How Brian Harman’s low round Saturday at Masters gave hope to those chasing McIlroy
The challengers — if that’s the correct term for those six or seven strokes behind — could dream of at least slicing into Rory McIlroy’s lead in Saturday’s third round of the 90th Masters. But they really needed reason to hope.
Brian Harman came to their rescue.
Teeing off early and finishing before the lead groups teed off for their third trip around Augusta National’s treasured course, Harman fired a 5-under-par 67 and illustrated low scores are possible.
And, providing another ray of sunshine to the posse, he said, “I don’t suppose a 67 is going to end up being the low round today, if I had to guess.”
That Harman found himself in position to meet with the media early Saturday afternoon is remarkable itself. After all, he stood at 10-over-par for the tournament after four holes of Friday’s second round.
“I believe in myself,” he said. And he followed with a golfer’s familiar refrain, “I know (good golf) is always just right around the corner.”
In his case, that meant playing his final 14 holes Friday in 6-under par to make the cut on the number, 4-under par. He followed with Saturday’s sizzling round at heads into Sunday at 1-under-par 215.
“I was frustrated that my golf tournament was pretty much over,” he said of his feeling early in Friday’s round. “But I have played some great golf since then, you know. The golf tournament just started a day too early for me.”
Illustrating the challenge the late starters face and also showing how well he played, he said the course conditions had not changed — still firm and fast — but with tougher pin placements Saturday.
“I hit some good shots,” said Harman, a former University of Georgia star who won the 2023 Open Championship. “(Conditions are) just kind of a razor’s edge around here. ... If you are right on, you can let a lot of shots right next to the hole, but if you’re not, you’re going to hit some spots that you can’t get up and down from.”
McIlroy showed how quickly fortunes can change Friday with birdies on six of the final seven holes to expand his lead. Harman did the same, first negatively and then coming on like gangbusters.
“The first day for the first three holes, I didn’t miss a shot,” he said. “Those 2-unders should have been 3. Then I get up on four and pull it into the woods, and it just sort of put me on my heels. I was just a little off after that” and he finished round one at 7-over 79.
The difference?
“I’ve hit the ball much better,” Harman said. “It just hasn’t quite been as sharp this year as I would like. The last couple of days, I’ve finally started to hit some good iron shots.
“I’ve been in position a lot. The first day, I mis-hit a couple irons that let led to bogeys instead of birdies. If I hit good shots, there’s no telling how that round gets turned around, but got to hit the ball solid around here. That’s what’s so interesting about this place. There’s just no faking it. Very rarely do you get away with mis-hitting a shot.”
Harman’s plan provided hope. Who would execute it?
This story was originally published April 11, 2026 at 4:10 PM with the headline "How Brian Harman’s low round Saturday at Masters gave hope to those chasing McIlroy."