Masters 2015: Tee times, pairings for Sunday’s final round

As far as major championship tee sheets go, it does not get any better than this. We knew on Saturday afternoon -- one of the best third rounds at the Masters or any other tournament in recent memory -- that the group of chasers making a run at Jordan Spieth were among the biggest names in the game. But the way the draw fell, the combination of scores and who got into the clubhouse first, set up an amazing set of tee times for the final round of the Masters.

The headline pairing that will suck up most of the oxygen and have larger galleries than even the final twosome is Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. The Nike stablemates have played major championship rounds together in the past, but Sunday afternoon at the Masters is the pinnacle. And they technically have a chance to play their way into contention from the third-to-last group. At 6-under, they have a 10-shot gap to close so they will need a Rory-2011-type Masters collapse from the leader Jordan Spieth.

From what we’ve seen since Friday afternoon, both Woods and McIlroy are definitely capable of putting the pressure on Spieth early. That Tiger’s able to is obviously a much bigger surprise, given that we didn’t even know if he would tee it up just over a week ago. But there Tiger was on Saturday, posting an outward 32 that could have been much better. The 32 featured multiple missed birdie putts from inside 10 feet and no real miraculous saves to avoid a bogey. After the round, Woods sounded slightly frustrated, saying it could have been “really, really special.”

McIlroy was right there with Tiger on the front nine too, posting an eagle at the second hole and rolling to his own 4-under 32. If either, or both, start going low like that on Sunday and get to double-digits under par by the turn, the place may burn down.

In between the Tiger/Rory tee time and Spieth is the 2:40 p.m. time of Phil Mickelson and Charley Hoffman. Mickelson has a much more realistic chance of chasing down Spieth. He’s just five shots back as opposed to the 10-shot hole of Tiger and Rory. We’ve seen Phil make those kind of runs at Augusta before. He matched the low round of the day on Saturday, 5-under 67 that could have easily been a shot or two lower if not for a couple stumbles coming into the house. While he hasn’t been the mess that Tiger has, Phil has been a below-average golfer for much of the past year. He popped up at the PGA to contend there, but he’s been a non-factor otherwise and has admitted he’s been “terrible.” After missing the Masters cut for the first time since 1997 last year, it’s good to have Phil back in the hunt late on Sunday. He’s probably the guy Spieth is most worried about tomorrow.

A two-shot swing on the 18th hole Saturday flipped Spieth’s playing partner for the final round. While Mickelson burned the edge on a makable birdie putt, Justin Rose, coming up a group behind him, bombed one in from the back of the green to earn that spot along Spieth. Rose is a major champion with world-class talent, but he’d not been in form, at all, coming into this week. The ball striking has always been there, however, and he’s definitely an imposing figure for Spieth. They will get it started at 2:50 p.m. ET.

Here’s the full tee sheet for Sunday at Augusta: