Casey close to record 63 as Masters heats up

2015 champion Spieth on Reed’s tail as five players move into contention

Paul Casey missed out on a share of the course record at Augusta National as the final round of the Masters got off to a mesmerising start.

Casey was on course to equal the record of 63 shared by Greg Norman and Nick Price, or even match the major championship record of 62 held by Branden Grace, when he covered his first 15 holes in nine under.

But the 40-year-old was unable to save par from a greenside bunker on the 17th and three-putted the last for a 65 to finish five under par.

At the top of the leaderboard, Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy were trading blows of varying quality as Reed attempted to win his first major and McIlroy sought to complete the career grand slam.

The drama from the final pair began immediately as Reed’s drive finished close to a tree to the left of the fairway and McIlroy hit a wild drive to the right.

McIlroy was lucky to remain in bounds and even more fortunate to have a clean shot, the 28-year-old finding a greenside bunker with his approach and saving par.

Reed appeared to hit the tree on his backswing but also ended up in the same bunker as McIlroy, only to thin his third shot to the back of the green.

The resulting bogey cut Reed’s lead to two shots and McIlroy looked like getting on level terms after a spectacular approach to the par-five second, but was unable to convert the eagle putt from four feet.

But with Reed unable to make birdie after finding a bunker with his second shot, the gap was down to a single shot.

The momentum quickly swung back in Reed’s direction on the third as McIlroy made bogey after his approach span off the front of the green and Reed birdied from 15 feet.

McIlroy bounced back with a birdie on the fourth only to bogey the fifth, while Reed three-putted the sixth but then followed up with an approach to tap-in for birdie on the next.

Through 12, at 14 under par, Reed was five ahead of McIlroy who had dropped back to -9, but 2015 champion Jordan Spieth moved right into the mix birdieing the 15th to move one shot behind Reed. Ricky Fowler was only a shot further back at 12 under.

Reed was looking to win his first major and potentially become the first player in Masters history to break 70 in all four rounds.

McIlroy of course had even loftier targets as he chased the win required to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in completing a career grand slam.

And most of the omens appeared to be in McIlroy’s favour, as he acknowledged earlier in the week.

“It’s hard to believe it’s my 10th Masters, but (Ben) Hogan and (Sam) Snead won on their 10th go,” he said. “Arnold (Palmer) won his first Masters at 28.

“There’s a lot of different comparisons you could make. But it’s all really meaningless unless you go out there and actually do it.”

In addition, McIlroy’s position at the start of the day matched that of the only other man to complete the grand slam at the Masters, Sarazen beating Craig Wood in a play-off after beginning the final round three shots behind.

All four of McIlroy’s major wins came after being in the top five after the first round, an opening 69 here leaving him in a tie for fourth.

But all four also came when he led after 54 holes.

Rory McIlroy, above, was aiming to complete a career grand slam of majors, but Patrick Reed, below, was in the driving seat last night.

Pictures: Getty,