Tiger Woods’ expectations of a successful return from vocation compromising wounds vanished on Augusta Nationals greens on Saturday as Scottie Scheffler drove the Masters by three strokes.
Woods, 14 months eliminated from an auto collision that left him with wounds so extreme he dreaded he could lose his right leg, saw his expectations of a dazzling rebound for a 6th green coat come unraveled with his most awful at any point Masters cycle, a six-over standard 78.
The way that the 46-year-old was even ready to tee it up – – and make a 22nd sequential Masters cut – – was astounding.
However, at nine off Scheffler’s lead to begin the day, Woods realized he really wanted something shocking to give himself an opportunity come Sunday, and on second thought he posted a round more terrible than the third-cycle 77 he shot in his 1996 introduction as a beginner.
“It’s very much like I hit 1,000 putts out there on the greens today,” said Woods, whose earlier dominance of the unforgiving, undulating greens of Augusta helped him to five Masters titles.
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“I felt as I didn’t exactly hit it that awful, however I had four three-putts and a four-putt,” Woods said. “I just couldn’t get a vibe.”
Woods’ seven-over standard all out of 223 put him 16 strokes behind Scheffler, who endure dramatization at the eighteenth to card a one-under standard 71 for a nine-under all out of 207.
The 25-year-old Texan makes a three-effort lead over Australian Cameron Smith into the last round.
On a chilly, breezy day where scores took off, Smith checked the just round during the 60s with a four-under standard 68 for 210.
Smith was two strokes before third-place South Korean Im Sung-jae, who shot a one-under 71.
Once more however, it was Woods who drew the spotlight.
A three-putt at the initial opening demonstrated a harbinger, a birdie at the second – – where his shot out of a greenside dugout scarcely missed tracking down the cup for hawk – – demonstrating just a short break.
From the fairway at the fifth, Woods left himself 65 feet, and he could watch in dismay as his three-foot intruder exertion orbited the cup and kept awake.
Intruder at the 10th and eleventh followed before he depleted a 14-foot birdie at the twelfth and two-putted from 27 feet for birdie at the standard five thirteenth.
The large numbers following’s everything Woods might do attempted to will him on, cheering and yelling consolation at each opening, yet he shut his round with intruder at 16 and 17 and one more twofold intruder at the last.
While Woods recognized on Thursday that simply making through his first cutthroat round in quite a while was a triumph of sorts, he made it clear he would be searching for better things on Sunday, such as getting himself back to try and standard.
Woods was not really the only one battling in the swirling conditions, where the scoring normal was 74.5 shots and just seven players were under standard for the competition after 54 openings.
Ireland’s 2019 British Open hero Shane Lowry and 2011 Masters victor Charl Schwartzel both checked one-over standard 73s to share fourth put on two-under 214.
Scheffler was 10-under through 17 openings when his tee took shots at 18 wound up in thick undergrowth left of the fairway.
It took a deliberate inquiry to track down his ball and in the wake of swimming into the shrubs to see what is happening he took and unplayable untruth, belted a shot up to the green and restricted the harm to an intruder.
“We saw the person who generally observes the balls sort of overreacting. I thought, ‘Goodness poop,'” Scheffler said.
“Simply getting it out of the hedge and attempting to make my five was critical,” added Scheffler who said his pulse “went up when they couldn’t track down the ball yet it returned down when they tracked down it.”
It was an emotional finish to a round that included about six birdies and five intruder, Scheffler keeping up with his demeanor of deliberate quiet all through.
Smith, who completed tied for second behind Dustin Johnson in 2020, when he turned into the main player to shoot four rounds during the 60s at the Masters, expressed playing inside himself in the difficult circumstances was the way in to his round.
“I attempted to crushed no drivers off the tee. I just attempted to offer myself chances,” said the Aussie, who added the hardest piece of the day for him was “keeping my hands warm.”
“It was fierce. I think off the tee with this west wind there’s very few openings you get straight downwind or straight into the breeze.
“You get heaps of crosswinds and can get very interesting into the greens and hitting various shapes and attempting to pass judgment on the breeze also.”
