The third round of the Masters ended on Saturday and it was decided who were left without a chance of winning and who will fight for the green sack, one of the most coveted prizes in the world of sports, in addition to taking a juicy check. Before we get into what happened on Augusta's cold Saturday, I think it's worth stopping and telling two other Masters traditions.
One of them says that the club does not announce until Sunday at noon the total prize pool. The only thing that is known is that it will always be higher than the previous year, which in this case was 11.5 million dollars. To think that it will be around 12 million would be very successful, of which 2.16 will correspond to the winner. The other tradition takes place at the awards ceremony when the defending champion puts the green jacket on the new winner.
The bag is distinctive to club members and in 1937 Bobby Jones suggested that club members wear the sack during the week in order to help spectators get on the court. In 1949, the tradition was born of giving the green jacket to the champion, who can only wear it outside the club during the year of his reign. After that, you must return it and you can only use it within the club.
The 52 players who made it through the qualifying cut were faced with a brutal day in Augusta as had not happened since 2007. The radiant sun in the morning gave way to clouds of cold, the temperature never rises above 11 degrees and the thermal sensation was even lower. To this we had to add the wind with gusts that reached 30 km/h to complete a cocktail that most players liked very badly. Only 9 scores below par on the court and an average that was close to 75 strokes, the highest for a Masters round since 1983.
It always happens that some of those who leave early, who are the worst in the tournament, get inspired and play a great round, but when that doesn't happen the leaders realize that the court is playing difficult.
Scottie Scheffler started the day with a 5-lead and his start couldn't be better. Two birdies in the first 3 holes gave him a lot of calm and it lasted until the 12th hole. There the nerves appeared, he hit a couple of blows that made him suffer when the ball was in the air, but luckily for him they all ended up in good position. Only in the final hole did he hit a very bad starting shot, but he still managed to lose only one shot and finish the day with 3 ahead of Australian Cameron Smith, who with 68 presented the best card of the day and was the only one to break the barrier of the 70. The two of them will share the last outing on Sunday in Augusta and it is no coincidence. They were the top two at the start of 2022, with Smith winning the first tournament of the year in Hawaii, and the Players a few weeks ago, while Scheffler has just won 3 tournaments in the last two months.
Just as some played well, there were others who suffered during Saturday. One of them was Tiger Woods who strangely hit better off the tee than the first two days, hit more greens, but had his worst enemy in his putter: 4 greens of three putts and one of 4 putts did not allow Tiger to get a shot for Sunday and the 78 strokes are his worst record in 95 rounds at the Masters. Another one who had a hard time was the Chilean Joaquin Niemann who closed on Friday with a double bogey on the 18th and who repeated it again on Saturday for a round of 77 that leaves him without a chance. The young Niemann continues to accumulate experience in the Masters, a tournament where it is not very easy to win without having played it several times. In fact, and if we take out the winner of the first edition, only one player won in his debut and the Masters winners have played an average of 9 times before winning it. The record here is held by Sergio Garcia who only in his nineteenth presentation was able to put on the green jacket.
For today Sunday the weather is expected to be better, with some wind yes, but with temperatures that will be around 23 degrees. There are more players with chances for Sunday, but everything will depend on what the leader does. If he plays well, I think it will be a fight between him and Smith, but if Scheffler's start is not good, many more will be able to catch on in the fight and with better weather conditions someone coming from behind can sign 65 and sit and wait.
To enjoy the Masters Sunday on TV. The highest-rated golfing event of the year in the USA and the one that fans around the world are looking forward to most anxiously. If you are not golfers, I suggest that you even miss a while in the afternoon and turn on the television because you will see something unique. If you pay attention, you will see something surprising: there is not a single cable and the reason for this is that the entire court is wired under the ground. Something else Augusta pioneered when in 1941 they started the underground wiring for the tournament's scoring system. Only in Augusta.
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