LEADING THE WAY: Argentina’s Angel Cabrera (left) and Brandt Snedeker of the United States were tied for lead at 7-under, going into the final day’s play of the Augusta Masters.
DPA/Augusta
Another round completed, another leaderboard shakeup at the 2013 Masters amid controversy over Tiger Woods’ illegal drop.
Atop the leaderboard were two new names as Argentina’s Angel Cabrera and the Brandt Snedeker of the United States were deadlocked at 7-under after 54 holes. Both entered the round at 4-under and played rounds of 69 to climb the rankings in Augusta. They’ll play the final round together.
Snedeker played the first nine holes on Saturday to par before using birdies on 13, 15 and 16 to slide into the first place tie. “I don’t care what you say. On this course, 12 straight pars is a good way to start the day,” Snedeker said. “I realised that, just stayed patient, waited for something good to happen, and it did.”
Cabrera had a more adventurous day on the scorecard, with three bogeys two on par 5s and six birdies including on 18 to cap the day. “Today, you know, I wanted to hit the ball under par, and I did it,” Cabrera said. “Tomorrow there’s not a lot of margin for error. I’ve just got to play well so I can win the tournament.”
Woods finished the day at 3-under, tied for seventh, after being assessed a two-stroke penalty before taking the greens. It resulted from an illegal drop in Friday’s second round on the 15th hole. Former golfers and television analysis called for Woods to drop out of the tournament after being reprimanded by the Rules Committee, but the newly minted world number one teed off as scheduled.
An official statement from tournament headquarters cited a TV viewer’s call, which prompted a review of the play while Woods finished the 18th hole. It was decided that Woods had played in compliance with the rulebook.
Late on Friday, in an interview with ESPN, Woods admitted to having moved the ball back. A second review was held, and officials declared a violation had occurred. Because the initial decision was made prior to the round’s finish, disqualification was waived and instead a two-stroke penalty was invoked.
World number two from Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy, continued to struggle, hitting 7-over on the day to drop into a six-way tie for 44th place at 5-over.
Overnight leader, Australian Jason Day, bogeyed 17 and 18 to end the day at 5-under, tied with round one co-leader and countryman Marc Leishman in fourth.
Defending champion Bubba Watson, who only barely made the cut at 4-over-par, was first out, playing solo due to 61 golfers going into the final two rounds. Watson made good time on the course following Friday’s slow play.
He opened the round with three birdies to finish the first nine at 3-under, but double-bogeyed on 11 and bogeyed on 13. Back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16, before a final bogey on 18, left him at 2-under on the day but 2-over in the tournament.
Jumping up the leaderboard early was South Africa’s Tim Clark. He shot five birdies in the first nine and used two bogeys to cancel out two additional birdies in the second nine to finish the day at 4-under, tied in seventh with Woods. The duo will tee off together in the final round.
“Yeah, this surprises me,” Clark said. “It was gettable for me today being firmer the fairways being firmer, anyway and going off early, the front nine, the greens are somewhat receptive, so I was able to get some birdies early and sort of try and hang on.” He entered the third round at 2-over to play the best round midway through the day.
Teenage sensation from China, Guan Tianlang, fell off the radar by capping the day at 5-over for a tournament score of 9-over. He was the centre of Friday’s controversial official call when he was assessed a pace of play penalty on the 17th hole.
Phil Mickelson hit four bogeys and two double-bogeys to cap round three at 8-over. “Just had some poor iron play this week,” he said. “Unfortunately that’s kind of been the case this year for me with the exception of Phoenix.”