AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler needed something special over the final two days to rally at the Masters.
This was certainly a start.
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Scottie Scheffler gives his club to his caddie on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler walks to his ball on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler walks to green on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler reacts after missing a putt on the third hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Scheffler matched this week's lowest score at Augusta National by shooting a 7-under 65 on Saturday as the field closed the gap on Rory McIlroy. By the time the day was over, McIlroy's six-stroke advantage was gone and he was tied for first with Cameron Young. Scheffler, who had been a dozen strokes off the lead after 36 holes, had pulled within four.
His round could have been even better, but Scheffler didn't want to hear that when asked a question to that effect.
“That’s just a terrible question,” he said. “Next question. Awful.”
Scheffler's 31 was the best front nine of his seven Masters appearances, which include two victories. After adding another birdie on No. 11, the world No. 1 had cut his 12-stroke deficit behind McIlroy in half. But he made only one birdie the rest of the way.
“I guess to answer your question — it wasn’t maybe that bad — but it definitely could have been lower,” Scheffler said. “But like I said, I did what I needed to do. Went out and executed to give myself some opportunities, and more of that tomorrow, and I think I’ll be in a good spot.”
McIlroy shot 65 on Friday to move to 12 under par, with a record six-shot lead through 36 holes over Patrick Reed and Sam Burns. Scheffler was 12 back at even par, but then he knocked his second shot to 6 feet on the par-5 second and eagled it.
His approach shots Saturday were clinical, even if he didn't always convert his opportunities on the green. Scheffler missed a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 3, then made par after hitting his tee shot into a bunker on the par-4 fifth.
He finished the front nine with birdies on Nos. 7, 8 and 9. His second shot on the par-4 ninth — from 160 yards — rolled off the lip of the hole.
Scheffler continued to give himself chances on the back. He had birdie putts from 8 feet on No. 11, 18 feet on the 12th hole, 15 feet on the 13th and 13 feet on the 14th — but only one of those went in. His birdie putt from just off the green on No. 15 stopped maybe one ball length from dropping.
“I hit it really nice today. I felt like I was very sharp with the irons,” he said. “Got it up there. Gave myself a lot of opportunities. I felt like I took advantage of those on the front nine, and then back nine I did a lot of good things. Was really, really close to seeing a lot go in.”
Finally, Scheffler made one more birdie on the par-3 16th before missing an 8-footer for birdie on the 17th. His tee shot on the final hole wound up near a tree and some bushes, but he still ended up with a tap-in par.
A great round — but perhaps not great enough. Scheffler is within four shots of the lead, but he's in a tie for seventh.
Scheffler is 2 over on Nos. 13 and 15 — the two par 5s on the back nine. McIlroy is 5 under and Young is 4 under on those holes. Young shot 65 as well Saturday.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Scottie Scheffler gives his club to his caddie on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler walks to his ball on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler walks to green on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler reacts after missing a putt on the third hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Sunday is the final day of the NBA regular season, and here's a full listing of all the playoff and postseason matchups that have been decided.
— None.
There are 10 teams that are locked into specific seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences, there are 10 other teams that know their seasons will end on Sunday and 10 more still have some level of uncertainty going into the final day of the six-month grind that precedes the NBA postseason.
By the end of Sunday, four first-round series matchups — those starting next weekend — will be known, as will the first four play-in tournament matchups that will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We're just excited to be in this situation,” said Atlanta coach Quin Snyder, whose Hawks are playoff-bound — but don't know if they'll be the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the East, so they obviously don't know their first-round matchup either.
“Whoever we play is going to be really good," Snyder said. “It's hard to even try to figure that out. It's possible that certain teams want to play us. ... We don't know what's going to happen. It's hard to predict all these games that are going on. Wherever it falls is how it falls.”
No team needs to win on Sunday to extend its season. There are 10 teams eliminated from postseason contention who all know Game 82 is the end of the road. But for the other 20 teams, there will be an 83rd game, either in the play-in this coming week or in the playoffs that start next weekend.
That doesn't mean those 20 teams all have nothing to play for Sunday. There are seeds to grab, and in some cases, a team could essentially manipulate how their side of the bracket sorts itself out. If San Antonio beats Denver, for example, the Spurs would assure themselves of not having to face Oklahoma City or the Nuggets until the Western Conference finals.
A Nuggets loss would mean LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers — provided they beat Utah on Sunday — would finish as the West's No. 3 seed.
“I’m sure everybody wants to play us," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "Let’s get that out there — everybody wants to play us. There are probably teams that are in a position where they can start looking forward to potential second-round matchups as well.”
— Seeds clinched: Detroit (East 1), Oklahoma City (West 1), Boston (East 2), San Antonio (West 2), New York (East 3), Cleveland (East 4), Houston (West 5), Minnesota (West 6), Phoenix (West 7 for play-in), Golden State (West 10 for play-in).
— Playoff-bound, seed still TBA: Denver (3 or 4 in West), Los Angeles Lakers (3 or 4 in West), Atlanta (5 or 6 in East).
— Playoff or play-in bound: Toronto, Orlando, Philadelphia.
— Play-in bound, seed still TBA: Los Angeles Clippers, Portland, Charlotte, Miami.
— Season ends Sunday: Milwaukee, Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, Sacramento, Utah, Brooklyn, Indiana, Washington.
All the major statistical titles have been decided, barring the most mathematically improbable events of all-time happening on Sunday.
— Scoring: Luka Doncic of the Lakers (33.5 per game) will win, unless something happens like Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 194 points on Sunday. Gilgeous-Alexander isn't playing.
— Rebounding: Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets (12.9 per game) will win, unless something happens like New York's Karl-Anthony Towns grabbing at least 95 rebounds on Sunday.
— Assists: Jokic (10.9 per game) will win, unless something happens like Detroit's Cade Cunningham getting at least 77 assists on Sunday.
— Blocked shots: Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs (3.1 per game) will win, unless something happens like Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren blocking at least 85 shots on Sunday.
(So, yes, it's safe to assume those races have been decided.)
Doncic won't play Sunday for the Lakers, meaning he'll fall short of the 65-game rule for award eligibility, and Jokic needs to play Sunday to hit that number. That means it's actually possible the NBA scoring, rebound and assist champions will all be ineligible to appear on the ballots that will decide the All-NBA teams, MVP and other major awards.
For the record, Jokic is officially 50-50 to play. The Nuggets listed him as questionable on the injury report that was released Saturday, while announcing that many of their other top players — like Jamal Murray — are being held out for various reasons.
There were no fewer than 168 players officially ruled out of Friday's games, and it'll likely be a similar number ruled out of Sunday's games.
Among the highlights (or lowlights, depending on perspective):
— Oklahoma City, with nothing to play for, is sitting its starters for a second straight game.
— New York is sitting Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and more, and probably won't play Mikal Bridges for too long after he extends his every-game-of-his-career playing streak.
— Giannis Antetokounmpo has been ruled out by Milwaukee for its finale, and an eventful offseason awaits for the Bucks.
— Boston, with No. 2 in the East secured, is resting most of its regular rotation. Same goes for Cleveland, which has No. 4 secured.
— Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson are among the players who Houston will rest Sunday. The Rockets are locked into No. 5 in the West. Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle are out for No. 6 Minnesota, and Devin Booker is among those ruled out by West No. 7 Phoenix.
The teams with the three worst records are set: Washington will be worst, with Indiana and Brooklyn second- and third-worst in some order. That means those three teams will have the best odds — 14% each — of winning the No. 1 pick in next month's draft lottery.
And Washington can't finish lower than fifth in the lottery.
Utah and Sacramento would both see draft-lottery benefits from losses on Sunday — especially the Jazz, who could assure themselves of keeping a pick that would be guaranteed to be in the top eight.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick gestures during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder speaks in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
