The stage is set for a Hollywood ending at Augusta – but who will be the Masters’ leading man?

Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau will square up at Augusta National, with the winner almost certain to end the day wearing the Green Jacket. For now, writes Rob Jerram, they will be preparing in very different ways.

“It will be the grandest stage that we’ve had in a long time, and I’m excited for it.”  

Bryson DeChambeau is beaming after his third-round 69 left him two shots back of Rory McIlroy after moving day at Augusta.  

“It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.” 

DeChambeau will ready himself for the spotlight with an all-action approach. A late-night range session to work on some concerns with his iron play, followed by a James Bond movie – Pierce Brosnan era, he specifies – as he scrolls his phone. There may be little time for that, though. 

“It’s based on my feels, or if the sun is telling me I can’t go anymore,” when asked how long he’d practice for. As we write this, at 8.20pm, the sun has long set. But he is still bashing balls not 500 yards in front of us under the glow of floodlights. 

But what about burnout? Not discounting practice chips and putts, the American action hero has hit approaching 1,500 shots already and exerted huge energy in his wild celebrations with the patrons. 

“I’ve done this a few times now, and I know when my limit is,” he says. “Definitely the most important thing is going back and relaxing and having a fun, enjoyable night. You know, just hanging out with my friends and family, and just being myself. When I’m more of myself, I feel like I can keep going no matter what. It’s the times where you have to put on a face or do something or whatever that you don’t feel like you can keep going. So for me, the more I can just be myself, the longer I can go.” 

McIlroy’s approach will be somewhat different.  

No range balls, no action, and the phone will remain untouched until tomorrow night. Instead, he’ll settle down for an episode of Bridgerton – he and wife Erica are onto season three, episode two – if he can stay awake. The Northern Irishman slept through the first episode on Friday night as he recovered for the third part of this week’s story. He’ll prepare for the fourth and final episode with another Disney movie with daughter Poppy on Sunday morning. 

“These are busy weeks, and by the time I get home and get dinner and shower, it’s either a toss-up between a show or a book. I think right now I’d just rather watch the show.  

“I watched a little bit of Premier League football this morning, and then I watched Zootopia with Poppy. Very, very good movie if anyone’s interested.” 

After what we presume will be Zootopia 2 if McIlroy has his way, the four-time major champion will head to the course, three and a half hours before his 2.30pm showdown with his adversary.  

“I feel like that three hours goes really, really quickly. It’s just that trying to fill that time between 7 and 10.30 before heading to the golf course.”  

Thank goodness for Disney+. 

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Inevitably, in the wake of an Oscar-worthy 66 that leaves him with a two-shot lead heading into the final round, McIlroy faced questions about his collapse here in 2011. Back then a seemingly inevitable finale to a fairytale quickly turned into a horror show as McIlroy blew a four-shot lead with a back-nine collapse. Then there was the other missed opportunity in 2018, when Captain America Patrick Reed stole the show and ruined the perfect ending. 

More recently, it was America’s new hero who ensured a tearjerker for McIlroy. His powers weakened late in the final round of the US Open at Pinehurst and he could only watch on as his latest foe stole the scene.  

It’s something the two haven’t spoken about. History dictates that it’ll be one of them who wins on Sunday – not since Danny Willett in 2016 has a player outside the top two going into the final round slipped on the Green Jacket. History also tells us that players outside the top five after the first round don’t go on to win the Green Jacket. DeChambeau was tied 5th on Thursday evening. McIlroy was tied 27th.  

While McIlroy has been escaping with a John Grisham novel this week, it’s unlikely he’ll read too much into those statistics. Instead, he’ll focus on staying in character as those who’ve bought a ticket to the show get carried away with the unfolding drama. 

“It’s amazing to have the support. These patrons and these galleries are a pleasure to play in front of, each and every year we come back. Tomorrow in that final group is going to be a little rowdy and a little loud. I’m just going to have to settle in and really try to keep myself in my own little bubble and keep my head down and approach tomorrow with the same attitude that I have tried to approach the last three days.” 

Of course, it’s easy to forget there are understudies if either of the leading cast fluff their lines. Corey Conners, who bounced back brilliantly from two bogeys in three holes on the front nine on Saturday to post a two-under 70, is two back of DeChambeau and four behind McIlroy on 8-under. Reed, DeChambeau’s LIV colleague and the man who broke McIlroy’s heart in 2018, is two more back after a Saturday 69, alongside last year’s runner-up and golf’s newest heartthrob Ludvig Aberg. The Swede recovered from bogeys on the 1st and 4th to match Reed’s three-under score.  

It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened at Augusta. All we know for certain is that come 7pm tomorrow, when the curtain closes, only one will be left on the stage. Let’s just hope it’s a happy ending.