Scottie Scheffler steady at top of Masters leaderboard; Tiger Woods has worst Augusta round
The third round of the Masters Tournament is supposed to be moving day.
The idea is to go low, move up the leaderboard and put yourself in position for a run at the green jacket on Sunday. That’s exactly what two-time major champion Collin Morikawa did.
Morikawa was the only one to challenge second-round co-leader Scottie Scheffler, who held steady with a 1-under-par 71 that included a birdie on No. 18.
Morikawa, who won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2022 British Open, is one shot off the lead of the battle-tested Scheffler, who is going after his second green jacket in three years.
The pair, who are both 27 years old, will go off in the final pairing today at 2:35 p.m.
“It’s going to be a grind and I’m looking forward to it,” Morikawa said.
The players who couldn’t make a charge, but still stayed within striking distance, were Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau, the co-leaders with Scheffler after 36 holes.
Homa went from 67-71 in the first two rounds to 73 on Saturday and is two shots off the lead.
DeChambeau needed an spectacular birdie on the 18th – holing out from 77 yards after having to chip out of the right trees on his second shot – to shoot 75. He’s four shots off the lead.
One shot ahead of DeChambeau is rookie Ludvig Aberg, who was tied for the lead at one point on the second nine. He shot 70 and is fourth place, three shots off the lead. Only three players have won the Masters in their first appearance, the last being Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
Also still in the mix is Xander Schauffele, who has won about everything but a major championship. He shot 70 and is five back.
Scheffler, who opened with 66-72, is at 7-under 209. The last time a Masters winner finished in single digits under par was 2017, when Sergio Garcia won with 9-under 279.
The wind was down Saturday, but a dried-out Augusta National was still a bear. Only Morikawa and Chris Kirk (68 for 217) managed to break 70. The scoring average was 74.300, compared with 75.079 on Friday, which was the highest single-round average since a 75.719 in the third round of 2016.
“It’s very challenging. It’s a major championship,” Scheffler said. “I don’t think Augusta National wants their golf course to be easy.”
It certainly wasn’t easy for five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods. After rounds of 73-72 he had 82, his highest score in this tournament by four shots.
After putting days of 29 and 27, he needed his putter 34 times Saturday. And after hitting 11 fairways in both of the first two rounds, he hit just five Saturday.
“The fact is I was not hitting it very good or putting well,” Woods said. “I didn't have a very good warmup session, and I kept it going all day today. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn't hit it. And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makable putts. I missed a lot of them.”
Because of what he called “ridiculously fast and firm greens” and difficult pin positions, Scheffler struggled until he got to the par-5 13th hole. He was 2 over for his round but hit the green in two shots and rolled in a 31-foot eagle putt.
He showed some rare emotion after it hit the bottom of the cup.
“That putt on 13 was nice because it was trickling up towards the cup,” Scheffler said. “I didn't know whether or not it was going to get there, and it kind of just nudged right over the edge and went in. So it was exciting, and it was nice to be able to steal a couple shots there on 13 and get back in the tournament.”
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Masters 2024: Scottie Scheffler 18 holes away from second green jacket
