AUGUSTA, Ga. — Phil Mickelson is 40 and Tiger Woods is 35, and both seem old if you watched 21-year-old Rory McIlroy and 23-year-old Jason Day do their thing yesterday at Augusta National.
The two young guns dueled in the final group yesterday with McIlroy getting the best of it, shooting a 2-under-par 70 while Day fashioned an even-par 72. McIlroy of Northern Ireland is at 12-under par to lead the tournament. Day is among a group of four players four strokes behind at 8-under.
“There’s a lot of pressure on us to obviously go out there and score early and try and put some pressure on him so he can make some mistakes, I guess,” Day said. “But he’s very mentally tough. He’s a great golfer, and if he wins this thing, he deserves it, definitely.”
Day and McIlroy were paired together for the third straight day, highlighting the infusion of young players into the game. Still, few expected a 21-year-old and 23-year-old to be so competitive so soon in a major championship.
“It’s a bright future obviously,” Day said. “There’s a lot of good solid young players coming up, and it seems every year they are getting younger. It just show how strong golf is worldwide instead of just [being] pretty strong on the American circuit.”
Day began the day two strokes behind McIlroy, but actually held the lead after three birdies over the first five holes put him at 11-under. But bogeys at the 6th and 7th stalled his momentum. A bogey at the par-5 13th, where he sailed his second shot off the green left and was short on his chip up, was especially costly. He would have another three-putt bogey at the par-3 16th.