Story highlights
Jordan Spieth holds lead in 2015 Masters
Strong starts from McIlroy and Woods
Both fall away as 21 year old Spieth takes control
Saturday at the Masters, like any PGA tournament, has been dubbed ‘Moving Day’.
It’s the day after the fat has been cut and the big dogs make their move up – or occasionally down – the leader board.
Players rose and players fell away on Moving Day at the 2015 Masters.
Rory McIlroy went out in 32 and briefly raised the crowd’s hopes that he had a sniff of completing an improbable Grand Slam on Sunday night.
But he dropped two shots late on in the round to finish six under par.
Woods comeback?
A rejuvenated Tiger Woods showed touches of his old class mixed with the ragged unpredictability that has marked his new game to finish six under too.
A huge improvement, but still a long way from him wearing the green jacket again.
“It could have been a super low today,” a disappointed Woods said after his round.
“All in all. It should have been two shots better.”
Phil Mickelson powered around the course, threatening to challenge too, finishing on eleven under. As did a late Justin Rose surge, where he fired four birdies in a row to finish twelve under and in second place.
In the end, there was lots of moving, but no one could move quick enough or far enough to trouble Jordan Spieth.
Infallible
The 21 year old has been nothing short of a sensation at Augusta.
His infallible first two rounds gave the 21 year old from Dallas, Texas a five shot lead going in to the third round.
That has happened only three times at Augusta before, and on all three occasions the leader has gone on to win.
Spieth’s 15 birdies are just 10 away from Phil Mickelson’s Masters mark set in 2001. He could also break Tiger Woods 270 set in 1997.
As it happened, Spieth played a steady, almost conservative round.
When he made the occasional mistake, like the bogey at 15, he hit back straight away with a birdie next hole. As his third round came to a close the birdies flowed, his putting impeccable. The only nerves on show came during the last two holes with a double bogey at the 17.
Echos of 1996?
When reminded of some of the great Augusta comebacks, including Nick Faldo’s 11 shot swing in 1996, Tiger Woods still believes anything is possible.
“It really is,” he said. “We saw what happened in 1996. You never know. It depends on the conditions.”
He is, of course, right.
As Greg Norman knows only too well, anything can happen on the final day.
But that kind of crescendo also depends on Spieth experiencing a Greg Norman-style meltdown.
Spieth’s double bogey on the 17th and wobble on the 18th will give the chasing pack some hope.
Yet, for all the movement of Mickelson, Woods, Rose and McIlroy, they made just a one shot dent into Spieth’s second round lead.
He will begin Sunday four shots ahead.