MacIntyre feels right at home at Augusta
Masters latest
THROUGH the darkest skies that Augusta could throw at him, Robert MacIntyre continues to shine in what is proving to be a very impressive Masters debut.
A downpour led to a suspension in play during yesterday’s third round, but it did nothing to dampen the spirit of the young Scot as he surged up the leaderboard.
After making the cut with ease, MacIntyre carded a second successive two-under par round of 70 to move within striking distance of the top 10 heading into the final day.
As Justin Rose and Hideki Matsuyama traded blows at the top of the leaderboard, the lefty from Glencruitten Golf Club in Oban sat 12th after a round which featured no shortage of thrills and spills.
In commentary on Sky Sports,
Butch Harmon revealed that he hadn’t ever heard of MacIntyre until only a few weeks ago.
Harmon went on to explain, however, that he has been mightily impressed by what he has seen from the 24-year-old thus far — and it’s not difficult to see why.
It was a rollercoaster ride for the left-hander, but it made for highly entertaining viewing as he charged his way around Augusta in typically confident style.
He carded just two pars in his opening nine holes, supplemented by four birdies and three bogeys.
His round had a bit of everything. Every time he dropped a shot, he recovered with a birdie or a par. It was a terrific display of character and resilience for one so young.
MacIntyre’s back nine was more steady. A sloppy bogey at the par five 13th was redeemed by two birdies at holes 14 and 17.
His name is not a million miles from the first page of the leaderboard. He is threatening the established order, just like he did at the WGC Match Play in Texas last month.
If he can piece together another good round today, then a top-10 finish is not beyond his reach. It would be an outstanding achievement on his Masters debut.
Rose, meanwhile, was battling it out with Matsuyama as the Japansese star turned on the style on the back nine.
Matsuyama fired four birdies and an eagle in the space of seven holes around Amen Corner and grabbed the clubhouse lead on 11 under.
For Rose, the 40-year-old Englishman had mixed two birdies with as many bogeys to keep his nose in front of his playing partner, American Will Zalatoris.
On what had been a tightly packed leaderboard until Matsuyama’s late burst of birdies, Rose kept himself ahead of a host of challengers, but Jordan Spieth’s hopes of another green jacket began to fade as he failed to get anything going.
One man miles away from contention was Bryson DeChambeau.
Rest easy, green jackets. Emerge from that darkened room and take a chill pill. The Mad Scientist will be leaving the premises today no nearer to executing his demonic ambition to bring Augusta National to its knees.
For the second time in five months the build-up had been all about the extravagant lines that DeChambeau was intending to take off certain tees. For the second time in 150 days, Augusta’s chairman Fred Ridley issued a plea to the ruling bodies to do something about the distance the ball travels.
Yet once more, he is proving a bit-part curiosity. Just as he was in November, in fact, when he lost out to 63-year-old Bernhard Langer. This time the man who might give him trouble is 55-year-old Jose Maria Olazabal.
The US Open champion had followed up his opening 76 with a fine 67 on Friday that brought him to the fringes of contention. Clearly he needed a fast start to continue his pursuit of the leaders but the Californian went the other way. In a hurry.
After failing to birdie the par-five second, where his drive finished amidst the pine needles, he found himself needing the golf equivalent of snookers after making mistakes at the par-three fourth.
A poorly struck tee shot was followed by a clumsy chip that finished in the wrong quadrant of the green, leading to three putts and a double bogey. DeChambeau bogeyed the fifth and when another shot was spilled at the seventh, the game was effectively up.
DeChambeau pelted lots of fine drives thereafter and will probably figure it all out one day, but he keeps making far too many mistakes. A glimpse of his potential came at the difficult 11th, which he birdied. Then, with a wedge in his hands, he put the ball into Rae’s Creek at the 12th for his second double on a short hole.
Only seven players out of the 54 who made the cut were below him when play was suspended.
The skies were cloudy with the clear threat of a storm when Rose made it to the first tee, alongside the Masters rookie at the other end of his career.
A feature of Rose’s play on the first two days was a poor start, but there was no such tentativeness on this occasion. Two cracking shots to 12ft at the first was followed by a birdie putt that died into the hole with its final breath.
At the par-five second, just short in two, he played a lovely pitch to 6ft and holed that one as well. It was the first time in 14 years that the halfway leader of the Masters had begun his third round birdiebirdie. Zalatoris played them in par-par. The lead was three strokes.
The impressive Zalatoris picked up a shot at the third, while both players bogeyed the treacherous fourth. As the wind picked up, Rose bogeyed the fifth as well, and so the
lead was back to the one stroke with which he began when they came in.
Canadian Corey Conners made the most impressive surge early on, including a rare hole-in-one at the difficult par-three sixth. His seven iron hopped a couple of times before catching the hole for just the seventh ace in Masters history at the sixth, and the first since Jamie Donaldson managed one eight years ago.
The 29-year-old from Ontario has a reputation as a fine ball-striker but can be a little flaky on the greens. The weakness showed itself at the 10th with a tentative jab that led to a dropped shot.
One of the rounds of the day was delivered by Europe’s forgotten man, Francesco Molinari. Given it was his final-round collapse at this event two years ago that let in Tiger Woods and led to the Italian’s precipitous decline, it would be somewhat ironic if this is the round that propels him back towards the big time.
Molinari became the first man to post a score under 70, as he carded a 69 to get back to level par for the championship.