A shock stumble from world No.1 Scottie Scheffler has kept this year’s Masters wide open, while Australians Cameron Smith and Cam Davis remain firmly in contention.
Tiger Woods is not, however, dramatically imploding with his worst-ever round at Augusta, a 10-over 82 that saw him tumble well down the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, the pace had been set by Scheffler who led by one shot at the turn, but a double bogey at No.10 after a missed three-foot putt, followed by a bogey at No.11, saw him fall back to four-under.
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He was replaced at the top of the leaderboard by Danish bolter Nicolai Hojgaard, who was seven-under after 10 holes.
He also slipped to fall back into a four-way share with Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg.
Bryson DeChambeau was at five-under after 11 holes, while Davis and Smith were lurking at two-under.
Smith has refused to go away in a bogeyless round after 14 holes, while Davis was briefly among the top five after three birdies on the front nine.
He, however, suffered the same fate as Scheffler moments before the world No.1 by making a double-bogey, bogey start to his back nine.
Day talks through “tough” conditions | 02:28
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TIGER’S MASTERS DREAM TURNS TO NIGHTMARE AFTER WORST-NINE 42
Tiger Woods saw his dream of a record-tying sixth Masters victory collapse in Saturday’s third round of the Masters after the worst nine holes of his career in 99 rounds at Augusta National.
A day after setting a record by making the cut in his 24th consecutive Masters, the 48-year-old legend struggled and showed signs of his difficulty walking rounds since suffering severe leg injuries in a 2021 car crash.
Woods had declared himself in with a chance of taking a sixth green jacket to match the record of Jack Nicklaus after 36 holes.
“I’m here. I have a chance to win the golf tournament,” Woods said Friday. “I’m only eight back.” Five-time Masters champion Woods had rounds of one-over 73 and par 72 to stand on one-over 145 for 36 holes and had just made a birdie at the fifth following a bogey at the par-3 fourth when disaster struck.
Woods finished Saturday’s front nine bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey for a front-nine 42, his worst nine-hole score on either the inward or outward halves of the famed layout.
The 15-time major winner went over the green at the par-3 sixth then missed a five-foot par putt and made bogey.
At the par-4 seventh, Woods smacked his tee shots into trees to the right, then blasted his second into woods on the left side of the hole and sent his third into a greenside bunker before pitching out and missing an 18-foot bogey putt.
It was his first double-bogey of the week, but only a sign of the trouble to come.
Woods then came to the par-5 eighth, the easiest hole of the week at Augusta National that had never inflicted a double-bogey on any player even in Friday’s swirling winds.
Woods pulled his tee shot into trees left of the fairway, then blasted out to the short grass. He needed two more from there to reach the green and then missed both a 26-foot par putt and a four-footer for bogey.
Battling his form, Woods found a greenside bunker at the ninth, pitched out to nine feet but then missed his par putt for another bogey.
ROUND 3 PREVIEW
Australian Cameron Davis remains in contention at the Masters after heavy winds at Augusta National on Saturday left the world’s finest golfers struggling to make par on a day of high scoring.
Davis enters Sunday just three shots off the halfway lead in a share for fifth alongside Colin Morikawa while Cameron Smith is also still in the frame, recording a 71 to sit inside the top eight at one-under.
It followed a wind-swept second day which saw Tiger Woods face a mini-sandstorm at the 18th green while at one point Gary Woodland was about to putt before his ball blew away.
“It’s a different direction for the wind, so the holes play completely differently. Completely different plan for each hole when it’s like that,” Davis said.
The top round of the day was a three-under 69 from Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg with only one the trio of co-leaders, Max Homa, getting below par with his one-under 71.
Homa, at six-under, has a share of the lead heading into Sunday alongside American duo Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.
Jose Maria Olazabal, Masters champion in 1994 and 1999, said he doesn’t think “it gets any tougher” than what players have and will continue to face this weekend.
“I mean, you really don’t know where the wind is coming from, what the wind is doing. Some of the times you are guessing how the ball is going to react up in the air,” he said.
That is a point that Davis echoed, describing the conditions as “really unpredictable”.
“Even if you do have good control of your golf ball, if your wind read was wrong, right now you’re missing the green,” he said.
“Right now it’s fluky. If the wind dies down a little bit, I feel like everyone has a little more control, which we all appreciate. We also know, if you’re able to grind out a good score in conditions like that, it’s good work.”
Davis and Smith will be the two leading Australians to watch on Sunday, although Jason Day and Min Woo Lee also made the cut after finishing Saturday at four-over and a tie for 35th.
Adam Scott, meanwhile, just scraped in at six-over.
TEE TIMES (AEST)
11.35pm: Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama
11.45pm: Thorbjorn Olesen, Russell Henley
11.55pm: Jose Maria Olazabal, Luke List
12.05am: Tom Kim, Jake Knapp
12.15am: Si Woo Kim, Adam Scott
12.25am: Jon Rahm, Grayson Murray
12.35am: Chris Kirk, Tony Finau
12.45am: J.T. Poston, Keegan Bradley
12.55am: Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas
1.05am: Joaquin Niemann, Min Woo Lee
1.25am: Sahith Theegala, Phil Mickelson
1.35am: Adam Hadwin, Jason Day
1.45am: Denny McCarthy, Vijay Singh
1.55am: Erik van Rooyen, Will Zalatoris
2.05am: Akshay Bhatia, Shane Lowry
2.15am: Patrick Cantlay, Neal Shipley
2.25am: Corey Conners, Harris English
2.35am: Brooks Koepka, Taylor Moore
2.45am: Tiger Woods, Tyrrell Hatton
2.55am: Xander Schauffele, Eric Cole
3.15am: Sepp Straka, Matt Fitzpatrick
3.25am: Kurt Kitayama, Lucas Glover
3.35am: Adam Schenk, Patrick Reed
3.45am: Byeong Hun An, Cameron Smith
3.55am: Danny Willett, Ryan Fox
4.05am: Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood
4.15am: Ludvig Aberg, Matthieu Pavon
4.25am: Cameron Davis, Collin Morikawa
4.35am: Scottie Scheffler, Nicolai Hojgaard
4.45am: Max Homa, Bryson DeChambeau
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