Day: April 10, 2022

Scottie Scheffler’s lead shrinks at Masters TournamentScottie Scheffler’s lead shrinks at Masters Tournament

April 10, 2022April 10, 2022| 1:32

AUGUSTA, Ga. – You look at the scoreboard, the golfers, and back again. You do the math, run the scenarios, and wonder if there’s any way Scottie Scheffler won’t win the 86th Masters Tournament. And then along comes Cameron Smith, whose third-round 68 was the lowest round of the day by two and cut the deficit to just three shots behind Scheffler (71) going into Sunday. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Tiger struggles with putter en route to 78 “I’ve always been quite good at not giving up,” Smith said after his first individual PGA TOUR victory in a playoff over Brendan Steele at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii. The deficit Smith overcame that day? Three shots. No player would admit it, but Smith is the last guy a leader would want to see in the rearview mirror right now. When he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, his 34-under total was the lowest 72-hole score in PGA TOUR history. (He also held off then-world No. 1 Jon Rahm.) He made 10 final-round birdies to win THE PLAYERS Championship last month. The attribute that best describes Smith: grit. He made eight birdies here Thursday; has finished in the top 10 in three of his five Masters starts, including a T2 in 2020; and took down Justin Thomas in Presidents Cup singles in 2019 after falling 3 down through five holes. “He is a danger man,” said CBS golf analyst Nick Faldo, who in 1996 overcame a six-stroke deficit to win his third Masters over a faltering Greg Norman. Scheffler, meanwhile, had held steady before bogeys on three of his last five holes Saturday. “Yeah, should be a great fight tomorrow,” he said. “Obviously, Cam is a tremendous player, and he’s got a fantastic short game, and he’s coming off a huge win at THE PLAYERS.” If there were a final pairing that made the most sense, given where golf is now, Scheffler and Smith are that pairing. They are both in the top five in the FedExCup, and the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and each has won multiple tournaments already this season. The last time the final pairing at a major met any of those criteria was the 2015 PGA Championship, with Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, who also met all of those criteria. Sungjae Im shot 71, one of just nine under-par scores on the day, to get to 4 under, five back. Shane Lowry and Charl Schwartzel each shot 73 and were at 2 under, still with an outside shot. Warmer temperatures are expected for the final round after a frigid, blustery Saturday in which Scheffler repeatedly put on a vest in between shots. Others, including Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner and Hudson Swafford, wore ski hats. Tiger Woods shot his highest Masters round (78). Scheffler started the day with a five-shot lead over four players, briefly extended it to six on the front nine, and then began to come back to the field with bogeys on 14 and 15, the latter when a gust of wind appeared to blow his birdie putt well past the hole and he missed the comebacker. Although he birdied 17 to get the lead back to four, Scheffler pulled his drive into the trees at the narrow, uphill 18th hole. He found the ball but had to take an unplayable lie, and bogeyed. Scheffler is world and FedExCup No. 1 after victories in three of his previous five starts, most recently at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Smith also won in his last start, at THE PLAYERS, and also seems to be coming into his own. His never-say-die attitude is quite unlike the borderline-defeated tone of many of his peers. “Whatever I do is in his hands,” Tommy Fleetwood (70, 1 over total) said of Scheffler. Said Rory McIlroy (71, 1 over), “I think I moved up a few places with that score today, and just try to move up a few more tomorrow and try to get a top 10 and move on.” A 10-shot deficit, alas, is very different from a three-shot deficit. Although even a 10-shot lead is not entirely insurmountable. Faldo began the final round six shots behind Norman in ’96, but the steady Englishman shot 67 to Norman’s 78 and won by five. “I think the back nine tomorrow is obviously where the tournament will be decided,” Smith said. Asked what people should glean from his track record, those victories at THE PLAYERS, Sentry TOC, Presidents Cup and elsewhere, he said, “Yeah, it just means I can get it done I guess when I’m up against the best guys in the world. It’s a good feeling to have. “It’s earned,” he added. “It’s not given to you.” With the game’s two hottest players ready to square off Sunday, that seems like a safe bet.

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Scottie Scheffler takes three-shot lead into Sunday at the MastersScottie Scheffler takes three-shot lead into Sunday at the Masters

April 10, 2022April 10, 2022| 1:26

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler spent all day fending off the cold wind at the Masters, slipping on a vest over his layers of clothing after every shot on every hole. One more round and his next wardrobe change might be a green jacket. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tiger Woods struggles with putter en route to worst-ever score at Augusta National | Inside the Field: RBC Heritage Scheffler looked oblivious to the harsh conditions Saturday, at one point stretching his lead to six shots. He held on during a wild and windy ride along the back nine at Augusta National, escaping with bogey from the trees on the 18th for a 1-under 71 and a three-shot lead over Cameron Smith. Smith had the low round at 68, the only player to break 70, and gave himself another shot at winning the Masters in his first start since his victory in THE PLAYERS Championship. He was a runner-up to Dustin Johnson two years ago. Sungjae Im (71), also a runner-up in 2020, was the only other player within five shots. Tiger Woods wanted to find a way to get into red numbers and wound up with his worst score ever at the Masters, a 78 that will be remembered for his first four-putt at Augusta National. He also had four three-putts and was 16 shots behind. “You’d think I’d have figured it out somewhere along the line, but it just didn’t happen,” he said. On such a cold day — the wind chill was in the upper 40s most of the day — perhaps this was a warmup for what Scheffler can expect on Sunday at Augusta National, typically the greatest theater of the majors, especially for those seeking their first major. The last player who failed to hold a lead of three shots or more going into the final round was 21-year-old Rory McIlroy in 2011. Scheffler looked as thought he might turn this into a runaway when he made his fourth birdie of the round on the par-5 eighth and expanded his lead to six shots. But then a shot from the front bunker on the par-3 12th went over the green. He bounced back with a birdie only to come up well short of the monstrous mound guarding the back right pin on the 14th for bogey, and three-putting the par-5 15th for another bogey. Even after his best shot of the round, an approach to 4 feet for birdie on the 17th, he ran into big problems on the 18th. He yanked his tee shot into a canopy of trees and twisted branches, leaving him no choice but to take a penalty drop on the pine straw. Bold as ever, he smashed his approach from 240 yards onto the green and just over the back, leaving him two putts to keep his distance. Scheffler was at 9-under 207. Sunday will be the first time since a final pairing at a major featured players from the top 10 in the world since the 2015 PGA Championship with Jason Day and Jordan Spieth. Scheffler and Smith might be the two hottest players in golf, too. Scheffler has won three of his last five tournaments, all against some of the strongest fields of the year, a run that has elevated the 25-year-old from Dallas to No. 1 in the world and the FedExCup. Smith began the year by taking down the former No. 1 player, Jon Rahm, with a record score to par at Kapalua. His latest feat was to win THE PLAYERS Championship last month. “It just means I can get it done, I guess, when I’m up against the best guys in the world. It’s a good feeling to have. It’s earned. It’s not given to you,” Smith said. “So I’m going to have to go out there tomorrow and play really good golf again, probably similar to today. Hopefully, everything just falls into place.” Woods finished as Scheffler was still comfortably ahead, and the five-time Masters champion feels as though he has seen this before. Players hit peak form all the time, and it’s especially sweet when that run is in the spring with the Masters on the calendar. Woods won back-to-back ahead of his Masters victory in 2001. Jordan Spieth won and had a pair of runner-up finishes when he won his green jacket in 2015. Fred Couples won twice and was runner-up twice ahead of his 1992 victory at Augusta. “We all wish we had that two, three-month window when we get hot, and hopefully majors fall somewhere along in that window. We take care of it in those windows,” Woods said. “Scottie seems to be in that window right now.” Charl Schwartzel, who won the Masters in 2011, was trying to keep stride with Smith until he three-putted from about 8 feet for bogey on the 16th and dropped another shot on the 17th, slipping to a 73. He was at 2-under 214 along with Shane Lowry (73). Justin Thomas (72) and Corey Conners (73) were the only other players under par.

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