Jordan Spieth wears Under Armour Drive One Golf Shoes at the 2016 Masters Tournament.
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(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong).
With the sunny name and look of a kid about 16, Smylie Kaufman might hardly be considered threatening.
Billy Horschel had perhaps the day’s most exasperating moment, when he chipped onto the 15th green and watched in horror as a gust of wind kicked in and blew the ball – which was stationary a moment earlier – back off the green and into the water.
Spieth’s showdown with Rory McIlroy, the no. 3 player in the world, never materialized. Instead of having an eight-footer for birdie, he had to scramble just to make bogey.
Sure, he had the lead for the seventh straight round at Augusta National, but just barely.
And it left the Masters up for grabs. “So it’s tough to swallow that”.
I think I will, but that wasn’t a fun last couple holes to play from the position I was in. Japan’s brightest star. The No. 1 player in the world.
Jordan Spieth is still presiding over the Masters, though his grasp is tenuous after a 2-over-par 74 left him at 4 under, just one stroke ahead of Rory McIlroy.
“To be honest with you, I would be feeling a lot worse about myself if I hadn’t have just seen what Jordan did the last two holes”, McIlroy said. “That was really the only – well, I made two mistakes”.
That’s what gnawed at Spieth. It is the third year in a row he has led after three rounds, something only Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods have done. With a forecast for less wind Sunday, it could be a sprint to the green jacket filled with birdies, eagles and those Augusta National roars. Matsuyama’s playing patner Sunday is one of the best stories of this year’s tournament, as 58-year-old Bernhard Langer is also 1-under and on the board at 25/1.
Last year, Spieth played with former US Open victor Justin Rose in the final round and was excellent as he held off his experienced rivals for a wire-to-wire victory.
Smylie Kaufman (10-1) – Kaufman is in the final pairing with Spieth at 2 under and posted the best round of the past two days on Saturday. If he could get on the board Sunday, he’ll become the first Masters rookie to win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. “It would be one for the old guys”, Langer said.
“It was pretty cool, because he gave me knuckles on the way up”, Day said. I played very tentatively today right from the get-go.
He even beat Day, who was hitting it some 60 yards by him.
Bernhard Langer, the 58-year-old, two-time champion, and Hideki Matsuyama are another shot back. “I would say I’m surprised, except, doesn’t he win every event on the Champion’s Tour?”
But the 22-year-old said: “I can’t rely on the putter the way I did today”.
Spieth, who’s 3-under for the tournament, wasn’t alive for either of Langer’s previous Masters wins – 1985 and 1993.
Saturday was an interesting exhibition of two heavyweights going shot for shot on golf’s grandest stage.
Also in the hunt are Looming Jason Day (71) and Dustin Johnson (72), only three back. She gave birth last week.
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His 77 included three bogeys and a double bogey at the 11th, while there were no birdies whatsoever – the first time McIlroy has failed to record one at a major since 2010.
