Historic hole-in-one stuns Masters as Rory McIlroy 'unravels', Australia's Jason Day surges

Shane Lowry became the first player with two career holes-in-one at the Masters, adding one on Sunday (AEST) at the sixth hole during his third round at Augusta National to the ace he made on the 16th during the final round of the 2016 tournament.

Playing with Tommy Fleetwood, the former British Open champion hit a 7-iron from 190 yards and watched the ball hop three times before disappearing into the cup (watch the video above). His celebration was a near-carbon copy of the way he celebrated his other ace a decade ago.

It was Lowry's second ace in as many events. He had a hole-in-one on the second at Memorial Park during the Houston Open.

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As for the Masters, it was the first hole-in-one since Stewart Cink's on the 16th in 2022. And it was just the seventh ace to happen on the difficult sixth hole, the last coming from Corey Conners during the 2021 tournament.

Anyone who makes a hole-in-one during the Masters is rewarded with a crystal bowl.

Lowry has a rapidly growing list of aces at some of golf's iconic venues.

Along with his two at Augusta National, and his recent one in Houston, the Irishman has aced the 17th at TPC Sawgrass - the famed island green - and the seventh at Pebble Beach.

"You don't ever expect to make a hole-in-one. I just couldn't believe it," Lowry said.

"Obviously, you know, you're out here, and you're in the hunt at the Masters, and you're making a hole-in-one - it's pretty cool. Maybe I'm just good. I don't know."

Lowry was -9 after his round and in fourth place behind co-leaders Rory McIlroyand Cameron Young (-11).

An erratic McIlroy stumbled badly on 'moving day' - with a rollercoaster round of 73 - and briefly lost the lead outright to Young before composing himself somewhat. American Young - the world No.3 - shot a scintillating 65.

McIlroy had started the day with a six shot lead. Australia's Jason Day also surged up the leaderboard with a round of 68 to sit equal fifth at -8.

Day has Englishman Justin Rose for company at that score with one round to play. American Sam Burns sits third at -10 after 17 holes. McIlroy's driver let him down badly again.

"The long game has unravelled even more for him today," 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman said in commentary.

"You can't be relying on your short game and putting for four days in a row with this amount of intensity and pressure."

With one stunning development after another, the Masters went from a one-man show to a wide open race for the green jacket.

"Didn't quite have it today," McIlroy said before going off to the range to figure out what went wrong. He is last in the field in driving accuracy among the 54 players who made the cut.

"There's a lot of guys in with a chance tomorrow. I'm still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can't forget that," he said.

"But I do know I'm going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win."

Scottie Scheffler is even in the mix. The world's No. 1 player started the day 12 shots behind but shot a dazzling 65 to move within four of the lead.

"I don't feel like I'm out of the tournament," Scheffler said.

Day, meanwhile, is happy to be chaser as he goes into the final round with a real chance of becoming only the second Australian to win a green jacket.

"I feel like the guys that are leading right now have all the pressure," Day said.

"I'm the chaser. Usually the chasers don't really have a lot of the pressure. Guys at the top of the leaderboard always are trying to defend the lead, whereas I'm pushing forward trying to cut into the lead.

"I feel good about my game. I feel very happy with where things are. I'm looking forward to the challenge at least.

"If I can get myself around the lead on the back side, I'll be very pleased."

Day's back nine surge came at the same time as McIlroy was running into trouble, finding the water with his approach to the 11th, leading to a double-bogey before he dropped another shot at the 12th.

"You've just got to try and get yourself the opportunity on the back side," Day said of the final round.

"If you can get somewhere close to the lead on the back side, anything can happen.

"The goal is to try and cut into the lead tomorrow through nine, and if I can do that, great, then get myself somewhere near the lead on the back side and try and give myself opportunities."