The Masters lives up to the hype

Considering McIlroy was threatening to run away with the tournament after he built a six-shot lead after the second round, the fact that he managed to hold world No. 1 Scottie Sheffler by a stroke says more about the state of golf on the PGA Tour than it does McIlroy’s near choke job.

These guys are really good.

Sheffler entered the weekend at even par. Over the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday, he played 11-under, without a bogey over his final 39 holes. He makes a couple more makable putts, and Sheffler has his third Green Jacket in five years.

But if there is something McIlroy learned during all those years in Tiger Woods’ shadow, it is to be mentally tough during the final round. Woods made a career of simply not being caught. McIlroy wobbled on Sunday, first falling behind playing partner Cameron Young and later finding himself two shots back of sentimental favorite Justin Rose — who McIlroy beat in a playoff last year. Yet he still managed to hit enough good shots down the stretch to earn his sixth major championship.

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You could see the difference between Saturday’s third round and Sunday’s final round. Saturday’s round is arguably the greatest Saturday round of the last 40 years. The third round of a golf tournament is always called “Moving Day” because it is the day that those golfers who want to be in contention put the pedal to metal to set themselves up to win Sunday.

Entering Saturday, nearly everyone had anointed McIlroy as the winner. Funny thing is, no one who matters, namely the rest of the field, felt that way and it showed in the performances.

McIlroy didn’t play bad. He was just 1-over for the day and, instead of dropping back to the field, the rest of the field clawed their way to him.

By the end of the day Saturday, there were nine players within five shots of co-leaders McIlroy and Young.

Sheffler and Young both shot 7-under 65s Saturday. Russell Henley shot a 6-under 66, Tyrell Hatton and Collin Morikawa both shot 68s as 12 of the 54 players shot rounds in the 60s.

But after Saturday’s fireworks show, Sunday turned into a grind. The final round became more about the six inches between the ears than 330-yard drives off the tee. It turned into a “who would make the first mistake” rather than who would jump up and grab the title.

And in the end, McIlroy did his best Woods imitation — he shot even par on Sunday, holding off all challengers, who slowly but surely, fell by the wayside.

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At the very least, the Masters took my focus off the Bay Area teams.

The Golden State Warriors closed the regular season on a three-game losing streak, looking completely uninterested as they had secured a spot into the play-in tournament about two weeks ago.

Golden State fell to the LA Clippers Sunday, 115-110. The two will face off again Wednesday as the 10th-seeded Warriors take on the ninth-seeded Clippers in a play-in game.

Anyone feel good about Golden State beating the Clippers and then the winner of No. 7 Phoenix and No. 7 Portland to make the actual playoffs? I certainly don’t.

But the Warriors, at least, have a puncher’s chase of making the main playoff field. The same can’t be said of the San Jose Sharks, who have responded to playoff hopes by losing three straight must-win games.

The Sharks do have a minuscule chance of making the postseason — which started Monday in a must-win game against the Nashville Predators. But San Jose entered the final three games of the regular season needing to make up five points to catch the LA Kings for the final spot in the West Division playoffs.

I’m not holding my breath.

And then there were the San Francisco Giants, who were showing signs of life after starting the season 3-7. The Giants had their longest winning streak of the season when they beat the Phillies in the final two games of their series before extending it to three in a row after beating Baltimore in the series opener on Friday — which was on Apple TV (a different story for a different time).

But over the weekend, the Giants were outscored 12-5 over the final two games to drop the series and fall to 6-10 on the season, tied with Colorado for last place in the National League West.

At least for the Giants, the bulk of the season is in front of them. For the Warriors and Sharks, very soon the focus will turn to the 2026-27 season.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.