AUGUSTA, Ga. – This was supposed to be the easy part.

This was the day when Rory McIlroy showed the world that he had buried the ghosts during last year’s raucous celebration at the Masters. That the freedom with which he had moved across Augusta National Golf Club throughout this week was a signal to the rest of the field that things had changed for him around here.

This was to be the point of inflection of what was morphing into a coronation, with the defending champ staked to a six-shot lead and eager to build upon it.

McIlroy may still go on to a historic victory this weekend, but there was one lesson to glean from a raucous third round: Augusta National remains undefeated.

It took all of 20 minutes for McIlroy’s six-shot cushion to winnow down to two. In that span, as murmurs raced through the patrons gathered around the second green while McIlroy trudged downhill in their general direction, three things became clear: the receptive scoring conditions were ripe for some Moving Day motion, the contenders in the chase pack were eager to take full advantage of said conditions, and McIlroy – plain and simple – was searching.

“Didn’t quite have it today,” McIlroy said.

What followed was a turbulent third round for the Ulsterman, a 1-over 73 during which he briefly lost the lead entirely. A pair of late birdies helped him scrape back, but he’ll now need to take down THE PLAYERS champion Cameron Young, with the two tied at the top at 11 under.

Six shots clear of the field 24 hours ago, McIlroy now has a flock of 13 players within that same margin, including five players within three shots of the lead. The green jacket that he seemed keen to keep in his closet is well and truly up for grabs.

“There’s a long way to go,” McIlroy said. “I’m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can’t forget that. But I do know that I’m going to have to be better if I want a chance to win.”

Despite his position on the leaderboard, the stat line for McIlroy is startling: last among the 54 players who made the cut in terms of fairways hit (21 of 42), T47 in greens in regulation on Saturday (10 of 18). The five-time major champ is currently battling through a two-way miss, where his aggressive tee shots are largely drifting right but his miss with the irons on Saturday was left. Nowhere was that more notable than the par-4 11th, where he pushed his tee shot but it bounced back into the fairway, only to yank his approach shot into the water en route to his first double bogey of the week.

Alongside McIlroy in the final pairing will be Young, who seemed like a forgotten man after his first-nine 40 in the opening round. But he’s been on fire since, playing the subsequent 45 holes in 15 under, including a third-round 65, and now has a chance to become the third straight player to chase a THE PLAYERS title with a green jacket the following month.

“You are just constantly aware of the fact that this place can bite you,” Young said. “So to me, it’s just a really, really clear mandate that an easy par is never bad, and if you’re playing that well, you’re going to back your way into some birdies at some point.”

Young successfully endured his bad stretch on Thursday. Perhaps this was a similar crucible for McIlroy. Just as caddie Harry Diamond told McIlroy that they would have taken their position early in the week as they headed out to a playoff last year with Justin Rose, having nearly fumbled away a green jacket, McIlroy similarly would have signed up for the final tee time on Sunday while hosting this week’s champions’ dinner – despite the Saturday slide that spun this tournament on its head.

“I’m in the final group,” McIlroy said. “I just need to go to the range and try to figure it out a little bit.”

True to his word, McIlroy was the last man standing on the tournament practice area Saturday evening. With tournament staff waiting in the wings to begin prepping the pristine turf for one more day of action, he worked through his bag in a 53-ball session – six more practice shots than he hit ahead of his third round.

The last one of the evening, his 100th on the day, was a piercing drive toward the setting sun, a high cut that measured 319 yards. But as the ball landed, he gestured toward Diamond with a couple of exaggerated follow-through options with his hips leading his hands.

“If I can just get my lower body moving through impact,” McIlroy explained earlier, “then that should sort of fix it.”

The precarious timing of his swing remains under construction, and the work is not yet complete. Tomorrow we’ll find out if he’s made enough progress.

Whichever way it goes from here at the 90th Masters, one thing seems for certain: When it comes to Rory McIlroy and Augusta National, it’s never going to be easy.