This Tiger Woods guy is a nice story, but Francesco Molinari doesn’t seem all that interested in it. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because Molinari wasn’t interested in it last July at the Open Championship at Carnoustie either.
The only thing Molinari is interested in is avoiding bogeys at all costs, just like he’s done since the first round, when he made his only bogey so far at this Masters at the 11th hole. Yes, you read that correctly. Molinari has not dropped a shot in 43 holes, going 13-under over that stretch, where he currently stands through 54 holes after a third-round 66, his career-low round at the Masters. He leads by two shots from Woods and Tony Finau, who he’ll play alongside in the final round thanks to the rare early start.
“I just try to do my best on every shot,” said Molinari, who has four worldwide wins since last May. “Today we did very well strategy-wise, hit the ball a little less well than yesterday, but holed some very good putts. Obviously, I can only be happy about today, and it’s going to be exciting day tomorrow.”
By the end of the third round, @F_Molinari had gone 43 holes without a bogey and held a two-stroke lead in #themasters. pic.twitter.com/QpNPRGYSaK
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 14, 2019
Exciting is an understatement. This will be the second time in the past three Majors that Molinari will play in one of the final groups with Woods, a challenge we know he’s up to.
“Obviously he [Woods] is playing great, but there’s a lot of guys playing great, so, I wish I only had to worry about him, but there’s a few more that are going to come out tomorrow and try to shoot a low one.”
While Molinari was putting together his surgical round, Woods was electrifying the crowd at Augusta National. After playing his first five holes in one-over, Woods went six-under the rest of the way to post a five-under 67, his lowest round at the Masters since the final round in 2011. He didn’t miss a single putt inside 10 feet, the biggest of the day coming at the par-3 16th, where he stepped in a seven-footer to tie for the lead at the time. He’d love a few more of those in the final round, when he’ll look to capture the 15th Major of his career.
“This is going to be different,” said Woods, who will tee off in the final group. “Normally we get to sleep in on Sunday if we play well. Tomorrow is going to be an early wake-up call, get the body going, get the mind ready and it’s going to be a little bit different.”
Also in that final threesome will be Finau, who threatened multiple records on day three. Through eight holes he was six-under on the round, and had a good look at the ninth hole for birdie to shoot 29, which would have been the first front-nine 29 in Masters history. It just missed, and he turned in 30 and came home in 34 for a third-round 64, one shot shy of the course record. This is the second time in the past year he’ll play in the final group in a Major, as he played in the final group last year at the US Open alongside Daniel Berger, eventually finishing fifth.
Alone in fourth is Brooks Koepka, who shot a third-round 69 to reach 10-under. A win tomorrow would be give him his fourth career Major and his third in the past four Majors. Somehow, he’s still flying under the radar.
Before Finau flirted with tying the course record, Webb Simpson nearly broke it, reaching eight-under on his round with a birdie at 16. He parred in for a 64, which puts him at nine-under and in a tie for fifth with Ian Poulter, who quietly carded a four-under 68 alongside Woods on Saturday.
Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, Louis Oosthuizen and Justin Harding are all tied for seventh at eight-under. Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott lurk at seven-under, while Patrick Cantlay, who also posted a 64 along with Finau and Simpson, is tied for 14th at six-under alongside Jason Day.
The two Australians were disappointing in the third round, both Scott (72) and Day (73) among the few contenders not to break par on a day of record low scoring. Scott struck the ball beautifully but missed a swag of short putts, both for birdie and par. Day, who played alongside Molinari, was in the mix at nine-under after 14 holes before his third shot to the par-5 15th spun back into the water, leading to a double-bogey.
Cameron Smith (69, to sit three-under) and Marc Leishman (70, to reach two-under) are back in the pack with a round to play.
