 "Masters: Rose rises... Anything can happen")
Jordan double bogied the 17th, a dreadful error indeed in the latter stages of the tournament.
Now, he has a major winner, Justin Rose, in the final pairing with him with a lead being one shot lesser than at the start of the day. One shot further back is Mickleson, a multiple Masters winner.
Too far back are everybody else including Tiger Woods. The game is between Spieth/Rose/Mickelson with Tiger providing almost as important a side show. Despite his considerable maturity at a young age, Jordan is going to have to play out of his skin to win this one as both Justin Rose and Phil Mickleson are vastly more experienced and not nice to contend against. It would seem that, yet again, this tournament is moving towards the kind of dramatic ending that the Masters so dearly loves.
Overnight rain had softened the fairways and greens and therefore pretty good scoring was to be expected. While the chase for the championship was going on, it was really also Tiger's day because he clearly showed, including to the gravest of doubters, that he is not a ‘has been’ and that Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors is not beyond reach. It was just like the old days of Tiger watching except that he was just too far back to win. Huge applause for him and little for his playing partner (can’t call this one a “playing mate” as they hardly spoke to each other owing to an unnecessary spat caused by Garcia two years ago) placed enormous pressure on the playing partner, adversely effecting his game despite his wide ranging experience.
The record books will not show this but the hole of the day for him was the easy par five 13th (appropriately called Azalea). Tiger duck hooked his drive just a 100 yards down, into a bank of Azaleas. Lucky to just pop out onto the rough, he hit a mighty controlled rope hook (lapeta... for the Indians!), and sent it through a window just a couple of feet wide, straight towards a bunch of lurking loblolly pines in front and to the right of him. Suddenly, the hook took and banked sharply away, just as the ball passed the threatening, looming, overhanging loblollies directly in his path, to land squarely on the fairway. His 220 yard approach shot to the pin finished 20 feet away, just off the green, and he slotted it in for a remarkable birdie.
The Southern Hemisphere challenge from Day and Scott of Australia, and Ernie Els, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel of South Africa faded away virtually unnoticed with several tsk,tsk abounding. This left essentially Jordan Spieth in the fray with the English Rose just four shots behind. It would have been closer were it not for the most spectacular shot executed by Jordan on the 18th hole. It far surpassed Phil’s 61-foot birdie putt on the 16th and Tiger’s shenanigans on the 13th. Jordan needed to hit a perfect lobbed shot just five feet short of a very fast green, allowing the ball to trickle towards the pin to stop near enough to be a gimme. All commentators were fully expecting him to bogie but he did not. Had he bogied, the lead would have been down to three, the pressure on him much higher tomorrow and would have probably led to a restless, anxious night to boot. That one shot may end up being the difference between first and second place.
Jordan is showing extraordinary composure under fire; should he score a three under on Sunday, he will become the course record holder for 72 holes at 269 (beating Tigers record of 270), having already won the accolades for lowest score in 36 holes (130) and 54 holes (200).
On Saturday there was some excellent golf even though the number of Eagles was sharply down.
Johnson who flattered to deceive for a while, unlike his record breaking three eagles in a round on Friday did not get a single one and in fact ended up one over the card for the day.
Phil and Justin Rose had the best cards of the day at -5 closely followed by Tiger and Rory.
Sunday was yet another low scoring day with the weather predicted to be cool with a light breezes and it is fully expected that Tiger, too, will cross into double digits in the red. The main battle will be in the last two flights consisting of Jordan and Rose in the first and Phil and Hoffman in the second.
Marshaling the crowds should normally become much easier over the weekends as the field is cut by half. But when such fantastic golf is being played and Tiger is on a roll, in some places the spectators are at least 30 deep; they seek to get closer to the action even if they cannot see.
One has to position oneself strategically to see as much of whoever one wants to see (one cannot see every shot played by the leaders as the crowds are too large) and that's a separate battle all of its own. It puts much pressure on the ever polite but firm crowd controllers.
The Eternal Director is pulling the strings closer and tighter; who will be squeezed out and who caressed is a matter for His Grace. Wait for the denouement!
Now, he has a major winner, Justin Rose, in the final pairing with him with a lead being one shot lesser than at the start of the day. One shot further back is Mickleson, a multiple Masters winner.
Too far back are everybody else including Tiger Woods. The game is between Spieth/Rose/Mickelson with Tiger providing almost as important a side show. Despite his considerable maturity at a young age, Jordan is going to have to play out of his skin to win this one as both Justin Rose and Phil Mickleson are vastly more experienced and not nice to contend against. It would seem that, yet again, this tournament is moving towards the kind of dramatic ending that the Masters so dearly loves.
Overnight rain had softened the fairways and greens and therefore pretty good scoring was to be expected. While the chase for the championship was going on, it was really also Tiger's day because he clearly showed, including to the gravest of doubters, that he is not a ‘has been’ and that Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors is not beyond reach. It was just like the old days of Tiger watching except that he was just too far back to win. Huge applause for him and little for his playing partner (can’t call this one a “playing mate” as they hardly spoke to each other owing to an unnecessary spat caused by Garcia two years ago) placed enormous pressure on the playing partner, adversely effecting his game despite his wide ranging experience.
Behold: A renewed Tiger
Aside from the leaders (Jordan-16, Justin Rose-12, Phil Mickelson-11, Hoffman-10) the story was also Tiger. He quickly birdied 2, 3 and 4 and looked to be heading for a really low score. For a change he birdied all the four par fives which, as already explained, is an essential for victory (his percentage in this is only fifty percent which is not good enough and has ended Day 3 in a joint fifth position. However, this scoring and position will be enough of a confidence booster for the rest of this season. He has not forgotten how to play; his shot making was as good as anyone’s, but the flat stick (putter) let him down repeatedly. Even averaging out normal good and bad fortune on any day on the course, he left about five shots out there. It is speculated that he will win at least one major each year for the next five years. The record books will not show this but the hole of the day for him was the easy par five 13th (appropriately called Azalea). Tiger duck hooked his drive just a 100 yards down, into a bank of Azaleas. Lucky to just pop out onto the rough, he hit a mighty controlled rope hook (lapeta... for the Indians!), and sent it through a window just a couple of feet wide, straight towards a bunch of lurking loblolly pines in front and to the right of him. Suddenly, the hook took and banked sharply away, just as the ball passed the threatening, looming, overhanging loblollies directly in his path, to land squarely on the fairway. His 220 yard approach shot to the pin finished 20 feet away, just off the green, and he slotted it in for a remarkable birdie.
The Southern Hemisphere challenge from Day and Scott of Australia, and Ernie Els, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel of South Africa faded away virtually unnoticed with several tsk,tsk abounding. This left essentially Jordan Spieth in the fray with the English Rose just four shots behind. It would have been closer were it not for the most spectacular shot executed by Jordan on the 18th hole. It far surpassed Phil’s 61-foot birdie putt on the 16th and Tiger’s shenanigans on the 13th. Jordan needed to hit a perfect lobbed shot just five feet short of a very fast green, allowing the ball to trickle towards the pin to stop near enough to be a gimme. All commentators were fully expecting him to bogie but he did not. Had he bogied, the lead would have been down to three, the pressure on him much higher tomorrow and would have probably led to a restless, anxious night to boot. That one shot may end up being the difference between first and second place.
Jordan is showing extraordinary composure under fire; should he score a three under on Sunday, he will become the course record holder for 72 holes at 269 (beating Tigers record of 270), having already won the accolades for lowest score in 36 holes (130) and 54 holes (200).
On Saturday there was some excellent golf even though the number of Eagles was sharply down.
Johnson who flattered to deceive for a while, unlike his record breaking three eagles in a round on Friday did not get a single one and in fact ended up one over the card for the day.
Phil and Justin Rose had the best cards of the day at -5 closely followed by Tiger and Rory.
Sunday was yet another low scoring day with the weather predicted to be cool with a light breezes and it is fully expected that Tiger, too, will cross into double digits in the red. The main battle will be in the last two flights consisting of Jordan and Rose in the first and Phil and Hoffman in the second.
Marshaling the crowds should normally become much easier over the weekends as the field is cut by half. But when such fantastic golf is being played and Tiger is on a roll, in some places the spectators are at least 30 deep; they seek to get closer to the action even if they cannot see.
One has to position oneself strategically to see as much of whoever one wants to see (one cannot see every shot played by the leaders as the crowds are too large) and that's a separate battle all of its own. It puts much pressure on the ever polite but firm crowd controllers.
The Eternal Director is pulling the strings closer and tighter; who will be squeezed out and who caressed is a matter for His Grace. Wait for the denouement!