On Friday at Augusta National, Rory McIlroy was sublime. He made six birdies over his last seven holes to close out a seven-under 65, he opened up a six-shot lead (the largest in tournament history) and many questioned if the green jacket was already clinched.

As golf fans have witnessed so many times before, though, no lead is safe around Augusta National. And on Saturday, they got another reminder.

McIlroy, who is looking to become just the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters, was out of sorts during his third round, posting a one-over 73 to drop back into a tie for the lead with Cameron Young heading into the final round.

“This golf course has a way of — when you’re not quite feeling it, you struggle,” McIlroy said. “I just need to go to the range and try to figure it out a little bit.”

By “it” he, of course, means his swing. Specifically, a pesky left miss with his approach shots into greens.

Several times throughout his third round, McIlroy missed left of the green. And as he made his way through Amen Corner, those left misses cost him three dropped shots as he made double bogey on 11 and bogey on 12.

The good news for McIlroy fans? The left miss he fought is correctable — and he seems to know why it’s happening.

“For me it’s just about keeping my lower body moving,” McIlroy said. “If I can just get my lower body moving through impact, then that should sort of fix it. But I am going to go and hit a few balls on the range to neutralize the ball flight a bit.”

When the lower body slows (or stalls) around impact, your arms and hands take over and close the clubface. This is a miss that plagues everyone from casual recreational players all the way up to green jacket winners, and it’s something that can be round-wrecking if you aren’t careful.

McIlroy’s left miss makes much more sense with the added context of the type of shot he was trying to hit on some of the trouble shots. On Nos. 6 and 12, for example, he noted he was in between clubs and trying to hit a knockdown shot. When trying this three-quarter knockdown type shot, the tendency is for you to stall your turn around impact in a subconscious effort to keep the ball from going long. When you do this, however, the arms and hands take over and produce the pesky left miss.

“I had maybe awkward numbers or trying to take a little bit off and I missed those ones left,” McIlroy said. “So something to maybe go and work on tonight and, again, try to figure that out.”

If he can figure out how to guard against that miss, look for McIlroy to return to his form from the first two rounds and claim a second consecutive green jacket. If he can’t, he’ll be slipping the jacket on one of his competitors come Sunday evening.

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Check in to GOLF’s Tour Confidential every Sunday night for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport. This week, with the Masters at Augusta National, we’ll hit one key topic every night.

We are at the halfway point of the 2026 Masters, and everyone is chasing Rory McIlroy. The defending champ poured in six birdies over his final seven holes to close out his second round, posting a seven-under 65 to open up a six-shot lead. Sam Burns and Patrick Reed are tied in second at six under, while the trio of Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood sit another shot back. There are still 36 holes to play, but McIlroy’s six-shot lead at the halfway mark is the largest in Masters history. Can anyone catch him?

Sean Zak, senior writer (@sean_zak): Absolutely not. Patrick Reed is playing incredible golf. McIlroy got some incredible breaks. Get them in the final pairing on Sunday and anything is in play. That said, I’m definitely afraid that it’s over. I’m considering it. I’m hopeful it’s not because that’s no fun. 

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): Agreed. Long coronations are only fun for the player being crowned. Hard to know which Rory we’ll see, though. Is it going to be the McIlroy who squeezed the life out of the U.S. Open at Congressional and the PGA Championship at Kiawah? Or the Heart Attack Kid of last year at Augusta? My guess is something in between. I expect him to win fairly comfortably in the end, but I also think he’ll make it interesting along the way with a loose, perplexing swing here and there — with some help from the guys chasing him.

Zephyr Melton, associate game-improvement editor (@zephyrmelton): As Rory knows all too well, no lead is safe around Augusta National. A six-shot cushion is great heading into the weekend, but there’s nothing harder than playing with a lead. He’ll now sleep on the lead for the second straight night — and I’d imagine sleep will be hard to come by. These next 36 holes will go a long way in defining Rory’s legacy, a fact I’m sure he is well aware of. Playing with that on his mind will be no easy task.

Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@schrock_and_awe): There’s still a lot of golf to be played, but I do fear that we are another good nine-hole stretch away from this being a coronation. Rory is 90th in driving accuracy out of 91 players in the field and leads by six. He has gotten some breaks but has also been patient, taken his medicine and taken advantage of the bounces when he has gotten them. Patrick Reed and Justin Rose are playing good golf and I would expect one of them to push Rory over the weekend, but we’re on the verge of this thing being over before we get to Sunday.

James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): Nope, definitely not over. In fact, there’s a persuasive argument that the story only just now gets interesting. I’m sorta amazed by how much time is left. If a six-shot lead becomes a three-shot lead tomorrow, nobody will bat an eye … but that’ll make Sunday afternoon tight. Rory isn’t just battling the field now, he’s battling complacency.

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