Tiger is +3 on the front nine of his second round, putting him at +4 overall. Cut currently projected at +5.
Two sub-70 rounds by Patrick Reed have him a 9-under, with a 2-shot lead. Today’s round (-6) included 9 birdies. Plenty of talent within plausible reach of the lead.
Tiger makes the cut - but he’ll need a huge improvement to be any sort of factor.
Wheels came off for Phil Michelson: triple bogey on #9, then a back nine at +4. But he still made the cut.
Sergio goes 81-78 and misses the cut by 10 strokes (precisely how many he wasted on #13 yesterday). Defending his title against 86 challengers, he finishes 85th.
(Am I the only one left in this thread?)
Wet conditions and lots of low scores today. Rory McIlroy goes 7-under, which puts him at -11 - yet he’s still 3 back of Reed (5-under), whose -14 puts him in striking distance of the Masters’ record (-18). But it would be unwise to expect such score-friendly conditions and course setup tomorrow.
Reed had interesting results on the back 9: he took 8 total strokes (two bogies) on the par-three holes, and just 6 (two eagles) on the par-fives. With 3-under or better tomorrow, he’ll have four sub-70 rounds; I don’t believe that’s ever been done.
Tiger stays at +4. Par can’t properly be called a bad score at the Masters (especially when you start bogey-bogey), but it was far from what someone spoken of as a pre-contest favorite needed today.
Nope, you’re not the only one left on this thread. I spent the day watching baseball, but I’m just now catching up on the golf on my Tivo. I’m not buying Reed to carry it on tomorrow, this is Rory McIlroy’s time to step up.
I’m a Phil fan but ugh, this hasn’t been his weekend.
He was looking fully competitive until the 9th hole yesterday. Since then, it’s been grim: 9 over par, including one double and two triple bogies (and, to be fair, an eagle today at #8).
Can’t be much fun watching the young guys bounding up the leaderboard (11 rounds below 70 today) while you’re sliding down it.
I assume that the Masters’ record of no one scoring in the 60s for four rounds will continue. What is yet to be determined is whether this means Reed gets passed up by someone behind him, or whether it means that scoring conditions are so poor tomorrow that no one goes low, and Reed simply needs a 71 or so to lock it up.
ETA: I live about three hours away from Augusta, and it’s raining here, and cold. Tomorrow is expected to be cold and windy. I’m thinking low scores are not likely.
I am hoping Rory wins…or Fred:)
4th round starts in less than hour. Rain has cleared out and the sub-air system is probably set to 11. Hope the sun comes out and winds pick up to 10-12 mph and dries the place out. Supposed to be relatively cool.
I think Rory gets it done today. Hope one of the “pretenders” (Dustin, Justin or Jordan) takes it deep this afternoon and gives Rory and Patrick something to think about.
Jordan? no
Should be a good final round. Wouldn’t mind seeing Rickey get off to a hot start and put some pressure on the guys behind him.
Reed looked pretty tough yesterday. Rather than him melting down, I’d prefer him to get a bogey early and Ricky and Rory to get a birdie or 2 to make it a horserace. Thought Rory would take a hit when he dumped it in the azaleas. Would like the course to play dry and fast! Reed showed some possible vulnerability w/ his driver…
Personally, just happy to be spared incessant coverage of Tiger!
Golf threads never get much action around here.
Being 10, 9 and 9 strokes off the lead, they’ll need to do something remarkable. (Though it’s worth noting that we don’t have to peer far into the past to see leaders imploding during the final round.)
I’ve got it recorded and I’m about an hour behind, but just saw Rory on #2. I don’t care much for Reed, so I’d much prefer to see Rory win. Spieth was my favorite, but it’s just too late for him. He’s playing great today so far, but Friday and Saturday were his undoing.
I’ll second the appreciation of not much coverage of Tiger today. I want to watch the guys who are leading.
No matter who wins, I guarantee that tomorrow, the headline in every newspaper and sports web site will be, "TIGER ALMOST BREAKS PAR!!!
Ain’t it the truth! The press has to pander to the folks who know nothing about golf other than “Tiger Woods”.
But Jordan is playing lights out and Rory and Patrick are just so-so. This is exciting!
Xema - I had something, but I got distracted. Seriously, there just aren’t that many super-compelling stories this time. Will Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam? Will Patrick Reed finally figure out how to close the deal? Does anyone actually remember Tin Cup? Heck, every time there’s rain you can count on the commentators going on and on and on and on and on (AND ON! AND ON! AND ON!) about it, and all I remember hearing was that the greens were soft and Phil Mickelson was really feeling like crap now.
As for Woods, I’ve become resigned to the fact that he drives ratings and the casuals still go wild over him and he makes the sport richer, and therefore it’s natural that everyone talk about him constantly and shut up etc. I’m not going to fight it anymore. If ESPN and CBS say that Woods gets all the hype, fine. I give up. You win. That said, there is one thing I desperately hope I see someday, somehow…honesty. Just once, just once I’d like someone to own up to the fact that he’s just not good anymore. This is a man who won 14 majors and had a death grip on the #1 ranking for years, and now he almost wins a third-tier event and everyone’s gushing about how he’s back. He’ll, just this tournament, after he was +4 after 2 rounds and completely dead in the water, Dinsdale jumped right in with how he’s so often came storming back while everyone else melted into puddles of failure. Yeah, back when he was actually good and his biggest rival was Phil Mickelson when he was choking left and right and babbling about inferior equipment. Nobody had any illusions about Arnold Palmer, dammit; why can’t anyone show Tiger the same courtesy?
Looks like it’s just not going to be McIlroy’s day. In an interview earlier today, he noted that time eventually catches up to everyone and he wanted to achieve as much as possible while he could. It’s a great attitude, and it’s tough to see him fade in the stretch like this. Jordan Spieth is currently 2 back and has to be considered the odds-on favorite. You do not want him breathing down your neck. When the tournament’s in striking distance, he goes for the jugular.
Spieth puts the 12th hole bad ju-ju behind him!
Impressive efforts by Fowler and especially Spieth put serious pressure on Reed, but he didn’t wilt.
Pretty impressive by Reed. I’d like to see Fowler and Spieth pile up a few more big wins - just to hopefully put Tiger further in the rear view mirror. Had it taped, so could FF through the shots wasted on him…
My favorite shot of the day was Bubba putting off the green INTO A BUNKER! :eek: Man, I don’t think I ever managed to do THAT!
Rahm looked strong, but Reed just wouldn’t quit.
McIlroy just couldn’t make it happen. Sure had his chances early.
Don’t care much for Reed, but congrats anyway! That putt on 17 was crazy. If it hadn’t hit the hole, it probably would have been 15 feet past. The Masters rarely disappoints, and this one was no different. Onto the US Open!
I said it would take something remarkable from Jordan Speith to seriously contend - and he produced that. A bad drive on the final hole led to his only bogey of the day (after nine birdies) and kept him from tying the Master’s record - and qualifying for a playoff with Patrick Reed.
He can claim of the best final rounds ever in any major tournament.