Key events
Garcia given code of conduct warning
Today’s weather bulletin: clear, dry and the hottest it’s been all week, with temperatures climbing into the mid-80s. Wind picking up a little during the day, but not in any intrusive manner. Meanwhile in other temperature-related news, the 2017 champion Sergio Garcia has been getting very hot under the collar, reacting to an errant drive on 2 by battering his driver into the ground a couple of times, before whacking it across a nearby cooler, snapping it in two. He’s been given an official code of conduct warning by Augusta National officials, while the tanty registers C++ on the Guardian’s Official Masters Meltdown-o-Meter™, which older and more jaded readers may remember from hole-by-hole reports passim.
Welcome, patrons, it’s time to clamber aboard the rollercoaster. Now then, if the wild and wonderful scenes of Moving Day are anything to go by, many things are possible today. The most likely is that either Rory McIlroy or Cameron Young will win: that’s because the last nine winners have come from the final pairing on Sunday. But there is precedent of a win from as far as eight shots back after 54 holes: Jack Burke Jr. pulled off that particular trick in 1956. Admittedly he only had three players ahead of him on the Leader Board, and it was blowing a field-scattering hoolie, but an eight-stroke comeback is an eight-stroke comeback, whichever way you spin it. Therefore anyone starting the day as low as -3 is technically in with a chance. At least according to the historical data. Even if they have 17 more players ahead of them than Burke did. And today’s conditions are benign. So let’s be realistic. But those are the facts, flat on the page.
Preamble
Exactly 30 years ago, give or take two days, this happened …
… so the loss of a six-shot lead at the Masters isn’t exactly a new thing. And hey, unlike the poor old Great White Shark, at least Rory has 18 more holes still to play, and with them an opportunity to do something about it.
Here’s how the top of the Leader Board looked when dawn broke in Georgia …
-11: Cameron Young, Rory McIlroy
-10: Sam Burns
-9: Shane Lowry
-8: Jason Day, Justin Rose
-7: Scottie Scheffler, Haotong Li
-6: Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley, Patrick Reed
-5: Collin Morikawa, Jake Knapp, Ben Griffin
-4: Ryan Gerard, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Wyndham Clark, Tyrrell Hatton, Tonny Fleetwood
-3: Ludvig Åberg, Brian Campbell, Nick Taylor, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Michael Brennan, Max Homa, Chris Gotterup, Kristoffer Reitan
… and here are today’s tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST).
1406 Aaron Rai (Eng), Charl Schwartzel (SA)
1417 Gary Woodland, Kurt Kitayama
1428 Jon Rahm (Spa), Sergio Garcia (Spa)
1439 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Rasmus Hojgaard (Den)
1450 Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson
1501 Matt McCarty, Corey Connors (Can)
1512 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Justin Thomas
1523 Alex Noren (Swe), Maverick McNealy
1545 Adam Scott (Aus), Marco Penge (Eng)
1556 Harris English, Samuel Stevens
1607 Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth
1618 Im Sung-jae (Kor), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
1629 Sepp Straka (Aut), Jacob Bridgeman
1640 Chris Gotterup, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
1651 Michael Brennan, Max Homa
1713 Nick Taylor (Can), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
1724 Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Brian Campbell
1735 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
1746 Brooks Koepka, Wyndham Clark
1757 Ryan Gerard, Xander Schauffele
1808 Jake Knapp, Ben Griffin
1830 Patrick Reed, Collin Morikawa
1841 Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley
1852 Scottie Scheffler, Li Haotong (Chn)
1903 Jason Day (Aus), Justin Rose (Eng)
1914 Sam Burns, Shane Lowry (Ire)
1925 Cameron Young, Rory McIlroy (NI)
This report will get going at 6pm BST. In the meantime, catch up with the dramatic action from round three by reading Ewan Murray’s report …
… here’s how Rory McIlroy felt after letting his six-shot lead slip …
… and here’s Andy Bull on how sensational Scottie Scheffler put himself in the mix for the Green Jacket.
It’s on!