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Good morning! Squeeze in a Masters nap today.

Moving Day: McIlroy closing in on career Grand Slam

Rory McIlroy enters today in position to win a major. Yes, it’s a familiar story for the Northern Irishman, who hasn’t actually won one in 11 years. But this time feels different.

Today marks the first time he has had the lead entering a final round in a major since the 2014 PGA Championship, his last major win. The ghosts of years past? Nowhere to be found, currently.

He opened yesterday with a 371-yard drive before making an easy birdie putt. Another booming tee shot on No. 2 helped set up a textbook chip-in eagle.

RORY CHIP-IN EAGLE

SOLO LEADER AT THE MASTERS pic.twitter.com/hXie5CA0Hw

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 12, 2025

Same story on No. 3, where he walked in his birdie putt. Again … and again … and again. His six consecutive threes to start his round were a first in Masters history. 

But Bryson DeChambeau would not go away. Yesterday, he carded a third straight sub-70 round, bookending the latest with a pair of birdie putts from outside 40 feet. It calls to mind his final-round duel with McIlroy at the 2024 U.S. Open, the one that slipped away from McIlroy.

Entering today’s final round, McIlroy sits two shots clear of DeChambeau, who’s two ahead of the field. Today, however, will be about McIlroy versus McIlroy.

Anything can happen on Masters Sunday. This feels like McIlroy’s to lose and DeChambeau’s to steal. The duo tees off at 2:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Buckle up.

Chaos: A wild NBA regular season comes to a close

We’ve reached the final day of a season that was largely defined by one of the most confounding trades ever.

Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd even seemed to embrace a comparison to perhaps the only trade the Luka Dončić deal is unlikely to eclipse. “Someone compared it to Babe Ruth, which is kind of cool,” Kidd said after Dončić dropped 45 points days ago in his return to Dallas.

Does that mean Kidd has accepted the Mavericks are the Red Sox in that scenario? The same Red Sox who were then subject to the “Curse of the Bambino” and didn’t win a World Series for 86 years?

It’s still all so incomprehensible. Somehow it feels like the whole NBA has simultaneously lost the plot:

• The Grizzlies, then in fourth place, fired head coach Taylor Jenkins with nine games to play. And then the Nuggets suddenly decided they’d had enough of 2023 championship coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with three (!) games left. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla summed up the current staying power of NBA head coaches: “I wake up every day saying this could be my last day.”
• Months before then, the 76ers created a big three by adding Paul George to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey … and finished 13th in the East. The trio played just 15 games together. George looked like a shell of himself, and Embiid’s MVP days may very well be behind him.
• Speaking of floundering superteams: What in the world happened to the Suns? Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal combined to form the most expensive roster in the league. Yet Phoenix couldn’t even make the Play-In Tournament. The Suns’ future looks bleak.
• And who could forget Jimmy Butler holding the Heat hostage and ending up on the very-much-contending Warriors?

How about the most overlooked storyline in the NBA this regular season? I asked The Bounce’s Zach Harper:

If on the final day of last season, I told you a year from now the 47-win 76ers were going to sign George while the 14-win Pistons were signed Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley, and the Pistons were going to end up with 20 more wins than the Sixers, there’s not a single person who would have believed me.

The sixth-best single-season win improvement in NBA history! Next, entering the playoffs, let’s get to the contenders:

• The defending champion Celtics certainly look poised for a repeat. Reminder: This is more or less the same team that barely broke a sweat en route to Banner 18 a year ago.
• The betting favorite to win the title? The Thunder (+175, per BetMGM), who are 15 (!) games up in a stacked Western Conference and have more wins than any team since the 2016-17 Warriors. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has run away with the MVP race, but do the young Thunder have the experience to win a title?
• The Cavs, the No. 1 seed in the East, almost feel like an afterthought despite winning 64 games. Cleveland would be a sizable underdog to Boston in a potential ECF, but this team is a legit contender.

The Play-In Tournament starts Tuesday. For now, catch up on everything that’s at stake on the last day of the regular season.

News to Know

Tennessee, Iamaleava split after NFL-style holdout

So much for that. Tennessee is moving on from quarterback Nico Iamaleava after a possibly precedent-setting weekend. Iamaleava and his representation had attempted to renegotiate his NIL contract from an estimated $2.2 million toward $4 million. Instead, Iamaleava’s absence from practice Friday forced coach Josh Heupel’s hand. Vols fans, and most of the college football world, seemed to back Heupel’s decision. Did Tennessee’s move make future holdouts less likely? Stay tuned: We’ll have more on what the saga means in our free CFB newsletter.

More news:

What to Watch (Besides Golf)

Formula 1: Bahrain Grand Prix

11 a.m. ET on ESPN2

Last week’s race in Japan was boring, almost everyone agreed. The track layout in Bahrain suggests more action. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is on pole. More from a pre-race mailbag with Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman here.

NBA: Clippers at Warriors

3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

One of two national TV games on the last day of the regular season. The Warriors will be the No. 6 seed with a win. A loss, combined with a Timberwolves win over the Jazz, would send Golden State to the Play-In.

MLB: Cubs at Dodgers

7 p.m. ET on ESPN

The Cubs look good. Kyle Tucker is setting himself up for an MVP run and a big contract next winter. There’s depth behind him, too. The Dodgers are doing what they do (winning), but the Padres and Giants haven’t let them run away with the NL West just yet.

Pulse Picks

Gabby Herzig’s very serious dispatch on the latest Masters fashion trends.

The book “Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco.” — Alex Kirshner

“The Rehearsal” on Max. Season 2 is starting on April 20, and I can’t even begin to explain how ridiculous the first season is. Catch up on the six episodes of Season 1 if you haven’t seen it. I promise, you’ve never seen television like this. — Zach Harper

I started watching “The Studio” because of Zach’s recommendation two weeks ago. Elite TV that also makes me want to bury myself under a blanket while watching. — Chris Branch

An end-of-season list you do not want to be on: Our writers picked every NHL team’s most disappointing player for 2024-25.

I look forward to this addicting Passover treat every year. — Torrey Hart

Basketball twins. My alma mater, Illinois, signed Zvonimir Ivišić — twin brother of Illinois center Tomislav Ivišić. Guess I’ll need to buy matching jerseys for my 2.5-year-old twin boys. — Alex Iniguez

Michael Salfino‘s fun story on how a child conquered one of the greatest challenges for NFL collectors.

When Kenji Lopez-Alt gives detailed breakdowns of highly accessible food and identifies things you wouldn’t. I mean, Popeyes chicken at extreme volume is … better? Who knew?! It’s just great Instagram-ing. — Chris Sprow

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on things announcers can and can’t say at the Masters, again.

Most-read on the website yesterday: The Masters live blog.

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(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)