Tiger’s tee shot on hole No. 12 finally good as green
AUGUSTA, GA.» Tiger Woods raised his arms in victory.
After his tee shots at the 12th hole in the first two rounds of the Masters found water, who could blame him?
Woods bogeyed the hole Thursday and Friday when his hits finished in Rae’s Creek. Saturday, his tee shot safely found the green. After raising his arms, Woods made the safe sign with a big smile.
“How about that?” Woods said. “You know, I just, I just couldn’t do it three days in a row. I just couldn’t do it. And I gave it a little bit more gas on it and made sure that I was long if I did miss, and I hit a good one in there. And missed the putt but, hey, you know, that’s a lot easier to play the hole from the green than it is dropping.”
Woods finished the third round with an even-par 72 and remains at 4-over for the tournament.
A swing and a miss. It’s been that kind of Masters for Phil Mickelson.
The three-time champion got in trouble on the opening hole of the third round. His tee shot landed among the trees, and Mickelson had to deal with a low-hanging bow in an attempt to get back in the fairway. He swung and missed on his first attempt and ended up with a triple bogey.
“Yeah, I hit the trunk on the down swing and just whiffed it,” Mickelson said. “And punched out and made triple. I’ve made a lot of triples lately.”
Mickelson was in contention during the second round when a triple bogey on the ninth hole got him off track. Entering his 26th Masters, only four times had Mickelson carded worse than a double bogey on a hole. He’s had two in this year’s tournament.
Mickelson, who made the weekend on the cut line, shot a 2-over 74 on Saturday and is 7-over.
Hello, Tommy Fleetwood. The Englishman made five consecutive birdies in the third round of the Masters to play his way into contention.
Fleetwood was even-par entering the round. He had two frontside birdies, but was still well behind the leaders. And then he went on a hot streak. He birdied Nos. 1216 and got to 7-under. The Masters’ record for consecutive birdies is seven, set by Steve Pate in the third round in 1999 and Woods in the third round in 2005.
A three-putt bogey on the 18th prevented Fleetwood from recording the low round of the tournament. He finished 6-under for the day and the tournament.
“Holed one on 12 and then just started a run of really, really good iron shots,” Fleetwood said. “I had a chance on 17 too, but it wasn’t to be. Around that corner, when you get to 14, 15, 16, the atmosphere is always very good there and the noise is up, and it was nice to be getting something going around there.”
Couples makes the cut. Fred Couples made his 30th cut at the Masters, tying him with Gary Player for second place. They trail Jack Nicklaus, who made 37 cuts at the tournament.