Matt Kuchar and Bubba Watson enjoy another slap-happy round at Zurich Classic

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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Cameron Young caught the eyes of golf fans with his youthful explosiveness, unique pause at the top of his swing and strong T2 finish at last week’s The Genesis Invitational. The 24-year-old shot 17 under at The Riviera Country Club and was bested by only the champion, Joaquin Niemann. The Genesis was Young’s second runner-up finish of his rookie season, which moved him to 17th in FedExCup. It also continued his rapid ascent in the Official World Ranking. He was still outside the top 500 in the world last May, but now ranks 53rd, with invitations to THE PLAYERS and Masters within his reach. Making the transition from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR isn’t always easy, but Young has made it look that way. His driving distance has been a big asset, as he already is one of the top players on TOUR in that aspect of the game. He ranks second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+0.81), fourth in driving distance (320.5 yards) and fifth in clubhead speed (124.1 mph). Significant changes to his swing and equipment have allowed him to capitalize on his superior speed (more on Young’s swing speed and carry distance here). Throughout his life, Young’s swing has been honed and shaped by his father (David Young, the longtime head professional at New York’s Sleepy Hollow Country Club), and it currently produces driver ball speeds of around 189 mph. Yes, that’s serious speed. Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, who now works closely with Young on his equipment, was taken aback at first by Young’s distance while at the Titleist Performance Institute for a fitting session. “He was out at TPI warming up once and I went inside to grip a club; when I came back, I was looking at the launch monitor data and it was 171-172 mph,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “When I looked at what he was hitting, though, I realized he was hitting a 7-wood, not a driver.” Despite the speed, Young was lacking control due to a severe in-to-out swing path of 6-7 degrees. Along with his father/coach, Young worked hard this off-season to neutralize that swing path and bring it closer to square. By squaring up his club delivery, Young could reduce the right-to-left curve of his tee shots. This would give Young greater control over his golf ball and help him take advantage of his speed. The problem with the swing change, though, was that Young didn’t initially adjust his driver setup to match his different delivery pattern, so the performance wasn’t increasing as much as it should. During a driver fitting session at Torrey Pines ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open, Van Wezenbeeck found the fix. “When he first got on the PGA TOUR, he was actually in a 9-degree TSi3 driver with an H2 heel setting, because his path was severely to the right, like 6-7 degrees,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “So he needed all the help he could to not hit blocks from there. And then, in the offseason, him and his dad worked on neutralizing that a little bit so it’s not as severe. That’s when we moved to the H1 setting and the 10-degree TSi3 head to accommodate the new delivery at Torrey, because he felt it was over-drawing in his previous setup.” It’s important to remember – especially for amateurs who don’t work with top PGA TOUR fitters every day – that every variable in a modern driver head makes a big difference. A small tweak to weight settings in the sole, or to the hosel adapter, can change launch, flight and spin. For Young, he started out in an H2 setting, which has Titleist’s SureFit CG weight all the way toward the heel to promote a draw. He then changed into the H1 setting, which moves the weight closer to center for less draw. He also switched into a D1 SureFit hosel setting, which means it’s a standard lie angle with -0.75 degrees of loft compared to the standard A1 setting. While the changes may seem small, they were all Young needed to free up his driver game. “It was kind of a light bulb moment, and he’s gone on a nice little run since then,” Van Wezenbeeck said. “He’s top three in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in that time. It’s one of those things where when you’re making changes, you have to change the settings with it. Say you have an injury and you’re not swinging the same, or you’re working out and you’ve added flexibility, or you’ve added speed, or you’ve started seeing a new swing instructor, all those things point to changes, and those changes need to get accommodated with your equipment. So those are good times to go back to your fitter and get a check up.” Since joining the PGA TOUR, Young has also rearranged his bag setup a bit to accommodate the more difficult course layouts. On the Korn Ferry Tour, Young used a driver, 5-wood and 7-wood, skipping over the 3-wood entirely. Now, after his work with Van Wezenbeeck, Young uses a driver, a 16.5-degree 3-wood, and a T200 2-iron and 4-iron to go along with his set of Titleist 620 MB irons (5-9). These adjustments have helped ensure Young has a go-to club off the tee without leaving yardage gaps throughout the set that are too wide. Amateurs should take Young’s changes as motivation to figure out what driver and bag setup is right for them. Small changes can reap huge benefits.

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