Spieth, the defending champion, set a tournament record by leading the field for a seventh consecutive round.
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He sure didn’t seem to be in a mood to celebrate. Spieth went three-over par for his final two holes, leaving McIlroy, who shot a birdie-less 77, just five shots back heading into the final round.
“I’m still in the lead”.
On 17 he hit a driver against his better instincts, after he and caddie Michael Greller had settled on 3-wood. “I’m a bit disappointed right now, fresh off the round”.
And three holes later, it was gone. Spieth, however, went on to birdie 12, 14 and 15 to push McIlroy back eight shots. “And I’m happy with that”.
Former champion Bernhard Langer moved into contention to become the oldest major champion by a decade as Rory McIlroy suffered more Masters misery on Saturday. Both of them realize that this is far from the duel.
“He’s been in control of this golf tournament from the first day but I mean I haven’t got a green jacket and he has”. He’s three back and has vaulted up to +550 on the odds list as the secondary favorite behind Spieth.
He was at 4-under 140, the highest 36-hole to lead at Augusta since 2007.
Scott Piercy finished with a 72 in the morning wave and was two strokes back in a tie for third with Danny Lee of New Zealand, who made bogeys on the last two holes to complete a 74.
Langer is tied with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama at 215. Tom Watson missed the cut.
“1 under, and it could’ve been better”, Haas said of McIlroy’s 71 on Friday. Starting the round one shot out of the lead, he fell apart after the turn with a bogey from the trees on No. 10 and a double bogey in the water on the 11th.
Still in the mix was Jason Day, the No. 1 player who sputtered along to a 73 but was only five shots behind. It felt more like a US Open than a Masters today. But while it’s happening, I’ve got to expect that he’s going to come back tomorrow and play a strong round. The 57-year-old birdied the first three holes, then bogeyed the next four and finished with a 78. Arnold Palmer was atop the leaderboard for six straight rounds in 1960 and the opening two rounds in 1961, though he shared in those last two rounds.
A double-bogey six at the last took some of the shine away from his performance, but he remained in with a chance of becoming by a long way the oldest-ever victor of a major title.
At the par-five 15th, Horschel hit his second shot onto the left portion of the green. “How is that into the wind?” he said, before turning and having a stern conversation with himself.
“Look, I know it’s a very big weekend for me”.
Horschel appeared to have an animated discussion with a rules official, but he said he was merely venting his frustration over his terrible luck and what he saw as a questionable course setup that skirted the line between tough and unfair. “So I can only play my game and see how that holds up”.
Kaufman, a Masters rookie who won a PGA Tour event earlier this year, estimated Spieth beat him in junior and amateur tournaments “probably 1,000 to nothing…”
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“Tomorrow is going to be more hard than today”, Spieth said. His caddie kept reminding him that par was a good score in wind like this. He still was only two shots behind.
