AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fifty-four golfers made the cut at this 87th Masters. Only two have a chance to win it.
Brooks Koepka (-13) and Jon Rahm (-9) are the only golfers in the tournament better than 6 under entering play Sunday. They’ll have 30 holes over which to wage one of the most anticipated brawls at a major championship over the last several years.
Koepka has been nearly flawless so far this week. He made one bogey in the first round and hasn’t posted a miscue since. He started Saturday’s third round with a two-stroke lead and proceeded to extend it to four over the next two hours of play despite making just one birdie.
The four-time major champion looks intent not only on winning a fifth but making it inevitable.
Rahm has not been quite as flawless as Koepka — he has four bogeys and a double this week — but he is easily within striking distance at just four back. He also had the advantage at the par-4 7th hole when play was blown dead Saturday at 3:15 p.m. ET. Once action resumes Sunday morning, Koepka will have 11 feet for par, while Rahm has a 9-footer for birdie.
The lead could be cut to two with 29 holes to go.
This week — and in some ways, this last year — has been building to a skirmish between two of the best players of this (and possibly any) generation. The PGA Tour-LIV Golf storyline is obvious, but Sunday’s duel is about far more than whose league has the most recent major champion.
Koepka has his eyes on a fifth major championship and three-quarters of the career grand slam. Only 19 golfers have ever won five majors and only 12 have done so since World War II. There is some real history at stake on Sunday for the oft-ailing Koepka.
“The whole goal is to win the grand slam,” said Koepka this week. “I feel like all the greats have won here, and they have all won British Opens as well. Look, I guess it’s one more box for me to tick to truly feel like I’ve done what I should have accomplished in this game.”
There is a personal expectation from both men that is rare in professional golf. Not only do both Koepka and Rahm anticipate being three-, four- or five-time major champions, they believe it’s going to happen.
A green jacket would put Rahm in some exclusive company, too. Only 17 golfers have ever won a Masters and U.S. Open. He would have both by age 28, which would be a more proper representation of the fact that he has been the best player in the world over the last seven years.
It’s rare a two-horse race like this unfolds at majors championships. So often there are five, six, seven or more golfers who could win a tournament going into the final day. That’s compelling, of course, because it feels as if anything could happen.
But with respect to amateur Sam Bennett (-6) as well as Patrick Cantlay, Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland (-5), anything can’t happen Sunday. Not with the margin Koepka and Rahm have built on the field. Not with two grand champions so far out in front.
It’s even more rare that both golfers involved in a head-to-head final battle are such tremendous winners. The 2016 Open Championship obviously comes to mind. One eventual six-time champion (Phil Mickelson) and one of the best ball-strikers of his generation (Henrik Stenson), the latter of whom went on to win, duked it out at Royal Troon. Mickelson finished 11 clear of the field, and Stenson beat him by three.
Koepka and Rahm likely won’t reach those heights, but it’s possible they could.
After a rain shortened Saturday, Rick Gehman and Greg DuCharme break down a wet and cold day from Augusta National at the 2023 Masters. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Regardless of the final scores, what we will get Sunday at Augusta National — two of what I believe will eventually be the 25 best players of all time playing heads up for a Masters title — is a Halley’s comet in golf. It’s also a much anticipated ending to what has been a strange week full of myriad delays, stars exiting stage left and even a handful of pine trees toppling near the 17th tee box.
What we will get is a pair of stubborn, prideful superstars battling one another, Augusta National and themselves for 30 straight holes on a Sunday. Two of the thickest, most powerful men in the game — both of whom have a stature that belies their delicate hands — clashing at the place where history matters most.
So, while a bizarre few days have been difficult to internalize and comprehend, the end result is all we could want: Koepka vs. Rahm, two titans with a combined five majors and 36 professional wins overall, each looking to add another of those little green Wikipedia boxes that seem so small but mean so much.
On the first tee Saturday afternoon, Koepka and Rahm clasped their massive right hands together as the final group in Round 3 was nearly underway. The message was clear. This week and this tournament will only be decided when one of them — and nobody else — chooses to let go. The other man will then be free to use his hands to write a new chapter of history and then slip them through the sleeves of a very famous jacket.