World number one Scottie Scheffler leads the Masters by one shot after three rounds, but drama surrounds him after a wind-affected day at Augusta National.
A fierce finish looms over the final 18 holes tomorrow morning (Australian time), with Cam Davis five shots off the lead in a share of sixth place, and Cameron Smith one shot away in ninth place.
The third round is traditionally known as “moving day”, when the players at the top take charge, or those at the bottom of the leaderboard charge.
On Saturday, several of the top contenders failed on several holes on the back nine as none made a decisive break.
The drama continued until the end of the round.
Californian Bryson DeChambeau’s short game deserted him for much of the day.
He started the third round sharing the lead at 6 under, but after missed putts and problems with water hazards, he was 2 under at the last.
In trouble off the tee, DeChambeau was in the fairway playing his third on the par four, needing a solid up-and-down from more than 100 yards to avoid falling further behind.
He hit a high wedge that landed near the back of the green, took a bounce and then spun back into the hole for a birdie, prompting a big reaction from the green gallery.
DeChambeau’s strong finish left him four shots behind sole leader Scheffler. The world number one reached 8 under par and 4 under par in an up-and-down round, before finishing birdie-bogey to remain 7 under par going into the final day.
Collin Morikawa made his early move before stringing together 11 consecutive pars from the eighth for a 3-under round of 69, one stroke behind Scheffler.
Max Homa is at 5 under par in third, while Swede Ludvig Åberg, a former amateur world number one who is making his Masters and major championship debut, will begin the final round three shots back in fourth place. DeChambeau rounds out the top five.
Davis will rue a crushing 45-minute stretch that saw the Sydneysider go from 5-under to 1-under after storming to within two shots of the lead.
Australia’s great midway hope missed all four shots on the first four holes of a horror start to the back nine.
After climbing the leaderboard with three birdies on the front nine, Davis floundered in the most treacherous pocket in world golf after a poor swing on the 10th.
He had to come out of the trees after a wayward drive, then fired his approach around the back of the green before taking three more shots for a dreaded double bogey six.
He compounded the mistake with a bogey on the 11th hole, then shaved his lip with a short birdie putt on the 12th hole and hit another shot after holing his ball into Rae’s Creek on the 13th hole.
Suddenly, Davis had fallen back to 1 under par, six shots off the lead.
He steadied himself with a bounce birdie on the par-4 14th before finishing with four straight pars, including a brilliant up-and-under from the drop zone after finding the water again on the 15th.
Davis shares sixth place with the American Xander Schauffele and the Dane Nicolai Hojgaard.
Of the rest of the Australians, Adam Scott took advantage of his survival until the weekend thanks to the 6-over cut. Scott posted a 70, shooting the final three holes in 2 under par to finish at 4 over on the scorecard.
It was a tougher round for Min Woo Lee and Jason Day. The pair started the day at 4 over, but Lee’s round of 75 left him at 7 over, while Day posted a 4 over 76 to be 8 over going into the final round.
ABC/AAP
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