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The Masters, Round 3: Spieth, Watson tied at the top

Published

12 years ago

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The main task on Saturday at Augusta is to move into a reasonable position on the leaderboard for a Sunday, back nine charge. You can’t win the tournament on Saturday, but you can certainly play yourself out of contention. Even the idea of creating comfortable distance from the field is no guarantee, just ask Greg Norman. The point is to reach No. 10 tee on Sunday within earshot of the leaders, then let the chips, or in this case strokes, fall where they may.

Conditions were ideal today from the perspective of the championship committee at Augusta. The sun was out, there was a light breeze whipping through Amen corner and the course was dry. As per usual at the hallowed ground, as the course continued to dry out shots began to drop.

Early fireworks were provided by American bomber Gary Woodland, who went out with a front nine score of 30, and reached the 4-under-par mark before faltering on the way in and finishing at even (T-14) after three rounds. Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez was also creating a stir on Saturday. Starting the day in the middle of the pack at 3-over, Jimenez went on to make seven birdies and one bogey en route to a round of 66, leaving him in a tie for fifth going into Sunday.

2012 Masters Champion Bubba Watson (who started at 7-under) teed off Saturday afternoon with a three-shot lead over Australian John Senden and four shots beyond Texan Jordan Spieth, Sweden’s Jonas Blixt and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn. Watson’s day was a roller coaster ride. After losing a shot at No. 1, he eagled the long par-5, No. 2 to climb to 8-under. Watson then proceeded to bogey three of the next five holes, making his way back to the field. Teeing off on No. 10 he was just one shot clear of Blixt and Bjorn, who struggled coming in to card a 73 (currently T-7th).

Watson’s trouble continued. After making pars on Nos. 11 through 15 (which included missed opportunities after huge drives on the par-5, No. 13 and 15) he bogeyed No. 16, parred No. 17 and made a scrambling par on the No. 18 to finish at 5-under. He will join Jordan Spieth in the final group who is also in the house at 5-under after a third-round 70.

Closely pursuing them tomorrow will be Matt Kuchar (68) and Jonas Blixt (71) at 4-under and one shot back. American Ricky Fowler (67, T-5) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (66, T-5) are two shots back.

Other notables who are well in position to make a move on Masters Sunday are 54-year-old Freddie Couples (73, T-10), Englishmen Lee Westwood (70, T-7) and veteran Jim Furyk (71, T-7). There are 17 players within six shots of the lead. That list also includes defending champion Adam Scott, who is at 1-over and in a tie for 16th.

Bottom line, it’s anybody’s ballgame tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if someone comes out of the pack with a low score to claim the green jacket, or if it will be battle of wills where the most patient player will outlast the field.

I’ll be watching.

TV Times below: CBS 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo will have the call.

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10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Dan

    Apr 13, 2014 at 9:27 am

    If tiger retires sponsorships and ratings will drop. Golf needs entertainment, aka john daly playing well, tiger dominating. While these young guys are incredible players, there not entertaining.

    Reply Report comment

  2. Ponjo

    Apr 13, 2014 at 3:31 am

    How cool would Miguel look with the pony-tail and big cigar in a green jacket. Come on the over 50’s 🙂

    Reply Report comment

  3. KK

    Apr 12, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    Jordan needs to come on GolfWRX and get his driver updated. 150th in total driving does not cut it for such a young guy. 2 hours on the BST will get in into the top 50 in distance and fairways hit, no doubt.

    Reply Report comment

    • Fred

      Apr 13, 2014 at 12:18 am

      Considering the year he had last year, and the fact that he’s in the final group Sunday this year, you might get an argument out of him.

      Reply Report comment

    • Dave

      Apr 13, 2014 at 8:36 am

      What is BST?

      Reply Report comment

  4. Jim

    Apr 12, 2014 at 10:57 pm

    I think if tiger ” retires” golf is in really good hands

    Reply Report comment

    • Fred

      Apr 13, 2014 at 12:16 am

      Yes, but I doubt we’ll ever see any of the new guys win with the consistency of Tiger when he dominated; few if any of them, are playing on that level. look at the list of players who were picked to be possible winners at the Masters this year – many of them went home after the cut. Rory and Adam aren’t playing well; Scott’s putter is till letting him down. Matt’s in contention, but hasn’t been able to close it out the past few weeks. Bubba should have been much further ahead than he is, but got boggie fever. Jordan will be a winner regardless of Sunday’s outcome. Should be interesting to see who wins – perhaps another player who’s not exactly a household name will do it again. Me, I’m pulling for Couples.

      Reply Report comment

    • steve

      Apr 13, 2014 at 8:41 am

      If Tiger retires golf will be in a terrible place. Do you think anyone is going to tune in to watch Spieth? The way they did with Tiger? Golf fans are going to watch the Masters no matter who is winning. But the average fan is not tuning in for it. Tiger is not the normal player. Tiger drew non-golf fans to watch, it was watching history. He can’t be replaced. Tiger is not bigger than golf, but you can’t argue that he brought alot of interest that isn’t there without him. Half the under 25 year olds on tour might not have been here without him making golf be cool

      Reply Report comment

      • Joe

        Apr 13, 2014 at 10:02 am

        If Tiger retired golf would be fine. He’s nothing like the old Tiger. He isn’t going to win another major. Ratings would go up if he played more tournaments. Give Spieth a chance. If he wins today doesn’t that mean he could become what tiger is today? Or better? Out with the old in with the new.

        Reply Report comment

  5. td

    Apr 12, 2014 at 10:10 pm

    Go Bubbba!

    Reply Report comment

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