A drama-filled afternoon set up a mouthwatering leaderboard heading into Sunday at The Masters.
Ryder Cup teammates Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia lead the way, with Rickie Fowler a shot back, and Jordan Spieth is joined by Ryan Moore and Charley Hoffman, just two off the pace.
While defending champion Danny Willett failed to get himself a weekend tee time at Augusta National, this time around he may still get to drape the green jacket over a countryman’s shoulders.
England celebrated wildly when Willett became the first from across the pond since Nick Faldo in 1996 to win the Masters last year, and now Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Paul Casey have a chance to make it consecutive celebrations.
Faldo went back-to-back at Augusta National in 1989 and 1990 – the only time England has had the double celebration.
Rose is a co-leader at 6-under, while Westwood bounced back from a 77 on Friday to shoot 4-under 68 and is five back at 1-under. Casey’s Saturday 69 left him even-par.
‘Tomorrow is a huge day. I have an opportunity. That’s all you want, but really it starts on the back nine on Sunday,’ Rose said.
‘A one‑shot lead starting the day doesn’t mean much. You’re going to have to go out and play a good round of golf, and I think there are going to be four or five guys pretty much with the same mindset tomorrow.’
Rose is joined in the final grouping of Sunday by Garcia, who prior to his 2-under 70 on Saturday, had a dismal Saturday scoring average at Augusta National – 74.92.
When he needed to move on Moving Day this time around, he got the job done.
The 70 tied his lowest third-round Masters score, set back in 2002, and was only the third time he’s been under par in 14 attempts on Saturday.
Just last year, Garcia imploded with an 81 in the third round.
‘I’m glad I took the scoring average down a little bit. That’s a big positive,’ he said.
‘But Saturday’s gone and now Sunday’s coming. A very exciting Sunday. So we are going to go out there and do well again and just make sure we have a good chance coming into the last five or six holes and see what happens.’
While Garcia, Fowler, Moore and Hoffman chase a maiden major and Rose looks for a first green jacket title, one former Masters champion looms large on the leaderboard.
Jordan Spieth is ominous after his 4-under 68 leaves him just two off the pace. And remember, he had a 9 on the par-5 15th hole on Thursday.
Spieth has become a Masters machine, as he was runner-up in his debut in 2014, the winner in 2015, and one bad hole away from winning in 2016 on his way to another runner-up finish.
If he wins Sunday at 23, he will be a serious contender for Jack Nicklaus’ record six green jackets.
