At a flooded Augusta National, Koepka builds a lead and Woods sinks

AUGUSTA, Georgia – The raindrops rolled to the turf in sheets, umbrellas ticked on their way down, and peed wherever they could: in shoes, in plastic beer cups, on the famous – and on Saturdays used to be – fiery greens at Augusta National Golf Club .

The latter was a problem, as ponds are not a place to play a Masters Tournament. Even though he was only on the seventh hole, Brooks Koepka was only so sorry. By the time tournament officials called off third-round play at around 3:15 p.m., he was one of only 11 players to have taken one or more strikes on a cold, mostly miserable Masters Saturday.

“That seventh green was soaked,” said Koepka, whose score for the week improved to 13 under par. “It was very tough. I thought I had a good bunker shot and it looked like it just slid across the water, so I’m glad we stopped.

Play resumes Sunday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Koepka starts with a four stroke lead over Jon Rahm, who was two behind at the start of his third round. Everyone else in the 54-man field is at least seven off the lead and expect a decidedly soft course.

“I think it will be doable,” said Sam Bennett, the Texas A&M University amateur who ranks third, six under. “I guess we still have to play it since we started playing it, which might be a bit difficult,” he added, referring to the requirement for players to play the ball as it lies on the fairway. even when it’s dirty. “I’m sure there will be some mud balls in there.”

Probably yes, since Georgia mud isn’t easily removed in the spring by deploying Augusta National’s SubAir system to suck water from greens.

Throughout Masters week, players and organizers had pondered the threat of rain and the possibility of the first Monday finish since 1983. Tournament officials indicated they still hoped to wrap up the competition on Sunday, with the final round scheduled . start at 12.30pm from the first and 10th tees.

It has been a rough time for Augusta National, a club that normally enjoys glorious weather during the Masters. The sky forced two stoppages of play on Friday, so when it cleared enough on Saturday for players to finish the second round and begin the third, it looked like a modest victory.

The hours of play were enough for Koepka to find a bunker at No. 2 and still make a birdie there – for the second consecutive day. (On Thursday, he also birdieed there, without the gritty detour.) Rahm also birdied the hole on Saturday, though his back-to-back bogeys, at Nos. 4 and 5, eventually put him on the road for the afternoon at nine below.

For the third round, tournament organizers used groups of three and a two-tee start to try to bank as much golf as possible. When play was interrupted, the men at the top of the standings seemed somewhat content.

The feeling was very different on the bottom where Tiger Woods was tied in 54th. He had been stubbornly striving all morning to be the best mediocre version of himself, and it had been just enough to make the cut that drove Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau out of the tournament much sooner than they would have liked.

So there was Woods, who hasn’t missed a Masters cut since turning pro in 1996, bundled up with his comrades as if the tournament had turned into a British Open weighed down by rain and wind.

You could be forgiven for wondering if it was worth it.

Woods started his third round early Saturday afternoon with a perfect drive from the 10th tee, but his approach shot to the plateau green was short and rolled back into the fairway, leading to a bogey. After three routine pars, Woods, whose swing seemed stiffer as Augusta’s temperatures dipped into the 1940s, made a fumbled pass on the ball off the 14th tee and hooked it into a line of trees to the left of the 14th fairway. That led to another bogey.

After a drive on the fairway and a safe second shot on the par-5 15th hole, Woods appeared to limp as he made his way down the steep hill to the green. His pitch shot to the green landed on the putting surface, but had too much spin and rolled backwards into the pond. His next attempt to clear the water stayed on the green, but after two putts, Woods had his first double bogey of the tournament.

As he walked onto the tee for the short par-3 16th hole, Woods’ stride seemed shorter and his movements limited. His swing at the golf ball was clumsy, and the shot swerved left and well in front of its target and landed in the water hazard next to the hole. His third shot stopped 12 yards from the hole, and two putts later Woods had registered back-to-back double bogeys, reducing his score for the tournament to nine over.

Koepka, who is chasing his first major win since 2019, was 22 strokes ahead. He is 30 holes and a dubious weather forecast away from his first Masters title. According to the tournament’s official forecast, a “continuous drizzle” could bring on Sunday morning.

The meteorologists also added a new feature to the weather update: a Monday forecast, just in case.