By Rahul Banerji
Thirteen years ago, Francesco Molinari was at the US Masters alongside Tiger Woods, as caddie for his brother Eduardo who was playing as invited US amateur champion. In a few hours, they will go head to head at the top of the US Masters leader-board.
Molinari is the form man though and the last time he was paired with Tiger Woods, he went on to win the Open at Carnoustie last year.
The Italian has been on a roll since recasting his game a couple of years ago and by all accounts, will not be an easy target, as he also takes a two-shot advantage into the final round of the $11.5 million 83rd Masters on 13-under par 203.
Solid line-up
Tony Finau had Saturday’s best round and is alongside Tiger on 11-undet 205 with a long list of very solid title contenders strung out in line astern with Brooks Koepka (-10), Ian Poulter and Webb Simpson (-9) the best-placed to make a push for top hours.
Throwing a joker on the table is the weather which has forced an early start and a recast of the traditional pairings format. The Augusta National Golf Club has split the field between the first and 10th tees and into groups of three to counter the threat of thunderstorms that are forecast to hit the area in the afternoon (see letter below).
Woods, who won the last of his four Masters green jackets in 2005, the year before Francesco was caddying for Eduardo, was unfazed at the weather and consequent early start.
Losing sleep
“Usually the reward for playing hard and doing all the things correctly, you get a nice little sleep-in come Sunday, but that’s not the case,” Woods said on Saturday.
“We’ve got to get up early and get after it. It will be interesting to see if that wind comes up like it’s forecast – 15-20mph around this golf course is going to be testy.
“I just made sure that I stayed in double digits (on Saturday), I drove it well and hit my irons well,” he said.
“I made some putts. Like I said, I just let the round just kind of build. And I don’t need to go after every single flag. Just put the ball in the correct spots so I can have gettable looks and gettable putts.”
Top card
Molinari, part of a five-man tie for the lead after day two, made sure he goes into Title Sunday out on his own. The 36-year-old from Turin brought in his best card at August National on Saturday with a 67 and resumes action bogey free over his last 43 holes, pretty much the pattern he used to win the Open Championship eight months ago at Carnoustie.
“I thought maybe I played slightly better yesterday, but today, mentally was very good,” Molinari said on Saturday.
“Made two big putts on 4 and 5 to save pars, and then kind of got going from there. Played the back nine probably as good as I’ve ever played over here, so really pleased about that. And then obviously a good save on 18. So nice to keep another clean scorecard.”
On Tiger closing in and how it could
play out on Sunday, he added: :I look at leader boards. I’ve always done it,
and so I was aware of what was happening, and obviously, I mean, with Tiger,
you don’t even have to look at the leader board – you hear what’s going on
pretty much.”
That sound – the Tiger Roar – will be as much part of
Molinari’s challenge later today,m as it will for the so many others on the
crowded leader-board.
Sunday groupings and start times (all times in EST)
Tee no. 1
7:30 a.m.: Aaron Wise, Marc Leishman, Si Woo Kim
7:41 a.m.: Matthew Fitzpatrick, Kevin Tway, Patton Kizzire
7:52 a.m.: Henrirk Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith
8:03 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Corey Conners
8:14 a.m.: Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Lucas Bjerregaard
8:25 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm
8:36 a.m.: Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Thorbjorn Olesen
8:47 a.m.: Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler
8:58 a.m.: Matt Kuchar, Justin Harding, Xander Schauffele
9:09 a.m.: Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson, Ian Poulter
9:20 a.m.: Francesco Molinari, Tony Finau, Tiger Woods
7:30
a.m.: Kyle Stanley, Viktor Hovand (a), Charley Hoffman
7:41 a.m.: Kevin Kisner, Bryson DeChambeau, Takumi Kanaya (a)
7:52 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Gary Woodland
8:03 a.m.: Jimmy Walker, J.B. Holmes, Charles Howell III
8:14 a.m.: Kiradech, Aphibarnrat, Kevin Na, Alvaro Ortiz (a)
8:25 a.m.: Patrick Reed, Devon Bling (a), Keith Mitchell
8:36 a.m.: Tyrrell Hatton, Satoshi Kodaira, Andrew Landry
8:47 a.m.: Bernhard Langer, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Eddie Pepperell
8:58 a.m.: Branden Grace, Martin Kaymer, Haotong Li
9:09 a.m.: Emiliano Grirllo, Zach Johnson, Billy Horrschel
9:20 a.m.: Trevor Immelman, Alex Noren
Follow the action here: US Masters Leader Board
Also read: Twitter to live stream more PGA Tour events in multi-year deal
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