AUGUSTA, Ga. – The good news for Tiger Woods was he got a standing ovation from fans on the 18th green after he completed his round of 82 on Saturday.
That was about as good as it got for Woods, who struggled to shoot his highest score in a major.
Woods, 48, said afterwards his warmup didn’t go well and it continued that way on the course. He made his 24th straight cut on Friday which is the tournament record.
When Saturday started he was just 1 over par and held out hope of possible making a run for his sixth Masters title. That was never in the cards.
“I wouldn’t say necessarily mental reps,” he said about his round that saw him make two double bogeys and eight bogeys. “It’s just that I haven’t competed and played much. When I had chances to get it flipped around and when I made that putt at 5, I promptly three-putted 6 and flub a chip at 7 and just got it going the wrong way, and when I had opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.”
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Woods said his team will get him ready to play for Sunday’s final round, but as the fans gave him a long ovation as he came up to the 18th green that might have been his last walk up the 18th for this tournament at least. He heads into Sunday’s final round 11 over par.
“It will be a long night and a long warmup session, but we’ll be ready,” he said.
Rory looking ahead
Rory McIlroy’s bid to win the career grand slam is over. He shot 1 under 71 on Saturday but is 3 over for the tournament heading into Sunday’s final round.
“I’ll just go out and finish on a positive note,” he said. “Shoot a good round of golf and move on to Hilton Head next week in a good frame of mind, I guess.”
McIlroy had a good reason for adding Hilton Head to his schedule.
“I think I’m like 50th in the FedEx Cup,” he said. “I need to get all the events under my belt as I can.”
Zalatoris fires even-par 72 on Saturday
It wasn’t much of a moving day for Will Zalatoris, the former Wake Forest star. He fired an even par 72 with four birdies and four bogeys. He was especially miffed at the bogey on the par-5 15th but he re-bounded nicely with pars on 16, 17 and 18.
“You’ve just got to take what it gives you,” he said about less wind on Saturday than in the first two rounds. “The par-5s you’re able to do some damage, but the greens are getting really dicey. (Holes) 16, 17, 18 were wicked fast and wicked firm and had some really slopey pins, which we’re used to.”
Zalatoris said his goal on Sunday is to post a good number to put him in a good frame of mind for the next six weeks that he’s playing.
“I would have liked to have gotten it back to at least red numbers just to have a chance,” said Zalatoris, who is 3 over for the tournament. “But throw up a good one (on Sunday) and keep it going for the next six weeks.”
Also shooting an even par 72 was Cam Young, another former Wake Forest star. Young missed a par putt on 18 and is 1 under for the tournament heading into Sunday’s final round.
Young had a double bogey on the 12th when he hit his tee ball over the green, pitched on to about 25 feet, but three-putted from there. Young will start Sunday's round six shots behind the leader Scottie Scheffler..
Zach Johnson apologizes sort of
There are cameras and microphones everywhere and Zach John-son was caught saying a bad word after putting out for his triple bogey on the 12th hole on Friday.
Johnson, who failed to make the cut and was the 2007 Masters champion, was asked about it afterwards. It appeared that the remark by Johnson was made toward the fans back at the tee box after there was some applause for his triple bogey.
“I swore at the patrons?” he asked. “That’s laughable. That’s completely laughable. I can’t hear the patrons, No. 1. No, 2, I just made a triple bogey on the 12th hole that evidently is going to make me miss the cut, which at the time I knew was pretty sensitive in the sense that I needed to keep making pars.”
Johnson went on to say that he was sorry if it appeared that he was cussing out the fans.
“If I’ve said anything, which I’m not going to deny, especially if it’s on camera, one, I apologize, and two, it was fully directed towards myself entirely because I can’t hear anything behind me,” he said. “Does that make sense?”
Fowler not concerned with par-3 curse
Ricky Fowler, who shot 1 under 71 on Saturday, was asked about the par-3 curse at Augusta National. Since 1960 when the par-3 contest became a tradition nobody who won that event went on to win the Masters.
Fowler won on Wednesday the par-3 contest.
“It’s got to be broken at some point,” Fowler said. “….I thought it will always be fun to try and do both. I’ve got one leg of it. Got work on the big course next.”
Fowler said he likes the trophy he won for the par-3 contest.
“I got some great crystal, and a crystal bowl out of it,” he said. “I got my name over there forever. Whether they like it or not, my name is a part of Augusta forever.”
Mickelson says ’07 wind was just as tough
The windy conditions that saw scores balloon on Friday is something that Phil Mickelson has seen before.
Mickelson, who has played at the Masters for 31 years, said the conditions were tough on everybody.
“There’s been a couple of really tough wind days,” he said about the first two rounds. “Like I said, if you fought hard and kind of stayed in it, this weekend should be nice and give you some opportunities to make a move.”
Short putts….
The winner of Sunday’s Masters will get $3.6 million with second place getting $2.1 million and third pocketing $1.3 million. The 50th place winner will get $50,400….
Raleigh’s Grayson Murray, a former Wake Forest golfer, had a rough Saturday shooting 78. He’s at 12 over heading into Sunday’s round. Murray, who is playing in his first Masters, had a triple bogey on the 17th when he took two to get out of the greenside bunker and then three-putted for a seven….
Akshay Bhatia, who grew up outside of Raleigh in Wake Forest, is playing in his first Masters. He shot a 74 on Saturday and is at 5 over heading into Sunday’s final round. “This is seven weeks in a row for me playing,” he said. “It’s just a lot of golf. Then when you come to a major last minute, especially with the highs of winning, it’s pretty challenging.”…