Sunday at Augusta - bring it on
IN: News | US PGA | US Masters (2003) | Round Three | by Bruce Young | 13 Apr 2003
At the completion of thirty-six holes at Augusta today it could be said that the US Masters appeared to have been turned upside down. After all, Tiger Woods only just made the cut and the players who were supposed to be figuring, namely the longer hitters, were, for the most part, nowhere to be seen.
In the space of just eighteen holes everything was to change dramatically. Canadian Mike Weir, the four-shot leader through thirty-six holes fell two strokes behind the shock third round leader Jeff Maggert. Darren Clarke, in second place leading into round three had disappeared from the radar screen and Tiger Woods jumped thirty-nine places with his third round 66 plus five ex-Masters champions now have some sort of shot at taking out the title tomorrow.
Maggert has struggled with his game over the past two years. After being a regular in the top 30 on the money list until 2001, the last two years have been a battle with his best finish coming at the US Open at Bethpage where he was third behind Woods. He is a grinding type of player who seems suited to the percentage-type play required for the big occasions, especially the US Open where he has finished six times in the top ten in ten starts. In his previous nine visits to Augusta, however, his best had been seventh (his only top ten) in 1996 behind Faldo and he had missed four of those nine cuts. As the scores would suggest this is a different Augusta this year, perhaps rewarding percentage play more than ever before.
Maggert is not a prolific winner of tournaments having won just two USPGA Tour events in almost 330 starts and that, coupled with the fact that he has not been in regular contention of late (his best this season is 11th at the TPC), may count against him down the stretch tomorrow.
Weir is hanging in there, although his fall from a six shot lead halfway through round three will leave some doubt in his mind as he heads into Sunday at Augusta. He is a tough and focused character and it would not be a surprise to see him bouncing back tomorrow.
Woods was his brilliant self today with a near-faultless 66 after just sneaking inside the cut line with a great up and down at his final hole this morning. It may be, as he sits down tonight to assess his position and the situation that faces him tomorrow, that he figures a final round of 68 will be good enough. Singh and Toms are also ahead of him and both have the benefit of a major behind them, eliminating that area of doubt. The golf course, already difficult, is not going to get any easier tomorrow as the greens dry out further and the pins are even further tucked away and so it may be that a score of around four or five under will be good enough to win.
There are therefore many others wo are still in contention, even those as far back as one over stand a genuine chance with a five or six under par round. Amongst those seriously contending will be vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara and Fred Couples, all with Masters wins to their name, plus those mentioned earlier and the likes of Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, David Toms, Jim Furyk yet to win a Masters but players with good records at Augusta anyway.
Given that the current leader's credentials are of some concern then there are many with a chance just as it should be on Sunday at Augusta. There are the intriguing stories of some of the game's leading players yet to win a major such as Mickelson, Furyk and Weir, up against those that have been there before and those who have come from the clouds to put themselves in a position to win such as Maggert and Jonathon Byrd. We should not either leave out the likes of PGA champion Rich Beem who has found some lost form after missing six out of nine cuts this season including his last three plus KJ Choi and Nick Price.
Ten of the top seventeen on the leaderboard at the end of round three are players who have majors to their name, and it remains to be seen if another can join them tomorrow.
