Day (70) and Johnson (72) were at even-par 216, along with Danny Willett, the Englishman who wasn’t sure he was going to be able to play in his first Masters because his wife was pregnant.
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Langer is a two-time victor of the Masters in 1985 and 1993.
“It was a really tough finish to go from holding a four-shot lead and being in a very similar position to a year ago where all of a sudden now it’s anyone’s game”. “So it’s tough to swallow that”.
Throw in the pressure on Spieth to become only the fourth back-to-back victor at the Masters, and a burden on McIlroy to finish off the Grand Slam, and this could be theatre at its finest.
Smylie Kaufman, playing in his first Masters, will be in the final group on Sunday.
Only four players in total are under par for the tournament: Spieth, Kaufman, 58-year-old Bernhard Langer and Hideki Matsuyama.
While the defending champion looked up at a scoreboard reading +1 for the day and a leading -3 as he walked to the 12th hole. He made three bogeys, a double bogey and shot 77 to end tied for 11 place. Tied for eighth, he is the first amateur in the top 10 after any Masters round since Ryan Moore after 36 holes in 2005. The greens are so slick, there’s no one easy short putt.
After the young Texan stumbled down the stretch, Watson got a chance to play two more rounds.
“There was one occasion where it’s a left edge putt and you’re hitting it right edge because of the wind”, he said.
Spieth’s par on the last hole not only kept him in the lead, it sent Phil Mickelson home because of the 10-shot rule for the cut.
“I sort of take a bit of heart from that, that I’m still in this golf tournament”.
Thirty-one years on from the first of his two victories at Augusta, Langer delivered a vintage performance to move firmly into contention for a remarkable, record-breaking win.
He then recovered well to accrue three birdies over the next four holes and duly open up a four-stroke lead before a disastrous 18th gave hope to the chasing pack heading into tomorrow’s finale. “I know what can happen here on a Sunday, and anyone within five or six of the lead has a good shot”. “Today was my bad day and hopefully I can go out there and make up for the lack of birdies today and make double the amount tomorrow”.
“It just was a really hard day to score, and when we look back, if we approach it that way – (Saturday) could be just as challenging, if not more – that’s going to be the biggest advantage for us to go out, pretend it’s a new golf tournament and try to beat the field from here on in”.
He’ll be paired with Spieth in the final round.
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In the toughest scoring conditions at the Masters in almost a decade, Spieth had a five-shot lead that almost disappeared before he saved par from a bunker with a 15-foot putt on the final hole for a 2-over 74 and a one-shot lead over McIlroy. Julius Boros won the 1968 PGA Championship when he was 48.
