US Masters: Can Tiger Woods do it? Third round report and full leaderboard

Two years after believing his stellar career was over, Tiger Woods produced a vintage performance to put himself firmly in contention for a first major title since 2008 in the 83rd Masters.
Well done: Tiger Woods shakes hands with Ian Poulter on the 18th hole.Well done: Tiger Woods shakes hands with Ian Poulter on the 18th hole.
Well done: Tiger Woods shakes hands with Ian Poulter on the 18th hole.

But standing in his way is an inspired Open champion in the shape of Francesco Molinari, who played with Woods in the final round at Carnoustie last year on his way to lifting the Claret Jug.

Molinari, who also beat Woods three times alongside Tommy Fleetwood in compiling a perfect 5-0 record in the 2018 Ryder Cup, carded a flawless third round of 66 to finish 13 under par and has dropped just one shot all week, on the 11th hole on Thursday.

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“I wish I only had to worry about him but there are a few more that are going to try to shoot a low round so it’s going to be exciting,” said Molinari.

Woods is two shots back after riding his luck at times in a third round of 67, with Tony Finau alongside Woods after a brilliant 64, the third of the day after earlier efforts from Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay.

It is the first time that multiple rounds of 64 or lower have been recorded in the same week and more history will be made on Sunday, with the final round starting from both the first and 10th tees due to forecast thunderstorms in late afternoon.

The players will be sent out in groups of three from 0730 local time (1230 BST), with the final group getting under way at 0920 local time (1420 BST).

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“I’m playing for my fifth (green jacket) but I’m trying to win a golf tournament at the end of the day,” said Woods, who revealed he faces a 4am alarm call in order to get his body ready for the final round. “It’s about going out there and executing under pressure.”

The 43-year-old needed a nerve block simply to attend the Champions Dinner at Augusta National in 2017 and flew to London the same evening to consult a specialist about his ongoing back problems.

“I was done at that particular time,” Woods said when accepting an award from the Golf Writers Association of America earlier this week.

“It was tough and uncomfortable. I ended up going to England that night, saw a specialist there, [and] they recommended unfortunately for me the only way to get rid of the pain I was living in was to have the spinal fusion surgery.”

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The operation was a last roll of the dice but proved a success, Woods returning to competition in November that year and then playing a full season in 2018, culminating in his 80th PGA Tour in the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Woods had also contended for the last two majors of the year, leading the Open at Carnoustie with eight holes to play before finishing sixth and finishing runner-up to Brooks Koepka, who lies three shots off the lead here in pursuit of a fourth major win in his last seven appearances.

After dropping a shot on the fifth for the third day in succession, Woods made a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth before getting away with wayward drives on the ninth, 11th and 13th, the latter even resulting in a birdie after bouncing out of the trees and back into the semi-rough.

More orthodox birdies followed on the 15th and 16th but Molinari followed a front nine of 34 with four birdies in succession from the 12th and capped off a superb display with a brilliant bunker shot to save par on the 18th.

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After beginning the day four shots off the lead, Finau made a flying start with four birdies in the first six holes and then came within inches of an albatross on the par-five eighth before tapping in for an eagle.

Further birdies on the 13th and 15th completed a brilliant day for the 29-year-old, who famously popped his ankle back into place after dislocating it while celebrating a hole-in-one in the par-three contest last year.

England’s Ian Poulter is just four shots off the lead after compiling an excellent 68 alongside Woods, with Simpson alongside Poulter on nine under.

Rory McIlroy had earlier missed out on the low scoring, a third round of 71 effectively ending his chances of a first Masters title to complete the career grand slam.

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“It was just one of those weeks, just not quite had it,” McIlroy said after an erratic round containing an eagle, four birdies and five bogeys. “I knew my game was good coming in here, I’ve not let any external pressure get to me.

“I know I can play this golf course, just this week I have not played it well enough.”

Third round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72, (a) denotes amateurs):

203 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 67 66

205 Tony Finau 71 70 64, Tiger Woods 70 68 67

206 Brooks Koepka 66 71 69

207 Ian Poulter (Eng) 68 71 68, Webb Simpson 72 71 64

208 Dustin Johnson 68 70 70, Justin Harding (Rsa) 69 69 70, Xander Schauffele

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73 65 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 66 71, Matt Kuchar 71 69 68

209 Adam Scott (Aus) 69 68 72, Rickie Fowler 70 71 68

210 Jason Day (Aus) 70 67 73, Phil Mickelson 67 73 70, Justin Thomas 73 68 69,

Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 70 71, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 71 68, Patrick Cantlay 73 73

64

211 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 72 69, Bubba Watson 72 72 67

212 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 71 71 70, Corey Conners (Can) 70 71 71, Jordan Spieth

75 68 69

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213 Cameron Smith (Aus) 70 74 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 75 70 68, Patton

Kizzire 70 70 73, Kevin Tway 72 71 70, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 78 67 68,

Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 72 67

214 Charley Hoffman 71 71 72, Kyle Stanley 72 72 70, (a) Viktor Hovland (Nor)

72 71 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 72 70, Aaron Wise 75 71 68, Bryson DeChambeau

66 75 73, Kevin Kisner 69 73 72, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 72 70

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215 Keegan Bradley 76 68 71, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 73 71 71, Gary Woodland 70 71

74, (a) Takumi Kanaya (Jpn) 73 74 68

216 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 72 75, J.B. Holmes 70 72 74, Jimmy Walker 72

72 72, Charles Howell III 73 67 76

217 Kevin Na 71 73 73, (a) Alvaro Ortiz (Mex) 73 71 73, Patrick Reed 73 70 74

218 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 72 75, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 75 70 73, (a) Devon

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Bling 74 73 71, Andrew Landry 72 73 73, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 73 73 72, Keith

Mitchell 72 74 72, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 70 75

219 Haotong Li (Chn) 72 74 73, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 75 72, Martin Kaymer

(Ger) 73 74 72, Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 74 73 72

220 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 75 73, Zach Johnson 74 73 73

221 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 72 75, Billy Horschel 72 75 74

222 Alex Noren (Swe) 75 72 75