2025 Masters: It's the best-case scenario, Rory vs. Bryson for a green jacket
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Trail Podcast with Rex and Lav. And on this occasion, I'm going to give Bryson DeChambeau the first word who just told us this in the press building here on Saturday night at Augusta National. Quote,

It'll be the grandest stage we've had in a long time. That, of course, is because it'll be Roy McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau in the final group Sunday at the Masters. You guys know what's at stake. Roy McIlroy now just 18 holes away from completing the career Grand Slam. Bryson DeChambeau.

trying to notch his third career major victory and do so a year after outdoing Roy McRoy at the U.S. Open. Rex, are you as jazzed about this Sunday at the Masters as I am? I'm as jazzed as you and apparently Bryson DeChambeau. I think when you look at the context of

of this. I don't understand how we can be so lucky to get this gift from the golf gods, because it would be one thing if you had Rory doing what he was trying to do, go on the Mount Rushmore of golf, win the career grand slam here at Augusta. That would be awesome. That would be special. That would be something we were looking forward to. But now you add sort of the subtext narrative of Bryson DeChambeau and what happened last year at Pinehurst. And I do think it was fun listening to Bryson's interview when he was asked, well, have you two really talked since Pinehurst? And it was

No, not really. So it's clear that it's not a bad relationship, but I would probably call it frosty. It will be fun for a lot of different reasons, as I just pointed out. But probably the one thing I'm looking forward to is if you strip all of that away, it's just the style of play.

I mean, they both play such compelling games and they play it differently and they use a lot of power. And then there's some, you know, there's going to be so much on the line tomorrow. I don't know. You could have come up with a better scenario if you'd have put me on the line. If you'd have told me, give me your best case scenario earlier this week. I don't know if I would have come up with that.

Oh, this is absolutely the best case scenario for golf. You have Roy McIlroy on the cusp of becoming the sixth player in the modern era to complete the career Grand Slam versus Bryce Nishambo, who, as we have documented on this podcast over the past 18 months, has completely reinvented himself, reimagined his entire image for the world of golf. He is a beloved figure at Augusta National, but oh yeah, so is Roy McIlroy. And fans want to see history, patrons on site,

Want to see history? Most certainly it is. It is the best case scenario for golf. If the ratings are not through the roof for Sunday, like golf might be broken. Let's go down Rex to what happened on Saturday at Augusta national. We'll start with Roy McElroy. We shot a second consecutive 66, did something historic yesterday.

six threes to begin his third round. The first time that has ever been done in Masters history. What impressed you most with what Roy McIlroy did in the third round? Well, the six threes. That's pretty impressive to start out the way he did. And we sort of talked the idea of how he rebounded from Thursday and played such a clean round of golf. Played such a textbook round of golf on Friday. And he kind of dismissed the idea that it's tough to back up a good round of golf. And he sort of

scrunch his eyes and goes, I'm 66. It was okay. Like, come on. Like under those conditions, it was going to be an excellent round of golf. Probably the thing that stood out the most to me. And I, I wanted to talk to Corey Connors who, uh, if anyone was watching, you probably did not know as he was paired with Corey Connors on Saturday. You probably didn't see Corey Connors a lot for a lot of different reasons, but Corey also was paired with Rory on Sunday at the players just about a month ago. And I asked Corey specifically like when he is in full flight,

What do you what impresses you the most? And I thought Corey Connors was just going to start doing a checklist. Like what does it like his power, the way he played the par fives, his patience, his poise, everything he does on the golf course. And he gave me probably the one thing that stood out that he said that I think it's something to watch tomorrow is he knows the right shot for the right moment.

and the 15th hole being the primary example of that. Today, it was kind of a pivotal moment. If you sort of looked at the way that hole could have played out, certainly based on the way Rory played the hole on Thursday when he made a very, very ugly, very, very sloppy double bogey, we could have ended up with a tie ball game going from

That great start to now all of a sudden he's tied for the lead again. And instead, he just put the hammer down. He hit a seven iron to about six feet, makes the eagle putt, gets to 12 under. And it looks like it was over at that point. And it isn't. I mean, I think tomorrow will be interesting because of those two elements going into the final round. But it's all of those things combined is why you need to look at Roy McIlroy as just not the prohibitive favorite.

But I think at this point, you don't hand out a green jacket on a Saturday, but he's got one arm in the sleeve. I mean, I thought it was over on two separate occasions. Yeah.

in this opening round. Including Thursday. Including on Thursday, but in particular on Saturday when Roy busted out to a four-shot lead. I believe it was after the seventh hole. Had an amazing up and down left of that green. I think that was an underrated shot in this to sustain the momentum. Then ends up getting just one shot ahead as he got through Amon Corner and then put his foot down once again with, as you mentioned, that eagle. To me, what really stood out in this third round was Roy's play on the par fives. And I thought he had an interesting...

revelation in his press conference saying that he could tell on the range that he had a little bit extra firepower.

saying that he was hitting it three to four miles an hour faster with his ball speed than he had been all week long. That told him I can clear the bunker no problem on one. That told him I can clear the bunker no problem on two. That put him sort of on his front foot and able to be much more aggressive. We saw that with hitting a wedge into one and making birdie. We saw that on two, really flagging his approach, goes a little bit long, chips in for the eagle. Three, he's 60 yards short of the green.

Yeah, I mean, it was a ball-striking display off the tee, hitting at 340 on average over the first five holes. He clearly had that extra firepower. But if Roy McIlroy goes on and wins this Masters, it's going to be because of par-5 play. That has been historically the recipe for success, just as it was for Tiger Woods and his five Masters titles. It is going to be for Roy McIlroy this week as well. Eight under par on the par-5s. He played them in what?

uh, four under par today that included a bogey, uh, disappointingly after a tee shot that found the bunker, uh, on eight, but the Eagle on to, uh, the Eagle on 15 as well. He has played the 13th hole better than any of the contenders. He has, he has taken on that sort of momentous decision and pulled it off. Each of the three rounds did it again, hitting into the back right corner and getting up and down for birdie. What do you think Rex, uh,

Rory is thinking at this point. Remember, in 2011, he had that four-shot lead. Ended up blowing it with a final round 80, finished in a tie for 15th. Why will it be different this time? Make the case for Rory. I can guarantee you he's not thinking about 2011. And my guess is he's not thinking about...

Sure. And my guess is he's not thinking about his history in this event at all. And he's not thinking about the idea that I've been trying to complete the career Grand Slam for a decade and I've come up short. That doesn't seem to be his mindset. I think it's perfectly fair to say that he and Dr. Bob Rotella have come up with some sort of formula. My guess is it's if he wants to start the third episode of what was it, season two of Bridgerton? Yeah.

Was it what he said he was going to sort of dig into or is he going to read? I forget what book he was reading this week. The Reckoning by John Grisham. Who can forget? Yes, thank you. I appreciate that. All of those things. It seems like he's staying away from this phone. He's doing all the right things. Like you can't sit here and we had a conversation. I think it was about a week ago.

about all of the things that Roy has done to try to play his absolute best golf for this tournament. He's played the week before. He's played two weeks before. He's played San Antonio. He's come up for scouting trips. He hasn't come up for scouting trips. He's played more on the West Coast. He's played less on the West Coast. Like, all of the things that he's tried to figure out, the winning formula, and now he's put himself in this position. I think...

And it was, I don't know how you felt, as exciting as it is. And the buzz around property right now was palpable as we were watching that final group come in. Those two, and I'll even put Bryson in this category, they look bored. They look like they couldn't have been more disinterested with the idea. I don't want to talk to the press. I don't want to talk about this. I just want to go. I want to go do my business. I want to go to bed. I want to wake up.

I want to get ready for another round of golf. I know it's all a cliche. I know it's a smoke screen. I know they're moving a million miles an hour inside, but you have to agree. Both of those press conference were, were yawners.

But I think that is by design. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think they want to feed and give this oxygen because they know it's going to be an absolute circus on Sunday. You and I, this is the only tournament all year in which we are not inside the ropes. We're not going to be able to say a single shot. We're still going to try. We're not going to see a single shot. It's going to be a madhouse. We're going to be 10, 15 deep on every single tee, every single fairway, every single green. I think that's the way it should be. I know that he does not have the four-shot lead that he had in 2011, but I think, Rex, you could actually make the argument that

this is actually Roy's best chance to win a major. Look at the Masters. Look at all of the factors that are coalescing right now. He is blowing the field away from a strokes gain T-degree perspective. No one is even remotely close. You look at the skills in his game that he has that he didn't have 14 years ago, the scrambling ability, the putting ability now that he's linked to

with Brad Faxon has certainly been comfortable there over the last five or six years is the best putting season of Roy McIlroy's career. The messages that he's been getting from Bob Rotella, the resilience, the patience, the adversity that he has overcome just this master's week. There is, there is nothing,

that Roy McIlroy should believe could stand in his way from winning this green jacket. If he plays like he has been playing over the past two days in particular, and I think, you know, really for 75% of the round on Thursday as well, I think it's easy to forget just how well he was playing one of the best major rounds that we've seen him play in quite some time. I mean, if he can just keep himself, uh,

in his bubble and not get too far ahead of himself and execute the shot, shot by shot, as he has done again for the past two and a half days. Like this is his green jacket. Everything in his world is coalescing to a point that he should win. But yet I still think there's some doubt. And that of course is because of Bryson DeChambeau. What did you see from the beefy bomber on Saturday?

I was amazed how much patience he has. I mean, I don't know that I would ever look. There's a lot of ways I would describe Bryson DeChambeau as the mad scientist, as a power player, as someone, the eternal tinkerer. Like, I can keep doing this forever. Stop me when you're done. The one thing I wouldn't say is he's a patient player. Like, he's going to go out and take what the golf course gave him. And I feel like that's been the MO for the first three rounds.

where I haven't seen him necessarily make a bad mistake. He certainly had bad swings. He's put himself in bad situations. But I've never sort of second-guessed like we did with Rory on Thursday on 15 and 17. Those were bad decisions that he made on those two holes. We haven't seen that from Bryson. So this is, and I think the way you put it to start the podcast, a resurgent Bryson. This is a new Bryson. He still has all of those same elements that come with the DNA of the Mad Scientist,

but he seems to have a much better head on his shoulders when it comes to, I can't press this. It's Augusta National. It won't allow me to do anything that, that,

that others won't be able to follow, I guess is the way I would put it, until you get to the second nine on Sunday. Now, that's all bets are off. And as I'm glancing up, I'm actually in the media center doing the podcast tonight. As I'm glancing up and looking at the range, he's still down there pounding balls. Like, it's been his M.O. all week long. He's searching for answers. He's trying to narrow everything down. I think he's in a really good place. And as you pointed out, two strokes is not that big of a gap.

gap when it comes to this golf course. I mean, Bryson has played incredibly well for clearly not doing the one thing that we thought that you have to do well at this golf course, which is iron play. He is tied for 43rd in greens hit throughout the week. If you look at sort of from a strokes gain perspective, I mean, he's 47th in strokes gained approach. You had to go outside the top 20 on the leaderboard to find someone.

we all know that approach play iron play is by far the biggest determiner for success at the masters. And yet Bryson is doing it differently. Yes. He's, he's taking advantage on occasion of his big blast, but he is leading the field by far around the greens. His scrambling has been incredible. I think he sort of had this reputation, right? Where he didn't sort of no rigid around the greens. You know, if he gets into sort of thick and tall rough, he was unable to handle that on really tightly moaned,

and with really fast sloping greens as he had at Pinehurst at well like

He's as good as anyone in the world in those sort of situations. He's had a number of great sand shots to maintain momentum as he did again in the third round, but he has to improve Rex, his iron play. If he's going to put pressure on Roy McIlroy, he has to take advantage. He has to be more dialed. That is why he's blogging the hours here on Saturday at Augusta national. Who do you think benefits from that environment?

On Sunday, Roy Mack with a two shot lead, Bryce Nishambo trying to sort of relish the energy and the opportunity.

I think Bryson, because he proved last year at Pinehurst, I think he enjoys the madness a little bit more than Rory probably does. And Rory sort of voiced that a little bit tonight when he was asked about how do you balance the act between you have to stay calm, like you still have to play golf, and you don't really do that when you're high-fiving people and jumping around. And he understands. Like, I want to ride the momentum. I love having the patrons behind me, but I have to find a balance. Bryson seems to come to that balance a little bit easier. I did want to ask.

Because you and I both were standing in the scoring area, essentially right behind the clubhouse, when both groups finished up. And when Rory finished up, I mean, it was a madhouse. I mean, the crowd was going crazy. And I thought to myself, he's going to be the favorite tomorrow. Like, it's going to be a weird situation where the Northern Irishman is going to be the favorite at the Masters. I kind of had to second guess that. Because when Bryson came in, again, you and I were sort of standing next to each other. Then it really went nuts.

And I'm really curious to see what the dynamic is going to be like with the patrons almost as much as I am between the players. Yeah, I think the energy is going to be off the charts. I was wondering, would Roy benefit from playing with a Bryson DeChambeau in the final group or would he benefit more from playing with like a Corey Connors? And I've gone back and forth on this. I actually think it benefits Roy to be with Bryson. I've long held the belief that Roy plays his best with an edge, right?

when he feels like he has something to prove, when he can be the alpha, when he can be strutting around. Based on what has happened over the past 11 years, based on what happened last year at the U.S. Open, based on what has happened so far over three days at Augusta National, I think Roy McIlroy is keen and eager to sort of reassert himself and tell people, I'm that dude. You may have doubted me. There may be some skeptics about my closing ability.

I am that dude and I'm going to prove it. He can have the fan support. You know, he can have the theatrics. It certainly seems a little bit contrived at times what Bryson is trying to do to rile up the crowd. I think I think Rory is going to have, as our friend Paul McGinley says, the pointy elbows and sort of edge out in front and make sure that this is Rory's show on on Sunday.

I'll add to that. You're right. If you make it between Corey Connors and Bryson DeChambeau, he's going to pick Bryson DeChambeau. I thought you were going to say Bryson DeChambeau and Shane Lowry. He would pick Shane Lowry 10 out of 10 times. But yes, I agree with you. OK, Rex, it is time now for Moving Forever Forward presented by Workday. Give me your winner and why with Sunday at the Masters.

This is the humblest of brags. I picked him early in the week. And as I've said numerous times, there was no bass in my voice when I did it. Obviously, I have a lot more bass in my voice when it comes to it for the reasons, ironically, that I picked him early in the week. Everything that is led up to this is pointing in the direction that

This 10 years of coming up short and heartbreak and loss and everything that's happened to him at Augusta National seems to be all culminating on a Sunday afternoon, this Sunday afternoon, with a green jacket and all the history that comes with that. And he hasn't done anything to prove me wrong. I mean, we can sit here and talk about it.

15 and 17 on Thursday as much as we want. But the fact of the matter is the other 52 holes have been almost flawless. Like certainly he's hit his share of bad shots, but he has found a way to do the right things to make sure I'm missing in the right spots, to make sure I'm giving myself an opportunity to always make par.

I think Bryson is going to give him a run for his money. This is not going to be a blowout, even though there was times on Saturday when it looked like it was. But this seems to be Rory's moment. And I would have a harder time sitting here trying to argue why it's not his time than I would why it is his time. Yeah, as I mentioned, I think all of the factors are working in his favor. He's clearly hitting the ball better.

Right now, I think he's at a point in his life now where he's he's more well-rounded and is able to handle the losses. Like, I don't think there's anything that could happen on Sunday at Augusta National that would throw him for a loop or throw him off his game. There's there's confidence now that even if he does hit a poor shot, he has a short game to bail him out. When I think earlier in his career, that wasn't going to be the case. I don't think you can discount the energy that is going to exist today.

in that final pairing and wanting to be that alpha, to be the man on the stage, to sort of seize what I think he's long felt should be rightfully his. And so I think it is going to be an absolutely epic conclusion to this Masters. I cannot wait. I said I had butterflies leading into this third round. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to sleep.

on Saturday night because I think it is going to be one of the best masters that we've had in recent memory. Plenty more on the Rory Bryson duel over on NBC sports.com slash golf. You and I Rex will be on the show for the full masters recap on Sunday night, live on YouTube. And of course going up on Monday, 9am and 11am Eastern time on golf channel. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support.

Talk to you guys on Sunday night. Enjoy the final round of 89 Masters. In the Champions League quarterfinals, every decisive moment gives you goosebumps. I get those goosebumps every time. Arsenal has been ruthless. The UEFA Champions League quarterfinals stream every match live exclusively on Paramount+. The kids are still at practice and I have no idea what's for dinner. You can get a rotisserie chicken and two sides for just $15 in as fast as an hour with Walmart Express delivery. Who said that?

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