Masterful Saturday show at Augusta
First-rate third round is second to none; bring on Sunday
Leaderboard at Masters.com
That was about the most electrifying Masters Saturday in memory, the kind of second-nine drama you expect to see on a Sunday. Are you not entertained?
A fiery Augusta National has delivered a compelling Masters, and a fascinating field is lined up to be chasing two major champions on Sunday. Scottie Scheffler rebounded late and Collin Morikawa charged out of the gate to sit first and second heading to the final round that’s traditionally set up for a shootout.
Scheffler, the 2022 champion, played a perfect last hole to polish off a volatile 71 and claim his second 54-hole lead in the Masters. Morikawa, the 2020 PGA and 2021 Open champion, birdied the first three holes to climb to 6-under and finished on that mark with a 69.
Lined up in one-shot increments behind them are Max Homa (5-under), Ludvig Åberg (4-under) and Bryson DeChambeau (3-under) with Xander Schauffele, Nicolai Højgaard and Cameron Davis at 2-under and within five shots of the leader.
How everyone made it to those finishing numbers was a pretty wild ride of contrasting fortunes with back nine heroics and calamities that saw six players claim at least a share of the lead in the final two hours.
Let’s start with the two-ball of Scheffler and Højgaard. The world No. 1 turned to the back on 7-under with a one-shot lead after dropping birdie bombs with a chip-in from 32 yards on No. 1 and putt from 34 feet on No. 3. But he made a mess of 10 after sailing his approach over the flag and the green that led to a rare double bogey by the strokes gained master.
That became a three-shot swing because Højgaard drained a 48-footer for his thrd straight birdie to suddenly vault the Danish rookie into the lead. That uncharted altitude made the 23-year-old dizzy, as he subsequently bogeyed the next five consecutive holes (11-15) before collecting himself to par his way home.
“We try to stop the bleeding a little bit,” he said. “Sometimes … if I knew how to do it, I probably would have done it.”
Scheffler added another bogey at 11 and suddenly looked vulnerable. But he recovered a share of the lead with a 31-footer for eagle that tumbled over the rim and elicited a couple of fist pumps. Another birdie at 15 pushed him in front before giving it back at 17 and seizing it again at 18.
“You know, things happen pretty fast out there,” said Scheffler. “It was nice to be able to steal a couple shots there on 13 and get back in the tournament.”
The Bryson DeChambeau experience over the final nine was worth the Map & Flag $17,000 price of admission. He reclaimed a lead share with a birdie at 10 before promptly bogeying 11 and 12 and settling for par on 13. But when he sank a 23-footer for birdie at 14 he was eager to push Scheffler and Morikawa in front of him.
Then it almost fell entirely apart. Blocked out by trees after his drive on 15, DeChambeau tried to be the hero and sling a hook over the water into the greenside bunker, but the ball clipped some pine needles and never turned, sailing so far right he was almost in the 17th fairway. He paid dearly for his aggressiveness, chunking his pitch into the pond after getting a break with line-of-sight relief and ultimately making double after another poor chip.
A three-putt on 16 for bogey had DeChambeau reeling and he compounded that with another bogey on 17 to the green’s most inaccessible pin placement. The LIV star seemed ready to check out entirely when a poor drive on 18 force him to punch out from under a magnolia tree and scramble to likely fall further off the leaderboard. Instead, he holed out from 77 yards for birdie to flip his outlook entirely and get within a four-shot shout of the lead.
“You just have to stay positive no matter what,” said DeChambeau, who looked anything but positive until his hole-out resuscitated his hopes with a jolt. “I had a great break on 18. I’ll take that any day of the week.”
Ludvig Åberg (Thomas Lovelock/Augusta National)
Åberg, the gifted Swede who Shane Lowry calls a “future world No. 1,” steadily rose to claim his share of the lead in his major championship debut with his fourth birdie of the day at 13. But like fellow rookie Højgaard, he immediately spit the bit with his only two bogeys of the day on 14 and 15.
“I feel very fortunate to be in this position and to be here playing golf,” said Åberg of embracing his opportunity to make history. “Yes, I don’t think you should shy away from it. I don’t think you should try to push it away.
Homa, who shared the 36-hole lead with Scheffler and DeChambeau, made 17 pars and a lone bogey on 12 to quietly lurk two back. The six-time PGA Tour winner is hanging around despite not making a birdie since his fourth hole Friday.
Homa’s career-best major finish was a T10 in the 150th Open. He’s curious to see how he handles his first real knock.
“If I catch myself thinking about what could go wrong, I let myself dream about what could go right,” he said. “I don't know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I didn’t know what was going to happen today. If you told me I made no birdies today, I would have thought I imploded. You just kind of go with the flow. I let myself go both ways. Once I’m playing, I’m very present.”
Collin Morikawa (David Paul Morris/Augusta National)
After Morikawa blazed up the board at the jump, he made bogey at 6 and birdie at 8 and finished with a succession of 10 consecutive pars to book a spot in the final pairing with a 69 that was only bettered by Chris Kirk’s 68 on Saturday. He’s the only player to post three straight rounds under par – 71-70-69.
He’s naturally chuffed for the chance to win a green jacket and head to the U.S. Open in June with a chance to complete the career slam at age 27.
“At the end of the day, I know where my head is at,” an eerily confident Morikawa said. “I know what I need to focus on, and I know what needs to be done if I want to close it off tomorrow.”
Tiger soars (not in the good way)
Not all the drama was fun to watch on Saturday. Some of it was pretty tragic.
The fear coming into the week was that Tiger Woods had not played enough competitive golf. That was always going to be an issue. So, too, the various injuries and ailments that have bothered him for years. All of the above came to a gruesome fruition on Saturday.
While he did not say specifically what was bothering him, Woods was visibly hurting during the third round of the Masters, shooting his highest-score ever at Augusta National (82) to tumble down the leaderboard.
This a day after shooting a strong even-par 72 in blustery conditions to make the cut for a Masters-record 24th time. That feel-good story turned sour overnight.
What went wrong?
“The fact that I was not hitting it very good or putting well,’’ he said. “I didn’t have a very good warmup session, and I kept it going all day today. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it.”
“And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makable putts. I missed a lot of them.’’
Tiger Woods (Shanna Lockwood/Augusta National)
The 15-time major champion who is making just his second start of 2024 fell apart over a four-hole stretch after birdieing the fifth hole.
He played holes 6 through 9 in 6-over par, making double bogeys at 7 and 8 — the latter at the par-5 eighth hole for the first time in his career. His approach to the ninth green saw him wince after making contact.
That led to a front-nine score of 42, his highest ever at the Masters. He twice before shot 40 on the first nine, once during his record-setting 1997 victory in which he won by 12 shots. His back-nine 40 wasn’t much better. he hit just eight of 18 greens and needed 34 putts. The card for his worst round in 99 career Masters starts included two doubles, two birdies, three pars and eight bogeys in his last 15 holes.
Woods shot just his fifth score of 80 or worse as a pro, the first since an 80 during the first round of the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. Three times that year, he shot in the 80s. His only other score that high came at the 2002 Open at Muirfield, where he shot 81 in a driving rain storm to fall out of contention.
Woods’ previous worst rounds at Augusta were a pair of 78s on the weekend two years ago when he competed for the first time in nearly two years in his first event since crushing his ankle in a single-car crash in Los Angeles 14 months earlier.
This week, Woods opened with a 73 that saw him have to complete five holes on Friday morning and then shot 72 in brutal winds on a day in which only one player shoot in the 60s. At 1-over, he was inside the cut number by five shots, setting the Masters record at 24 consecutive. This is his 26th Masters and he’s never missed the cut as a pro.
That long 23-hole day took its toll. “Oh yeah, it did,’’ he said.
So did the lack of golf, as the 48-year-old played just 24 holes this year coming in due to illness WD at the Genesis Invitational in February. “It's just that I haven't competed and played much,” he admitted. “When I had chances to get it flipped around and when I made that putt at 5 (for a birdie), I promptly three-putted 6 and flub a chip at 7 and just got it going the wrong way, and when I had opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.’’
Woods appeared to be in less distress on the back nine but he still struggled. After pars at 10 and 11, he made a bogey at 12, birdie at 13, then made consecutive bogeys at the 14, 15, 16 and 17 before parring the 18th.
In the past three years, Woods has completed 72 holes just three times. This is his eighth worldwide start since the car crash.
He had suggested in December that he would attempt to play once a month and said Tuesday he hoped to do that by playing in each of the remaining major championships. The PGA Championship at Valhalla, where Woods won the 2000 PGA, is May 16-19.
Of more immediate concern was getting ready for an early tee time on Sunday. “My team will get me ready,’’ he said. “It will be a long night and long warmup session, but we’ll be ready.’’
Masters keeps up with cost of living
A long time ago, former Masters chairman Hord Hardin lamented the increases in prize money that were occurring throughout the game. He feared what it might mean for the annual tournament at Augusta National, and wondered how his club might keep up.
In fact, he went so far as to worry about the possibility of corporate sponsorship and fretted about it being called something like the “Pizza Hut Masters.’’
Those concerns seem quaint today. Back then, Masters purses were barely pushing $1 million. Now you get nearly that much for finishing fourth.
In another sign of the times and an example of just how lucrative professional golf can be, the Masters on Saturday announced a prize money increase this year to $20 million, up from $18 million last year. It matches what the U.S. Open paid last year at Los Angeles Country Club.
It also brings the Masters purse in line with the eight Signature Events on the PGA Tour and first two PGA Tour playoff events. The winner will receive $3.6 million — up from the $3.24 million paid to Jon Rahm in 2023.
The PGA Championship last year offered $17.5 million while the Open Championship was $16.5 million.
The 50th-place finisher is slated to get $50,400. Those who missed the cut are paid $10,000, which is unofficial in the PGA Tour earnings.
The Masters purse has doubled in 10 years. When Bubba Watson won in 2014, the total payout was just over $9 million, with Watson getting $1.62 million.
For comparison, in the entirety of his career, Jack Nicklaus made just more than $720,000 in Masters prize money. He made the cut in a record 37 Masters and won the tournament six times.
Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson each have more than $9 million in Masters career earnings.