AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s not often the word “gettable” is used to describe Augusta National on a Saturday at the Masters, but that’s exactly the adjective several players used after this year’s third round.
Nineteen of the 54 players who made the cut posted rounds in the 60s on Saturday, led by the 65s posted by Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Young. In all, 35 broke par on a day in which Augusta National yielded a scoring average of 70.63, lowest in a third round in Masters history.
After the field averaged 74.65 on Thursday, Ireland’s Shane Lowry predicted this might prove to be “the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while due to the dry and firm conditions. Lowry made a hole-in-one on Saturday that catapulted him to a 4-under-par 68 and 9 under for the tournament.
The scoring average dipped to 72.85 on Friday, leading many players to predict tournament officials would ratchet up the difficult dial for the third round, but most were surprised to find the greens mostly still receptive and many pins in attackable positions.
“Pretty easy,” Max Homa said when asked how the course was playing after posting what he felt was a disappointing 71. “The front nine is pretty — I mean, very gettable. I didn’t feel like it was too fast, too firm. Obviously the weather is amazing, so it helps.”
Even Rory McIlroy, the co-leader despite shooting a 1-over-par 73 on Saturday, acknowledged low scores were out there for the taking.
“The course was obviously gettable,” he said. “There was a lot of good scores out there, and the quality of the chasing pack is obvious. There was a lot of guys that shot good scores.”
Patrick Reed said on Thursday that he hoped the tournament officials would ratchet up the difficulty level. Adam Scott echoed that sentiment to a degree given the lack of the traditional winds that create additional difficulty around Augusta National.
“I think the firmer and faster they can get it, the better,” Scott said. “I mean, there’s no wind. The greens are still very, very friendly.
“I don’t think it’s the scariest I’ve ever seen it here, but I love seeing the fairways play firmer. On some of these holes that turn, having the ball run and you’re having to be more precise with your line off the tee is an important defense of the golf course.”
Jason Day wasn’t complaining after shooting a 4-under 68 that left him in a tie for fifth, just three shots off the lead at 8 under for the tournament.
“I expected to see it a little bit different than what I saw today. I mean, you were hitting shots in there that were spinning,” Day said. “Typically sometimes you get to Saturday at Augusta and they’re bouncing. It’s really difficult to hold some shots.
“So, I thought the green speeds were lovely. I thought the green firmness was great. It was very fair, and I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot of, like, decent scores out there, which brings in a lot of the crowd, which is great.”
Scheffler also took advantage of an early tee time to make his turn in 5-under 31 on his way to a career Masters-best 65 that could have been even lower. He’ll go out in the fourth-to-last group on Sunday, when the course will likely be at its firmest and fastest of the week.
“It depends on what the leadership here wants to do,” Scheffler said. “If they want to see some lower scores, they can make them softer if they want. They’re already pretty firm, so they can just go full Bay Hill (at the Arnold Palmer Invitational) and just let them die.
“It’s Augusta. They’ll figure it out after that.”
–Derek Harper, Field Level Media
