an exhausted Tiger Woods on Saturday let go of his dreams of fighting for the Masters by signing the worst round of his career in augusta (78 strokes) and stay 18 strokes from scottie schefflerwho maintained his wide advantage as leader of the tournament.
The American Scheffler, brand new number one in the ranking, has not stopped stepping on the accelerator since Friday and this Saturday he kept his distance of five strokes over his closest pursuers.
After surviving the court on Friday, Tiger Woods He aspired to show this weekend that he is ready for another miracle in Augusta at 46 years old.
On Friday he was able to withstand the fierce wind to stay in contention in his first tournament since the brutal car accident in February 2021, in which he nearly lost his right leg.
Woods entered the weekend in 19th position, nine shots behind Scheffler, a deficit that no Masters champion has overcome in the last 36 holes.
The greatest golfer of the century was not about to give up but his options quickly vanished on Saturday amid the pain and fatigue of a cold Augusta National (Georgia).
Tiger committed two double bogeys, five bogeys and three birdies for 78 strokes (+6) in the worst round of his 24 participations in Augusta, where he has starred in the greatest feats of his career and won five times, one of the record of Jack Nicklaus.
“It was like putting practice, I hit like 1,000 putts out there,” said Woods, the longtime lord of Augusta’s undulating, unforgiving greens. “I don’t think I hit that bad. I just had absolutely no feel for the greens.”
The worst round in Augusta
In dry and cold weather (10º C) that did not favor him due to his back problems, Woods stumbled at the start of the third round when he bogeyed the first hole for the second day in a row.
In the second he was inches from an eagle but settled for a birdie that again left him nine shots away from Scheffler.
“Damn it,” exclaimed the idol on the tee shot of the fifth hole, as a premonition of the painful double bogey he would end up committing when he missed a putt of less than a meter.
The misfortunes continued in the sixth when he sent the ball into the bunker and let off steam with a strong two-handed grip on the stick. The Californian added three par holes but made another bogey before starting the second part of the course.
The thousands of fans who have been following him since Thursday tried to cheer him on, shouting every shot and cheering him on the green.
Two birdies in a row on 12th and 13th buoyed Tiger’s spirits but, visibly fatigued, he collapsed in a painful close with two bogeys and a final double bogey.
“I did what I had to do in terms of hitting the ball, but I did the opposite on the greens,” he lamented. “I just couldn’t get a feel for it.”
To find a worst day for Woods in Augusta, you have to go back to the 77 shots he recorded in the third round in 1996, when he made his amateur debut.
Although he fell to 41st out of 52, Woods continues to make an astonishing return to golf after spending weeks in hospital and months unable to walk due to multiple fractures to his right leg in the accident, in which he collided with his SUV at nearly 140 km/h
Scheffler for his first “Major”
At the top of the table, Scottie Scheffler managed to keep his rivals at bay and maintain the extraordinary five shot lead with which he entered the weekend.
Scheffler flew in Augusta on Friday with a card of 67 strokes (-5) to take the lead and this Saturday he added five birdies and two bogeys in the first 13 holes for a cumulative -11.
The American came to have an advantage of six strokes that the Australian Cameron Smith reduced to five with a spectacular eagle on the tenth hole.
Six strokes behind Scheffler was the South African charl schwartzel and eight Irishman Shane Lowry.
On the hunt for his first title Grand SlamScheffler is the fittest player on tour with three trophies this season. With the last of them, the WGC Match Play in March, Scheffler unseated the Spanish Jon Rahm of the PGA number one.
Rahm, who arrived as one of the great favorites to win his first green jacket, was confirmed on Saturday as one of the great disappointments with his worst day in the tournament.
Instead of his desired comeback, Rahm crashed with a card of 77 strokes (+5) with a double bogey, five bogeys and two birdies.
For his part, the Chilean Joachim Niemann he fell to 26th place with his worst showing of the week, 77 shots (+5), which left him 15 shots off the lead.
