Spieth held a four-shot lead with two holes to play on a windswept day at Augusta National, but bogeyed the 17th and double-bogeyed the 18th after wild drives to card a 73 and finish three under par, just a shot ahead of fellow American Smylie Kaufman. And Spieth gave plenty of hope to a cast of challengers that range from 58-year-old Bernhard Langer to world No. 1 Jason Day.
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But Spieth’s late problems kept McIlroy five shots off the lead with a 2-over total of 218, tied for 11th place.
“He’s probably 1000-0”, said the 24-year-old, who still lives with his parents despite carding a closing 61 to win his maiden PGA Tour title last year.
Rory McIlroy vowed to remain positive after failing to make a single birdie in his third-round 77 at the Masters which left him five shots behind leader Jordan Spieth.
“I played the last three holes the last two days in 5 over par”, said Spieth, referring to his bogeys on 16 and 17 Friday.
“I could have been here three off the lead instead of five but, at the same time, I am only five back and I have to stay positive about that”. Only four other golfers have posted such wire-to-wire wins at the Masters – Craig Wood in 1941, Arnold Palmer in 1960, Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and Raymond Floyd in 1976. Playing alongside Day and usually playing from some 60 yards behind him Langer plodded his way around in the wind and ran off three birdies for a 70. “But whenever I’m out there playing and competing, that’s absolutely not what I should be thinking about”. It would have ended even worse for the Northern Irishman had Spieth not tripped himself up at the end, making bogey-double bogey on the last two holes. “I just tried to keep my head down and keep plugging”, Kaufman was quoted as saying by The Shreveport Times following his third round. “I was a foot or two from a false front”.
QUOTEWORTHY: “I would say I’m surprised except doesn’t he win most every tournament on the Champions Tour?”
Bernhard Langer is the oldest player still competing at the Masters this weekend, and at the moment he’s also the hottest. We hit a flawless shot into 10 today. Spieth, however, went on to birdie 12, 14 and 15 to push McIlroy back eight shots. Its Augusta National. Its hard not to have some fun out there.. The forecast is for better conditions tomorrow and we know stranger things have happened but I need to play a lot better than I played today. “I don’t want to make mistakes”.
The day had been billed as a shootout between Spieth and fellow top young gun Rory McIlroy as they went out together in the final pairing.
It was all in sharp contrast to past year, when Spieth produced a fine finish at 18 on the Saturday to open up a four-stroke advantage over the field.
“It was a really tough finish to go from holding a four-shot lead and being in a very similar position to past year where all of a sudden now it’s anyone’s game”.
“It’s just an unfortunate situation where a big ole gust came through”, he said. “I played the par 5s very well, 4 under for the par 5s”.
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He sits just three shots back of world No. 2 Spieth, who dropped three shots in his final two holes to rejuvenate the chasing pack.
