning tee time with Åberg sets up a different kind of drama. If Scheffler plays the kind of round he is capable of, and he hit 12 of 14 fairways in Round 1, the best fairway-finding day he had managed in 25 previous Tour rounds this season, he could post a number and put pressure on everyone behind him. But 11 shots is a very large gap to close in 18 holes.
The Two Names Not In This Field
Phil Mickelson withdrew from the Masters before the tournament began due to a family health matter. He was not replaced and did not compete.
Bryson DeChambeau, who held the solo lead on the final day of the 2025 Masters only to watch McIlroy beat Rose in a playoff, shot 4-over in Round 1 and appeared to miss the cut after further struggles in Round 2, needing three shots to escape a greenside bunker at the 11th hole.
His transition back from LIV Golf to a position of Augusta contention did not materialize this week. Jon Rahm, also playing LIV Golf, likewise found himself in trouble.
How To Watch Round 3
The 2026 Masters third round airs on CBS starting at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday. Streaming coverage is available through Masters.com, the Masters app, the ESPN app, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, and CBS Sports Digital beginning much earlier in the morning.
The ESPN app carries featured groups from 10:15 a.m. through 7 p.m. Amen Corner Live streams from 11:45 a.m. through 6 p.m. on the ESPN app.
Featured holes 15 and 16 go from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Weather today at Augusta National is forecast to be mostly sunny and hot with winds of 4-8 mph and a high of 85 degrees.
Round 4, the final round on Sunday, will be broadcast on CBS from 2-7 p.m. ET. McIlroy, assuming his lead holds, will be paired with whoever is in second place and will tee off last on Sunday.
