Masters Sunday TEE TIMES here. live scoreboard here
This 85th version of the Masters will be remembered by me so far by 2 exceptional runs, and the extraordinary driving of the golf ball by Corey Connors.
First on Thursday when Justin Rose inexplicably played his last 11 holes in -9 to open a 4 shot lead.
Then on Saturday, after a rain delay Hideki Matsuyama began Amen Corner by pushing his tee shot wide right, found a good lie amongst the trees and played one of the shots of the week from under the trees to 8 feet at 11 for a birdie, and played his last 8 holes in -6 for 65 to open up a 4 shot lead at -11 over a packed field going into play later this morning.
Neither Rose, nor Matsuyama really know why they suddenly got so hot.
Now he is the rabbit, unlikely to repeat a 65, and the eager pack behind him includes Rosey in a group of 4 at -7.
Then Corey Connors at -6. Over the year he is 9th in Driving Accuracy % 69.6. This week he leads the field with 80%. On Friday he hit 14/14 fairways yesterday 12/14, Brandel Chamblee said it was as good a display of driving that you could expect to see.
He has shot 73, 69 68, including a hole in one at the 6th, he's hit 70% of greens in regulation.
Corey's achilles has always been his putter, and although through the first 3 days he has missed a couple of tiddlers, and missed a few birdie opportunities that say a Bill Casper would have converted, the truth is he has saved par on numerous occasions with 5-10 footers on Augusta's electric quick sloping greens.
TEE TIMES: So today he will play with young American Will Zalatoris at 2.20pm in the third to last pairing, followed by Justin Rose and Aussie Marc Leishman at 2.30pm then Matsuyama and Xander Schauffele at 2.40pm
Mac Hughes has had an excellent week after going to the final 16 in the Dell Match Play in his last outing, and he will play with Shane Lowry at 12.20pm.
He has 3 rounds of 72 E overall, and has shown off his vaunted short game and putting skills repeatedly.
Weather: partly sunny, warm, only 15% chance of showers, with the wind at 19kph SW this afternoon.
Summary: So it's the classic case of the fox and the hounds, or the rabbit in this case. I expect Matsuyama to come back to the pack, nobody else except Rosey shot 65 this week if memory serves me, and the pins will be in their usual Sunday spots, so no surprise there.
There are a dozen storylines, of course much of America is pulling for Jordan Spieth at -5 just to name one.
I do know Corey will drive the ball as well as anybody today, and remember there is no rough to speak of at Augusta. I also know his iron play will be among the best. So he'll need to make a few big putts and of course have Lady Luck offering a helping hand, and who knows, he could become a Canadian legend at 29, and join Mike Weir as the Masters Champion.
Bryan Angus
No comments:
Post a Comment