Masters 2025: We dug deep into Rory McIlroy's record when leading after 54 holes. Here's what we found

AUGUSTA, Ga. — You can say Rory McIlroy will be in familiar territory on Sunday when he enters the final round of the 2025 Masters with a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau. His six-under 66 on Saturday started with an amazing six straight 3s pushing him out front. To date in his professional career, the 35-year-old Northern Irishman has been either tied or held the outright lead after 54 holes in 19 previous PGA Tour events. And 11 of those times he has gone ahead to claim victory, accounting for 39 percent of his 28 tour titles.

This also won’t be the first time that McIlroy heads into the final round of a major out front. Six times in major championships McIlroy has been in this situation, including all four times he’s been victorious.

That said, McIlroy has never been atop the leaderboard when trying to close out the career Grand Slam, the large piece of history that looms with 18 holes to play at Augusta National.

Ironically, the first time McIlroy ever held a 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event was at the 2011 Masters, when he was up by four shots starting the final round and still ahead by one when he made his way to the second nine. Of course, we all know what happened next, a stunning back-nine 43 en route to an 80 and a T-15 finish. Surprisingly, perhaps, McIlroy has never led any round at Augusta National since starting that Sunday 14 years ago.

Below you’ll see the complete list of McIlroy’s 54-hole leads, and how he finished those tournaments. Encouragingly, his final-round scoring average with the lead has been 69.79.

But before getting to that list, here’s a breakdown of how he has fared with various types of leads.

Tied for 54-hole lead: won 2 out of 6

Leading by 1: won 4 out of 5

Leading by 2: won 1 out of 2

Leading by 3: won 1 out of 2

Leading by 4: won 1 out of 2

Leading by 5 or more: won 2 out of 2