Perhaps the top perk for the 60 players who survived one of the most wind-blown, grueling days at the Masters was getting a weekend at Augusta National far more agreeable.
Flags were flapping, not crackling, when the third round began Saturday. It was shaping up to be a day more suited for scoring and surviving.
“This weekend is going to be nice. Hopefully there will be some opportunities to make a run,” said Phil Mickelson, a three-time champion playing in his 31st Masters. He closed with a 65 last year to finish runner-up. Lefty knows about opportunities.
Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa shared the lead at 6-under 138 going into the third round. They were two shots clear of Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark, who has reason to believe he can be the first player since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 to win the Masters on his first attempt.
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The weekend also includes Tiger Woods, which is always the case at Augusta National when Woods is healthy enough to play. He set a record Friday for making the cut for the 24th consecutive time, dating to his first year as a pro.
Woods shot 72 on a day when the average score was 75.09, the highest for the second round in the Masters since 2007, when it was windy and frigid. Only eight players broke par, the same number of players who shot 80 or higher.
“I’m here. I have a chance to win the golf tournament," Woods said.
Saturday is typically known as moving day, and Woods and everyone else have a lot of moving in front of them. Woods was seven shots behind, but he had 21 players in front of him.
Fourteen players started the third round under par, four of them with experience winning a major — Scheffler and DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith.
One thing was fairly certain when play began — the walk among azaleas and dogwoods was sure to be more enjoyable than playing in 40 mph gusts that blew bunker sand into players' faces and onto the greens and scattered magnolia leaves all over the course.
“We got the sand shower to end our day. So it was kind of the golf course saying, ‘Get the hell out of here,'” Homa said at the end of his round on Friday.
On Saturday, it felt more like, “Welcome back.”
