(Augusta) The 60 players who survived one of the windiest and most grueling days in Masters Tournament history showed up on a course that looked much nicer on Saturday.
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“The weekend will be pleasant,” predicted Phil Mickelson, three-time Masters champion, after avoiding the ax at his 31e participation, Friday. Hopefully there will be opportunities to [concourir pour la victoire]. »
But appearances can sometimes be deceiving.
It was still difficult to make birdies on Saturday, even without the 72 km/h gusts. The greens firmed up and were consequently faster. The location of a few pennants has also left some golfers, including Tiger Woods, speechless.
Scottie Scheffler, who led at 6 under after two rounds with Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa, made a birdie on the first hole. Meanwhile, Woods was in the midst of a collapse on the front nine.
Woods started the day at plus-1 and was par for the day when he showed up at the par-3 sixth. He missed a 5-foot putt for par, then carded doubles bogeys to his card during the next two holes.
Woods carded a 72 on Friday, when the average score was 75.09 — the highest for a second round at the Masters Tournament since 2007 — and avoided the ax for a 24e times in a row.
But despite the encouragement of the spectators, who followed him throughout the course, the 48-year-old athlete saw his chances of putting on a sixth green jacket collapse as he began the back nine.
Fourteen players started the third round with a cumulative under par, and four of them have already won a major tournament: Scheffler, DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith. Morikawa made birdies on the first two holes to quickly position himself at 5 under.