Scottie Scheffler may never face a more daunting day in his career than what awaits in Sunday’s final round of the 86th Masters, and not just because he built a lead so commanding that failure to close would be an upset (by day’s end, what had been a seven-stroke edge had dwindled to three). Scheffler is 25 years old and the splash he’s made on the PGA Tour—his first three wins coming in his last five starts— is so recent that the ripples haven’t yet settled. Yet a major championship, in particular this major championship, is on a different order of magnitude than any of his previous victories. Tests don’t come any more stern than what lies ahead.
For one of Scheffler’s (admittedly distant) pursuers, however, Sunday won’t constitute the most intimidating test of his mettle, wouldn’t do so even if he held Scheffler’s lead, and wouldn’t represent his greatest win in the event he could overtake a stumbling leader.
Shane Lowry is about as proud an Irishman as has ever touched down in America, devoid of artifice, more comfortable in the precincts of his local Gaelic football club than in stuffy clubhouses amid blue-bloods in black ties. He’s a ferocious competitor, a trait inherited from his father, Brendan, who 40 years ago was part of a team that won the All-Ireland football championship, the national fervor for which makes Masters roars seem muffled by comparison.
