With the 3rd day in the books, the true front runners for the green jacket have staked their case.
It was another gorgeous day in Augusta for the 3rd day of action at The Masters, although it did start with a bit of a “rain cloud” on it. Guys moving up and down the board all day made for another exciting day for Masters Golf.
The day started rather odd though, with that “rain cloud” I mentioned, as Tiger Woods was given a 2 stroke penalty for an illegal drop on hole 15 the day before. Tiger supposedly did not drop the ball close enough to his original spot where he hit the ball before hitting it into the water. This all occurred after his ball hit the pin on hole 15. This made him start the day at -1 instead of -3. When I heard this I was just thinking oh the conspiracy of hole 15 at the Masters, but lots of people did agree with it and Tiger himself as well. Thank goodness he wasn’t disqualified though, that would’ve been bad, for him and viewership. Tiger was able to get back to -3 and finish the day there, 4 shots off the lead. He’ll go into Sunday Tiger mode and when he does that, no lead is safe.
“The Sned”, Brandt Snedeker raced up the leader board to finish at -7 tied at the top with Angel Cabrera. Snedeker would shoot -4 on the day and just seemed to hit all the right shots and make all the right putts. He gets an all important second chance at winning The Masters after his heart breaking loss a few years ago. Cabrera also played well and worked his way up the leader board, hitting good shot after shot and really living on his great putting. He hit some bumps in the road down the stretch but regained his momentum when he sank his birdie putt on the 18th hole to close out the day.
Jason Day was the original leader at -6 and finished at -5. He was at -7 at one point but his bogey on 17 dropped him back to -6 and he bogeyed on 18 dropping him to -5. Before that point he had no bogeys all day. Fellow Australians, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman sit with Day near the top with Scott at -6 and Leishman at -5. The Aussie’s seem to be in a great spot to nab their first ever green jacket. They have been so close before, but never had this many Australians at the top at once to get the green jacket. It would be a special moment for Australia if one of them were able to get it.
Tianlang Guan slipped in his 3rd day, but hey he made it to the 3rd day, that’s impressive enough. I’ve seen a lot of great things from this kid, once his body matures and he can hit as long as these grown men, he will be tough to beat for sure. Phil Mickelson and the ageless wonder Fred Couples fell way back themselves. Phil finished +5 for the day to drop to +8, only 1 stroke ahead of Guan. Couples also finished at +5 for the day dropping him to even par. Couples triple bogeyed 17 and that’s when he really lost it. Tough day for the two stars.
All in all it was another great day for golf. We got out of there with no extra penalties so far but you never know who might see something later and report it. The final day starts tomorrow and it should be filled with lots of excitement but with excitement does come tremendous heart break. Tiger will be making a push and others will be trying to hold him off while trying to focus on their own game. It will be fun to watch. I’ll be crossing my fingers for The Masters to go down to the wire. It doesn’t get any better than that.
TV coverage begins at 2 PM ET on CBS and remember you can catch more action at CBSsports.com. Be sure to check back for the final recap of this historic tournament. Go enjoy it, I know I sure will. Let the most beautiful event in sports roll on.
Notable Final Round Tee Times:
Tianlang Guan-9:30 am
Phil Mickelson-9:40 am
Fred Couples-12:50 pm
Tiger Woods-2:10 pm
Jason Day-2:20 pm
Brandt Snedeker, Angel Cabrera-2:40 pm
