One horse race becomes anything but as Masters Sunday looms
Rory McIlroy expresses frustration behind the 12th green – image The Masters Tournament
Augusta National has today proved once again that there is no such thing as a safe lead on a golf course where there is such a fine line between pleasure and pain.
Beginning the day six shots ahead of the field and in a seemingly unassailable position, Rory McIlroy’s lead was cut to just two after the opening hole following his own bogey and the three consecutive birdies to start for American Patrick Reed.
After driving the par 4 3rd hole McIlory appeared to settle the nerves and extended his lead to three but as he headed to the 10th tee, after completing the opening nine holes, his lead was just one over Cam Young. He would move three ahead however when he birdied the 10th and Young, playing several groups ahead bogeted the 15th but things would take a dramatic turn when McIlory found the water at the 11th and took double bogey anwas then long with his tee shot at the 12th and dropped another shot.
At that point, Young, who had birdied the 16th from 20 feet, moved one ahead and when McIlory struggled to make par at the 13th, Young appeared as if he might hold a 54 hole lead. McIlroy then birdied the 14th from 15 deet and the 15th after finding the green with a superb 7 iron appraoch and he was ahead again before he agin found the trees form the tee at the 17th and took bogey.
A par at the last completed a round of 73 for McIlroy and he and Young, the current Players Champion, were tied in the lead at 11 under, one clear of Sam Burns.
Another shot back at 9 under is Shane Lowry, whose round of 68 included a hole in one at the 6th to go with other such performances at the 16th on this same course in 2016, the 7th at Pebble Beach and the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy appeared shaken early in his round but despite a rather ordinary display of driving he managed to keep himself very much in contention to defend his title but he knows things need to improve tomorrow.
“Yeah, didn’t quite have it today. Yeah, even just starting at the first hole with that soft bogey, even though I hit a pretty good drive. Yeah, I mean, the course was obviously gettable. There was a lot of good scores out there, and obviously the quality of the chasing pack is obvious. There was a lot of guys that shot good scores.
“You know, there’s a lot of guys in with a chance tomorrow. I’m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can’t forget that, but I do know I’m going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win.
“This golf course has a way of, you know, when you’re not quite feeling it, you struggle. You have to dig deep, and I felt like I did that on the front nine and made a lot of good par saves.
“Missed a couple of chances on eight and nine; then I thought I turned the round around with the birdie on ten. Then I felt like I hit a pretty good second shot on 11. It just drifted on the wind a little bit and went in the water. Those two holes weren’t great.
“But again, I felt like I bounced back pretty well with the birdies on 14 and 15. It would have been nice to play those last few holes and not make that bogey on 17, but you know, I still have a great chance. I’m in the final group.
“I just need to go to the range and try to figure it out a little bit.”
Jason Day – in action today – image The Masters Tournament
Jason Day got within two of the lead at one stage and when the dust had settled on day three he finds himself just thre from the lead and very much a factor heading into tomorrow’s final round.
An opening hole bogey gave little evidence of what was to come for the Australian as he birdied the 2nd, 8th, 13th, 14th, and 15th and even though he hit a poor tee shot into the bunker at the 16th he is very much within striking distance of a second Green Jacket for Australia.
“Obviously he had it going early,” said Day. “And the odd thing when you get off to a bad — a pretty average start, I bogeyed the first hole with a three-putt, but you’re just trying to steady the ship and just be patient. You know that opportunities will come.
“Statistically I average around four to five birdies a round, so I just knew they were going to come. I just didn’t know when they were going to come.
“It was nice to be able to have the chances from 12 to 15; hit a lot of good quality shots going into the greens. I also hit a lot of good drives to give myself the opportunities up near the greens on the par-5s.
“Yeah, tomorrow is the last day obviously. “You just got to try and get yourself the opportunity on the back side if you can get somewhere close to the lead on the back side, anything can happen. The goal is to try and cut into the lead tomorrow through nine, and if I can do that, great. Then get myself somewhere near the lead on the back side and try and give myself opportunities.
“I feel like the guys that are leading right now have all the pressure. I’m just kind of — I’m the chaser. Usually the chasers don’t really have a lot of the pressure. Guys at the top of the leaderboard always are trying to defend the lead, whereas I’m pushing forward trying to cut into the lead.
“I feel good about my game. I feel very happy with where things are. I’m looking forward to the challenge at least. If I can get myself around the lead on the back side, I’ll be very pleased.”
14 players are within six shots of the lead, and if round three is anything to go by, then all will feel they still have a chance of contending late on Sunday.
