The weather may have cooled off at Augusta National today but as the rain came down the golf only got hotter. Moving Day lived up to its name on this Masters Saturday as birdies and eagles reigned down like, well..rain.
Forget the Zero’s at The Masters today it seemed like there was nothing but Heroes…and heroic they were.
Patrick Reed started the day with a two shot lead and took sometime getting started. He gave a shot back early with a bogey on the third and finally carded his first birdie at the fifth. As he made the turn the dam broke and he was riding a string of three consecutive birds. A slight stumble with a bogey at the treacherous par 3 twelfth looked like he may be about to cool off but it only made his next few holes more impressive.
A stinging four iron into the par five thirteenth which resulted in his first eagle of the tournament looked to be his “Hero Shot.” But then he came upon his ball sitting on a side-hill lie on the par five fifteenth fairway. With the rain coming down and the water fronting the green he choose to go for it from 268 yards and his fairway wood barely cleared the trouble, nestling on the bank right of the green. At that point I thought he had just made another “Hero Shot” but he wasn’t done. He could easily get up and down there for a birdie with the way he had been chipping so well all day but Reed is a fan of the dramatic, and heroic. Another “Hero Shot” rolled across the green and into the cup for his second eagle to the cheers of the patrons surrounding the green.
Reed followed his Friday 66 with an impressive 67 and has a chance to be the first player ever to score four rounds in the 60’s at The Masters. The way he is playing it is definitely a possibility.
He leads the field in Driving Accuracy at 78% and is tied for the lead in Putting with his closest competitor, Rory McIlroy. And he is absolutely eating up the par fives as he is -13 on the five pars. His worst score on the par fives this week is a par and he has only one. He has carded nine birdies in three rounds and his two eagles today electrified Augusta National and catapulted him to his three stroke lead over McIlroy.
McIlroy was another hero today as his 65 tied him for low round of the day and put him in position to have a chance to capture the final leg of his career grand slam. He got off to a great start with three birdies in four holes from three through six and then finished his front nine scoring with a chip in eagle that rattled off the pin on the par five eighth. But as the rains came he cooled off and sprayed a few shots that caused him to play out of the flower bed on thirteen. Luckily, he still manged to save par. And he managed a crucial birdie on fifteen to get to three shots back. Then he gutted out another critical birdie on eighteen about the same time Reed was carding a bogey on sixteen and three shots would be the final margin between the former Ryder Cup rivals.
Rickie Fowler and John Rahm also played the hero today as they too carded 65’s that saw the two of them roll in putts from all over those nasty Augusta greens. Both Fowler and Rahm carded five birdies to go with an eagle and went bogey free, that alone is indeed heroic. Fowler sits at -9 and five shots behind Reed while Rahm in one shot further at -8 and six behind Reed. Both are still within striking distance but will need help form Reed.
Saturday at The Masters rarely disappoints and today provided great theater for these golfing heroes to make those “Hero Shots” on the grandest of stages. Let’s hope they all primed for an encore on Sunday.
Related Articles
