Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler holds a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Masters, with two Australians still in contention as the action at August draws towards a close.
Five Americans sit inside the top six on the leaderboard, with Collin Morikawa just one stroke off Scheffler after deciding to switch to a different punter before the second round.
That gamble certainly paid dividends as Morikawa shot a three-under 69 on Sunday to move ahead of Max Homa (-5), Ludvig Åberg (-4), Bryson DeChambeau (-3) and Xander Schauffele (-2).
Schauffele is level at two-under alongside Cam Davis, who has been Australia’s leading contender all weekend after his opening three-under-par 69 in the opening round.
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Fellow Australian Cameron Smith, whose Masters preparation was disrupted by a bout of food poisoning, also remains in the hunt after a second straight round of even par 72.
It puts the 2022 British Open champion in a tie for ninth and six shots off the lead.
Speaking ahead of the final round, Davis — who recorded two birdies early on Sunday before dropping four shots after the turn — said he was “pretty proud” to walk away at one-over for the day.
“It was playing tough, but I feel pretty proud walking away with 1-over after a few, it felt like, disasters while I was out there,” he said.
Davis had remained pretty composed the entire weekend, not looking to get too far ahead of himself or place any extra focus on who is ahead of him on the leaderboard.
That was the case once again when Davis was asked if he had any message to send home to any Australians tuning in on Monday morning to see if he can challenge the frontrunners.
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“I’m trying my hardest. It’s hard out there, but I’m giving it everything I’ve got,” he said.
“I feel like today I wasn’t laying up, and I was giving it a good crack. Tomorrow hopefully we’ll make the right decisions in the moments and come away with a round that’s as good as we can make it. I’m trying, but it would be awesome to have a great day tomorrow.”
Smith, meanwhile, said he feels “probably the best” he has in a while when it comes to his ball striking ahead of the final round.
“I think I’m still in the golf tournament,” he said.
“… It’s only one or two their way and one or two my way, and it’s really close. Just got to keep grinding it out.”
With that in mind, Smith said he is not going to make the mistake of going out with an attacking mentality to try make up ground quickly.
“I mean, you can’t at the moment,” he said.
“If you start playing the golf course that way, I can see where that heads. I’ve been down that road before.
“I’d like to think I’m a pretty smart golfer. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing, hitting it to 15, 20 feet, and hopefully they go in tomorrow.”
Adam Scott (+4, T26), Min Woo Lee (+7, T41) and Jason Day (+8, T45) will be the first Australians to tee off before Smith and Davis at 3.55am and 4.05am AEST respectively.
FINAL ROUND TEE TIMES (AEST)
11.15pm: Adam Hadwin, Vijay Singh
11.25pm: Jake Knapp, Grayson Murray
11.35pm: Neal Shipley (a), Tiger Woods
11.45pm: Tom Kim, Denny McCarthy
11.55pm: Kurt Kitayama, Thorbjørn Olesen
12.05am: Erik van Rooyen, Eric Cole
12.15am: José María Olazábal, Camilo Villegas
12.25am: Russell Henley, JASON DAY
12.35am: Keegan Bradley, MIN WOO LEE
12.45am: Si Woo Kim, J. T. Poston
1.05am: Corey Conners, Brooks Koepka
1.15am: Phil Mickelson, Shane Lowry
1.25am: Taylor Moore, Sahith Theegala
1.35am: Akshay Bhatia, Harris English
1.45am: Jon Rahm, Tony Finau
1.55am: Hideki Matsuyama, Luke List
2.05am: Ryan Fox, Rickie Fowler
2.25am: Danny Willett, ADAM SCOTT
2.35am: Will Zalatoris, Tyrrell Hatton
2.45am: Rory McIlroy, Joaquín Niemann
2.55am: Matthieu Pavon, Sepp Straka
3.05am: Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Reed
3.15am: Adam Schenk, Chris Kirk
3.25am: Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover
3.45am: Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood
3.55am: Byeong Hun An, CAM SMITH
4.05am: CAM DAVIS, Nicolai Højgaard
4.15am: Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele
4.25am: Max Homa, Ludvig Åberg
4.35am: Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa
TOP 10 LEADERBOARD
1. Scottie Scheffler -7
2. Collin Morikawa -6
3. Max Homa -5
4. Ludvig Aberg -4
5. Bryson DeChambeau -3
T6. Cam Davis, Nicolai Hojgaard, Xander Schauffele -2
T9. CAmeron Young, Tommy Fleetwood, Byeong Hun An, Cameron Smith -1
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