Flawless world No 1 Dustin Johnson heading for US Masters triumph

The world No 1 fired an eagle and five birdies in a flawless third round of 65 at Augusta National to finish 16 under par and match the 54-hole scoring record set by Jordan Spieth in 2015.

A closing 69 or better would see Johnson surpass the 72-hole record of 18 under, shared by Spieth and defending champion Tiger Woods, who was the last world number one to win the Masters in 2002.

Australia’s Cameron Smith, Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Korea’s Sungjae Im were Johnson’s nearest challengers on 12 under, with Ancer and Im attempting to become the first players to win the green jacket on their tournament debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Shot of the day

Dustin Johnson’s eagle on the second in round three was not captured by the television feed, but Matt Wallace’s from earlier in the day was not a bad substitute.

Round of the day

Dustin Johnson began the third round tied for the lead but separated himself from the pack with a stunning 65.

Statistic of the day

Tiger Woods fans could dare to dream thanks to this strange coincidence, but his chances of a successful title defence disappeared with a third round of 72.

Easiest hole

The par-five second hole was again the easiest, playing to an average of 4.533 thanks to two eagles and 29 birdies.

Toughest hole

The 18th played as the toughest hole with an average of 4.383, yielding just four birdies, 21 bogeys and three double bogeys.

On the up

Dustin Johnson’s chances of a second major title as he opened up a commanding lead.

On the slide

Jon Rahm’s mood after the combustible Spaniard struggled to a third round of 72, which included a seven on the eighth.

Collated third round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

200 Dustin Johnson 65 70 65

204 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 68 67 69, Cameron Smith (Aus) 67 68 69, Sungjae Im

(Kor) 66 70 68

205 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 65 73 67

206 Justin Thomas 66 69 71

207 Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 66 72, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 70 68 69, Patrick Reed 68 68

71

208 Brooks Koepka 70 69 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 68 68 72, Rory McIlroy

(NIrl) 75 66 67, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 71 66 71

209 Patrick Cantlay 70 66 73

210 Kevin Na 73 68 69, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 70 66 74, Paul Casey (Eng) 65 74

71, Cameron Champ 68 74 68, Corey Conners (Can) 74 65 71

211 Scottie Scheffler 71 68 72, Tiger Woods 68 71 72, Xander Schauffele 67 73

71, Shane Lowry (Irl) 74 69 68, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 66 74, Webb Simpson 67 73

71

212 Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 73 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 72 70, Billy Horschel

70 70 72

213 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 71 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 70 72 71, Justin Rose

(Eng) 67 70 76, Bryson DeChambeau 70 74 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 70 75,

Nick Taylor (Can) 72 72 69, Lee Westwood (Eng) 68 74 71

214 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 68 73 73, Bubba Watson 74 69 71, (a) Andy Ogletree 73

70 71, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 70 71 73, Shugo Imahira (Jpn) 72 70 72, Mike Weir (Can)

71 72 71, Ian Poulter (Eng) 72 71 71, Collin Morikawa 70 74 70

215 Tony Finau 69 75 71, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 69 71 75, Sung Kang (Kor)

75 69 71, Rickie Fowler 70 70 75, Chez Reavie 71 72 72, Charles Howell III 71 70

74

216 (a) John Augenstein 69 72 75, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 69 73 74

217 Zach Johnson 73 71 73, Victor Perez (Fra) 70 71 76, Jordan Spieth 74 70 73,

Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 74 70 73

218 Phil Mickelson 69 70 79, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 71 74

220 Jimmy Walker 71 73 76

221 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 72 78, Brandt Snedeker 71 71 79