Sawt Falasteen - Magisterial McIlroy leads midway through Masters third round

Trailing overnight leader Justin Rose by two to start the day, McIlroy needed just two holes to catapult himself past Rose and Bryson DeChambeau -- who tied Rose at eight-under with a birdie at the first.

Rose and DeChambeau were just finishing up on the first green when McIlroy chipped in from 18 yards out at the par-five second.

McIlroy, tied with Canadian Corey Conners to start the day, had taken advantage of a monster drive at the first, where he rolled in a 10-foot putt to secure a birdie.

McIlroy kept the magic flowing with a seven-foot birdie putt at the third. After a two-putt par at the par-three fourth, he drilled an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-four fifth.

He two-putted for par at the par-three sixth to put a sixth straight three on his card.

That run ended at the par-four seventh, where he was deep in the trees off the tee and muscled a mighty second shot 152 yards to the left of the green, from where he got up and down for par.

McIlroy became the first player in Masters history with threes on the first six holes.

McIlroy just missed the Masters record of seven consecutive threes in a round -- set by Jodie Mudd in 1987 -- but he led by as many as four before his first bogey of the day at the par-five eighth -- where his tee shot landed in the face of a fairway bunker.

It was McIlroy's first dropped shot since a double bogey on 17 on Thursday. He missed a golden chance to regain the stroke when his five-foot birdie attempt at the ninth slid by on the left.

But McIlroy, who can become just the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam with a Masters win on Sunday, was two ahead of DeChambeau as he headed into the back nine.

McIlroy said before the round he would try to keep his eyes off the leaderboard and focus on the task at hand.

- Don't force the issue -

"It's the same mindset today, go out there, take care of what I'm doing, don't look around," he said. "Just letting the score come to me, not trying to force the issue too much."

Reigning US Open champion DeChambeau rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt at the first, and two-putted for eagle at the second.

Afer bogeys at the third and seventh -- where he couldn't get a 14-foot par putt to drop -- DeChambeau birdied the eighth, tapping in after missing his long eagle attempt.

Rose, seeking a second major title 13 years after his US Open triumph, struggled to get anything going. He missed a nine-foot birdie chance at the second and three-putted for bogey at the fourth. After a bogey at the seventh he finally nabbed his first birdie of the day at the eighth.

That moved him to seven-under, tied with Conners, who was one-over for the day through six holes but closed the front nine with back-to-back birdies.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, was grinding through the front nine.

Scheffler birdied the second, but the world number one was scrambling at almost every hole and dropped a shot at the seventh -- where he was in the rough off the tee and in a greenside bunker from there.

He was five-under through 10 and needing to make something happen to put himself in position to join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-to-back Masters titles.

K.AbuTaha--SF-PST