McIlroy, Morikawa hole back-to-back chip ins at Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. — As Scottie Scheffler cruised around the back nine with one arm in the green jacket, up ahead Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa were making magic on 18.

McIlroy spent most of the day carding birdies that saw him shoot up the leaderboard from +1 at the start of the day to 6-under by the time he got to 18. Surprisingly, he proved to be Scheffler's closest challenger, but still needed every birdie he could get. Alas, when he hit his tee shot on 18 into the fairway bunker, and then his second into a greenside bunker, birdie was out of the equation. Until ...

Morikawa, McIlroy's playing partner on Sunday who also made a mini-run, had also found himself in the same bunker. Moments after McIlroy drained his sand shot, Morikawa did this ...

For McIlroy, the birdie completed an 8-under 64, the lowest round of the tournament. More importantly, it brought him within three strokes (at the time) of Scheffler. Probably not enough to catch him, but good enough for second place.