Jordan Spieth picked a great time to play the best golf of his life. The 21-year-old owns a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the 2015 Masters.
After a somewhat up-and-down front nine to start the third round, Spieth weaved some magic on the back nine, hitting four birdies over a five-hole stretch. He leveled off a bit to close out Saturday, but Phil Mickelson and and Justin Rose will have some work to do Sunday if they're to overtake the leader.
Spieth is the youngest golfer in tournament history to lead after 36 and 54 holes, per Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman :
Spieth was on pace to have a round of historic proportions. According to Golf Channel's Justin Ray, no golfer ever finished at 18 under through three rounds of a major tournament. A double-bogey on No. 17 robbed Spieth of that opportunity to etch his name in the record books.
Tilghman found the silver lining:
Having gotten so close to winning a Masters title in 2014, Spieth views this year's tournament as a chance at a do-over.
"Last year left a bad taste in my mouth and I want to put it right," he said, per The Telegraph's James Corrigan . "Today felt a little bit different—I was more anxious. But I kept it together and that putt on the last was huge."
Greg Norman threw away what looked to be an unassailable lead at the 1996 Masters, so Spieth can't afford to fall asleep at the wheel Sunday. ESPN's Bomani Jones believes it's too early to anoint Spieth the 2015 champion:
Trey Wingo of ESPN added that we've seen this story before, although the details are somewhat different:
Epic collapses have happened, and as good Spieth has been so far, one bad hole can turn into two bad holes, which can turn into three bad holes. Then, all of a sudden, Mickelson, Rose or somebody else is only a stroke or two back and the pressure becomes immense.
Both Rose and Mickelson enjoyed strong days. They each shot a five-under 67 to move up the leaderboard.
Paul Pabst of The Dan Patrick Show was particularly happy to see Mickelson moving up since it could make for a more dramatic final day:
ESPN.com's Jason Sobel noted that should the 44-year-old win the Masters, he'd enter truly rarefied air:
After shooting a five-under 67—a round that included three eagles—on Friday, Dustin Johnson looked like he might be able to seriously challenge Spieth . Instead, the 30-year-old finished Saturday one over, which puts him at six under for the tournament.
At 10 strokes back, Johnson will need a lot of things to go right on Sunday if he's to have any sort of a chance. In short, he'll need to avoid doing this again, per The Augusta Chronicle:
Another golfer sitting at six under is Tiger Woods. The four-time Masters champion shot an impressive four-under 68 Saturday.
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout was one of many watching Tiger's every move:
Even if Woods doesn't win the Masters, Golf Channel felt that he's made a ton of progress at Augusta this year:
Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner unearthed a stat that illustrates Tiger may finally be on the right track in terms of competing at major tournaments:
Some golf fans might feel that Spieth 's big lead will mean that the final day of the Masters provides little to no drama. On the contrary, the fourth round won't be lacking in storylines , namely whether Spieth firmly establishes himself as the top young star in golf or if he falls apart in ignominious fashion.
No matter what, something spectacular will happen at Augusta on Sunday.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1CJcaNC
via IFTTT April 11, 2015 at 06:11PM
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