Masters
Masters 2025: Rory vs. Bryson could join these final-round showdowns among Augusta's all-time greatest
Bryson DeChambeau congratulates winner Jon Rahm after the 2023 Masters.
Erick W. Rasco
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It can be said without equivocation: The final round of the 2025 Masters will be among the most anticipated of the 89 editions of the tournament. It likely is to be among the most-watched Sundays. Rarely does golf get head-to-head matchups that rank with the greatest of prize fights or Wimbledon finals, but we've got one at Augusta National Golf Club.
Rory vs. Bryson. Two men who are easily recognized in the game by only their first names will tee off together on Sunday afternoon for the first time in a major, with Rory McIlroy leading Bryson DeChambeau by two strokes as each vies to win his first Masters.
The layers of this showdown are almost too deep to fathom: McIlroy is trying to join only five other players in completing the career Grand Slam after so many heartbreaks over the previous 10 years, the biggest coming in the U.S. Open last year at Pinehurst, when the Ulsterman three-putted the 72nd hole and watch DeChambeau clip him by one stroke. DeChambeau, ever seeking public adoration while being among the most polarizing figures the sport has ever seen, has a chance to further cement his legacy with a third major victory.
They are outwardly two very different men with very fervent fan bases, and, oh, by the way, there is the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf sub-plot, featuring two of the most outspoken players from each camp.
While McIlroy demurred in his CBS interview on Saturday by saying of the showdown, “I think the big thing is not to make it a rematch,” DeChambeau seemed in his press conference to fully embrace the potential for a monumental shootout. “It will be the grandest stage that we've had in a long time, and I'm excited for it. We both want to win really, really badly. … In regard to the patrons, it's going to be an electric atmosphere.”
All of that said, there have been some memorable final-pairing matchups over the past 40-plus years: Woosnam vs. Watson, Bubba Watson vs. Spieth, Woods vs. DiMarco, Garcia vs. Rose, and just two years ago, Rahm vs. Koepka.
As we relish the anticipation of McIlroy vs. DeChambeau, we look back on duels that we hope these two can live up to.
2023: Brooks Koepka/Jon Rahm
In a battle between three players who defected to LIV Golf, with Rahm and Koepka in the last group and Phil Mickelson trailing by 10 when Sunday began. Koepka took a two-shot lead into the final round. But the four-time major winner stumbled to a 75, and Rahm was excellent in shooting 69 to beat Koepka by three shots. Mickelson charged into third with a 65.
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2018: Patrick Reed/Rory McIlroy
In the last time McIlroy played in the final pairing, he trailed Reed by three shots after the leader opened with three rounds in the 60s. The gallery clearly was trying to will McIlroy to a win, but his putter let him down, including a four-foot miss for eagle at No. 2 and four other misses from inside six feet. McIlroy shot 74, while Reed scored 71 and beat Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth by one shot.
2017: Sergio Garcia/Justin Rose
Harry How
The former European Ryder Cup teammates, both trying to win their first Masters, put on a fantastic show, trading punches on the back nine. The drama included Garcia scoring eagle at 15 to tie, only to see Rose birdie 16 and Garcia miss a three-footer, so that the Englishman took the lead again. But Rose bogeyed 17, and they would go to a playoff, where Rose drove into the trees, all but handing Garcia his first major title of any kind in 74 tries.
2014: Bubba Watson/Jordan Spieth
Spieth, in his first Masters, and Watson, the champion two years earlier, are among the most entertaining players of their era, so high theater was expected. Tied at the outset, Spieth birdied the second and Watson bogeyed the third to afford the Texan a two-shot lead. But back-to-back two-shot swings at 8 and 9 gave Watson the lead that he never gave up, and the Georgian’s 69 was good for a two-shot win over Spieth and Jonas Blixt.
2005: Tiger Woods/Chris DiMarco
Fred Vuich
Nearly every golf fan remembers Woods’ birdie chip-in on the 16th that hung on the lip for a beat, but fewer recall that even with that miracle shot, the World No. 1 was forced to a playoff by his playing partner for the day, unsung Chris DiMarco. The journeyman did the unthinkable, catching Woods with a Sunday 68—six shots better than he scored the day before. After the chip-in, Woods shockingly came back to DiMarco with bogeys on 17 and 18. DiMarco’s birdie chip in regulation caught the edge of the cup on the 72nd hole, and Woods put him away on the first playoff hole, at 18, with a birdie for his fourth Masters title.
2002: Tiger Woods/Retief Goosen
Goosen was never Mr. Excitement, but he was a smooth-swinging devil, and this was a showdown between the reigning Masters champ (Woods) and U.S. Open titles (Goosen). They were tied at the outset, with Woods playing for a sizeable piece of history, and it ended up not being a fair fight. Woods scored 71 to beat Goosen by three and become only the third golfer (Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo) to capture back-to-back green jackets.
1992: Fred Couples/Raymond Floyd
Augusta National
This one had a great storyline: Couples, 32 years old and the World No. 1, paired on Sunday with 49-year-old Floyd, an elder whom the younger man idolized. Floyd, who was bidding to surpass Jack Nicklaus as the oldest Masters champ, had won only a month before at Doral, beating Couples. Playing in the penultimate pairing after the third round bled over into Sunday, they dueled through Amen Corner, with Couples getting the incredible break of his too-short tee shot hanging on the bank. He saved par and Floyd made birdie, and Couples went on to a two-shot win for his only major title.
1991: Ian Woosnam/Tom Watson
At 41, Watson opened the tournament with back-to-back 68s and put himself in position to get into the final pairing with Woosnam, the wee Welshman who was No. 1 in the world at the time. They battled all of that Sunday and were joined by Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal—the trio tied as they played the 72nd hole in consecutive groups. It was Woosnam who would prevail for his only major title when par was good enough after Olazabal made bogey and Watson double bogeyed.
1989: Nick Faldo/Scott Hoch/Ben Crenshaw
The last pairing was Hoch and Crenshaw, and they were still at the top heading into the 72nd hole, but had company in Faldo, who had rallied with a 65 after he shot 77 the day before. In driving rain, Crenshaw bogeyed the 18th to miss the playoff—as did Greg Norman—and Hoch all but handed Faldo his first green jacket when he missed a two-foot putt on the first playoff hole. Faldo birdied the second extra hole, raising his hands in a memorable pose.
