On Saturday at Augusta National, Scottie Scheffler birdied Hole 18 to finish with a 71 and take a one-shot lead into Sunday's play. At one point on the back nine, Scheffler fell back to four-under, but he managed to eagle Hole 13 and birdie 15. After a bogey on 17, Scheffler put his approach shot on Hole 18 to eight feet, and he nailed the putt to take the overnight lead.
Scheffler's playing partner in the final round will be Collin Morikawa, one of two players who managed to shoot a score in the 60s (Chris Kirk shot a 68 early in the day and enters Sunday at one-over). Morikawa birdied the first three holes, and after that, he bogeyed Hole 6 and birdied 8, but the rest of his round were pars, and his 69 launched him into second place.
Max Homa sits at solo-third at five-under after three rounds, and he was steady all day. He had 17 pars on his day, and the lone blemish was a bogey on 12 after his tee shot went over the green.
Ludvig Aberg, the ninth-ranked player in the world, shot a two-under 70 to place himself in the penultimate pairing with Homa. Aberg sits at four-under going into Sunday, and he actually got to six-under after a birdie on Hole 13, but he bogeyed 14 and 15 to fall back. Aberg is one of two players who have combined for the best overall score over the past two days (Morikawa is tied with Aberg) at five-under, and the Masters rookie has put himself into a position where he could quickly end up being the first rookie to win the tournament since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
Bryson DeChambeau sits in solo-fifth place after three rounds at three-under after shooting a 75, but he still sits in good position going into Sunday. On Hole 18, DeChambeau holed out for birdie from 77 yards after putting his tee shot into the trees on the right side, and it provided some much-needed momentum going into the final round, as he had been four-over in the previous seven holes.
Xander Schauffele, Cameron Davis, and Nicolai Hojgaard are all tied for sixth at two-under. Schauffele shot a two-under 70, the only bogey-free round on the day. Davis shot a 73 after a four-over stretch in four holes on the back nine (Holes 10-13). Hojgaard shot a 74. He had the lead at seven under after 10 holes, but five straight bogeys (Holes 11-15) brought him back to two under.
Four players are at one-under, and all four shot 72s in the third round. Byeong Hun An, Cameron Smith, Cameron Young, and Tommy Fleetwood are all at one under, and Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover, and Adam Schenk are at even par.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, several high-profile names, most notably Tiger Woods, had disappointing days. Woods shot an 82 to fall out of contention, but he didn't hit the ball too badly; it was his putting that did his round in.
Other notable players having bad rounds and falling out of contention were Brooks Koepka, who shot a 76 and finished at six-over, Corey Conners, who also shot a 76 and finished at six-over, and Danny Willett, who shot a 76 and finished at three-over. Ryan Fox birdied the first three holes early on to reach five-under, but he shot nine-over in the last 12 holes to fall back to four-over par for the tournament.
Cover image courtesy of CNN
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