South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Augusta National tames Tiger
Woods shoots worst round in a major with 82 on Saturday
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods shot his worst round in a major championship in the third round of the Masters on Saturday, finding far too many trees off the tee and making far too many three-putts on the greens for a 10-over 82 at Augusta National.
Woods started the day 1 over and seven shots off the lead. But after eight bogeys and two double-bogeys, offset by just a pair of birdies, the 48-year-old five-time champion was left facing an early tee time for his 100th round in the Masters on Sunday.
It was just the fifth round that Woods has shot in the 80s as a professional, and only the third in a major. He had an 80 in the first round of the 2005 U.S. Open and Chambers Bay and an 81 in the third round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield.
His worst round at Augusta National had been back-to-back 78s in 2022, the last time he played the full weekend, while his worst round as a pro came in 2015, when he shot an 85 in the third round of the Memorial.
Woods had to play 23 holes on Friday after darkness brought an early end to his opening round. Yet he not only persevered through a marathon day, Woods shot a second-round 72 amid such blustery conditions that the average score was 75.09, the highest for the second round of the Masters since 2007, when it was not only windy but also cold.
That allowed Woods to make the cut for a record 24th consecutive time at the Masters.
Woods had driven the ball well, hitting 22 of 28 fairways through two rounds, and he had offset some poor approach shots — just 17 of 36 greens in regulation — with an excellent short game. Woods began Saturday in the top 10 in putting this week.
What had been his strength this week — off the tee and on the greens — was his third-round downfall. He hit just four of 13 fairways and had a pair of three-putts while battling his swing over the final 13 holes.
“I’ve been able to play here since I was 19-years old,” Woods said Friday night. “It’s one of the honors I don’t take lightly, being able to compete. The years I have missed, I wish I was able to play because there’s such an aura and mystique about playing this golf course that I don’t think that — unless you have played and competed here, you probably don’t really appreciate.”
McIlroy’s Grand Slam remains on hold
Rory McIlroy’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam will have to wait yet another year after the world’s second-ranked golfer failed to make a leap up the leaderboard on Saturday at the Masters.
McIlroy shot 71, which was solid, but not nearly enough to climb into contention ahead of the final round.
“All I can do is come here and try my best,” McIlroy said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“That’s what I do every time I show up. Some years it’s better than others. I’ve just got to keep showing up and try to do the right thing.”
The right thing has been elusive at Augusta National for the 34-year-old McIlroy, particularly this week.
He is 3-over 219 for the tournament.
The Northern Ireland phenom won the U.S. Open in 2011, the first of two PGA championships in 2012 and the British Open in 2024 to put him on the brink of joining greats Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods as the only players to complete the modern Grand Slam.
At 26, it seemed a forgone conclusion it would happen.
And yet here we are nearly 10 later and McIlroy is still searching for the magic formula to solve Augusta National.
He’s been close.
He once shot an opening round 65 at Augusta National, only to fade on the final day. He was the runner-up in 2022 after a final round 64.
The problem has been putting together four great rounds.
His 77 on Friday proved to be his undoing this week.
Still, McIlroy harbored some thoughts of making a run on moving day at the Masters and getting into the mix if he could get hot early. But any early momentum was shunted from he pushed his tee shot on No. 1 into a fairway bunker and missed a 5-foot par putt.
He would rebound to make three birdies and one bogey the rest of the way, and admitted afterward it was hard to complain about his score.
Of course, he wanted more. The shots just didn’t come.
But it wasn’t as though McIlroy didn’t have his moments on Saturday.
One of those came when he blasted a wind-aided tee shot 380 yards on No. 9 that ran through the pedestrian crosswalk before slowly rolling back down the hill, shortening the overall distance.
But he missed far too many greens and didn’t sink nearly enough putts.
“I just needed to get some rhythm (on Friday),” McIlroy said. “It was so start/stop and I didn’t have any fluid in my golf swing because of that. As the wind is coming down you start getting out of sync. It was better to make some normal golf swings and hit some normal shots.”