Tiger Woods finally got his round in the 60s. Prior to Saturday's sub-70 round, he last shot in the 60s back in the third round of the 2005 Masters — the year he won his fourth green jacket.

Woods needed to post a strong number on Saturday to get him back in to contention, but will it be enough?

“I got a lot of work to do tomorrow,” said Woods. “If he could make it all the way back tomorrow he would.  Obviously with the conditions are supposed to be pretty blustery tomorrow and a little cooler.  And again you got to hang in there and be patient out there because it doesn't take much to make a high number out here.”

When Woods finished, Brandt Snedeker was at 9 under through 10 holes with Trevor Immelman one shot back at 8 under though 10 holes.  Paul Casey and Steve Flesch were at 7 under.

But as will happen, Amen Corner took its revenge, as Snedeker made three straight bogeys to drop him back to 6 under. That was the extent of the carnage as Casey finished at 7-under, while Flesch and Immelman kept moving forward. Immelman finished at 11-under-par with Snedeker finishing at 9-under with a furious finish that included a birdie at the 18th hole.

So Woods will start six shots back with four hot players in front of him.

Woods has been in the top five, but not the lead, four times going into the final round — 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2007. His scoring average in those four final rounds is 71.5 and he didn’t win any of those four Masters.

“Depends what the conditions are tomorrow,” said Woods of his chances.  “It could be, if it's calm like this today then obviously it helps.  You know what to do.  But if it's blowing all over the place it all depends on your timing whether you can time the gusts correctly or not.”

Unbelievably, Australian Adam Scott has never broken 70 at Augusta National Golf Club in 25 Masters rounds. He shot a 2-under-par 70 in Saturday’s third round, only the third time he has shot 70. The other two times came in the 2002 and '03 final rounds.

Scott moved from T29 to T19, and the round gives him some confidence going into Sunday’s final round.

“I don't think I need that much,” said Scott when asked if he needs a 61 on Sunday. “But where I am is not looking so good, but maybe a 68 might be good enough.”

Scott was nine shots off of Brandt Snedeker's lead at the time that he finished. But Scott believes weather will have an affect come Sunday.

“If the weather is the way it is even par could go a long way tomorrow,” Scott said.  “I mean, it wouldn't surprise me to see 5‑under leading at the end of today. I mean a lot of stuff can happen out there. And we watched it yesterday with Justin (Rose), unfortunately. And that's what happens.  Especially if the wind blows.”

Wow, deja vu. 

Fred Couples was on his way to his victory in 1992 when he hit a spinning shot into the par-3 12th hole that somehow stayed up on the slope between the green and the fronting Rae's Creek. Couples went on to win by two shots over Raymond Floyd.  

On Saturday, Trevor Immelman had just 88 yards for his third shot into the par-five 15th, but hit his shot short and watched helplessly as the ball spun back off the green and started rolling down the hill. Somehow the ball stopped before reaching the pond. Immelman had a three-shot lead at the time and when he eventually made par he may have gone a long way in winning the Masters.

Starting the day at even par, Tiger Woods birdied the first hole on Friday. But his 10-foot putt at No. 6 rimmed out, leaving him with a bogey. Thus, through six holes, Woods was still at even par.

What does that mean? Well, Woods has won the Masters four times — 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005. But he has never won after going into the final 36 holes at par or worse.

In 2005, he followed an opening-round 74 with a 66 to get under par for the second half of the contest. In year's he has won, the worst position Woods has been in after 36 holes is fourth (70-69) in 2002.


Steve Flesch, who climbed the board with a 67 on Friday, believed his early starting time was a big help. His group was the second one off in the morning, behind the twosome of Todd Hamilton and Brian Bateman.

"There was a little lack of wind out there, which anytime out here is a very welcome," said Flesch, who is 5 under for the tournament and was three strokes off the pace of leader Trevor Immelman.

"Playing early is always nice. One of the nicest things was the pace of play. We never saw the first group (ahead). Today we just kind of flew."

Flesch played alongside Johnson Wagner and former Masters champ Craig Stadler. "The Walrus," aka Stadler, is renowned for playing quickly.

"With Stadler in the group, you're not going to wait long on your partners," Flesch said.


Lorena Ochoa's brother and manager, Alejandro Ochoa, was among those hanging out under the historic oak tree behind the Augusta National clubhouse.

Lorena is playing at the Corona Championship in Mexico this week, but Alejandro was at Augusta to accept a Golf Writer's Association of America award for Lorena on Wednesday. And he was still around to see some of the tournament on a gorgeous Friday afternoon.


Shortly after Arnold Palmer made his second ceremonial start, Gary Player made his 51st competitive start at the Masters on Thursday. In doing so, Player officially snapped Palmer's record of 50 appearances on Thursday.

There is a slight qualification. Palmer's 50 years were consecutive. Player's first Masters appearance was in 1957 and he has played every year since, with the exception of 1973, when a bladder operation kept him away. Player won the tournament three times, including 1961, 1974 and 1978. He will not win this year, having opened with an 11-over-par 83.

After all these years, Player admitted to being aware and a little nervous about setting the mark when he teed off on Thursday.

"A lot of things go through your mind," he said. "It's just a little bit of pressure. It's a heck of an honor to know that you've played this tournament more than anybody else."

Player credits his longevity to his commitment to fitness and diet.

"To me, the poisons of the world are the bacons, the ice cream, the white bread, dairy products," he said. "I try to stay away from that. Fat makes you fat."

When Player teed off for the first time at Augusta in 1957, the course was 6,980 yards long. When he teed off on Thursday, at the age of 72, the course was playing at 7,445 yards.

"Well, par for me is 80, so I was 3-over for the day," Player said. "That's a tough golf course. No question, the toughest golf course that I've ever played, not even a doubt."

That said, Player has every intention of trying Augusta again next year. For those who thought he was hanging around just to set the record, guess again.

"I'll tell you one thing, when I come back next year, I'll be a hell of a lot stronger than I am this year," Player said. "I'm coming back stronger, man."

Ben Curtis is in the final year of his five-year exemption at the Masters from his British Open win in 2003. Knowing this, Curtis is trying to put his best rounds together since in his four previous starts he has made only one cut, a tie for 39th in 2006.

A little monkey wrench was thrown into Curtis’ plans when his caddie, Andy Sutton, had to leave abruptly on Tuesday due to a family emergency — his wife Lindsay taken to the hospital. This left Curtis without a caddie.

Not wanting to use a local caddy, Curtis hooked up with David Clark, who had caddied for Justin Rose in the past and is currently on Greg Owen’s bag on the Nationwide Tour. Clark drove up from Orlando and was on the bag by Wednesday.

“My plan was to play 18 Tuesday and then nine Wednesday,” Curtis said after a first-round 75. “But I changed it. Because I wanted us to go out there and play 18 holes together.”

It may be time for Fuzzy Zoeller.
 
A winner in his first appearance in 1979, Zoeller, now 56, is feeling the sting of Augusta National Golf Club’s changes, and his 30th Masters showed what previous champions have found with a lengthened course — it's hard.
 
“Course is playing long, but still, it's fun to play,” Zoeller said. “What the heck, what did I shoot? 81? They were all self-inflicted wounds. They were bad shots.”
 
When Zoeller won his Masters, the course was a mere 7,040 yards versus the 7,445 behemoth it is today. Zoeller also had Jeremiah Beard, a local caddy on the bag. Beard, who still lives in Augusta according to Zoeller, was the likely difference between winning and losing in 1979.
 
Zoeller believes one of the reasons there has been such a scarcity of first time winners at the Masters is because of the elimination of the local caddies.
 
“That local caddie is price less on these greens,” Zoeller said. “Knowing how they break from a guy that stands out here every day, works here every day, I mean he knows. And none of them do that.”
 
Playing less and less golf, Zoeller is serious about stepping back from the competitive aspects of Masters week and enjoying his life-long invitation.
 
“I take it very seriously,” Zoeller said of no long competing. “Arnold (Palmer) had a pretty good deal, you know what I mean. Sitting up there and
watching the people and having a good time. Having a little dinner Tuesday night. Not missing another 3-footer. I'm thinking about it real damn serious.”

Maybe Ian Poulter is a rival to Tiger Woods. At least, he was on Thursday at the 72nd Masters Tournament.

The 32-year old Brit fired a 2-under-par 70 to take the lead into the clubhouse as play continued during the first round. Woods was even par through 10 holes, trailing the leader by two.

Poulter accentuated his solid round with a hole-in-one at No. 16.

"Pretty exciting moment," he said. "Any hole-in-one is a nice one. But to do it on 16, with all of those spectators to the left-hand side, it's a great amphitheater for that. Great timing."

Poulter's round was otherwise balanced with one birdie and one bogey. Earlier this year, the colorfully-clad Poulter caused a stir and absorbed some criticism for suggesting he could be a rival to Woods, the No. 1 ranked player in the world and a four-time Masters winner.

But after his tidy round, Poulter said his remarks were misconstrued.

"Nothing was said that was untoward," said Poulter, who tied for 13th at last year's Masters. "The (critical) comments were the comments. They were hard to take at the time, but I think that the article was fine. I think what I said was fine.

"From No. 2 to 1,000th in the world is the same as where Tiger is between one and two. So I was just saying that he's one in a million."

Poulter posted his score shortly after Heath Slocum, who is playing in his first Masters, turned in a 1-under 71. Slocum first noticed his name on top of the leaderboard when he was 3-under after eight holes.

"Yeah, I saw that," said Slocum, 34, "but I did know it was Thursday. So it's a long way to go. I was very pleased with getting off to a good start, that's what I wanted to do."

Having trouble getting a new baby to settle down — try driving to Augusta National.

Hey, it worked for the Johnson family. Reigning Masters champion Zach Johnson and his wife had a new baby in tow when they drove to Augusta last week in their RV. The baby fussed and cried most of the way ... until the Johnsons made the right turn off of Washington Avenue.

"I drove in, I felt terrible," Johnson said. "The baby was a mess — he had strawberries all over his face. I had a headache, my wife was not feeling great and we pulled into Magnolia Lane and it was like the clouds parted and her comes the sunshine. It was awesome."

Other than making wild-card picks for their teams, a Ryder Cup captain can't do much to influence the outcome of the matches, says Tom Watson, the 1993 U.S. captain.

Watson was asked Wednesday at the Masters if new U.S. skipper Paul Azinger would benefit from having four wild-card picks instead of two.

"I would say yes. Right now, Europe is just plain better," he said. "They're winning because they play better."

Watson was the last U.S. captain to win abroad, leading the 1993 team to victory at The Belfry. The Hall of Famer said he didn't enjoy the experience because,"I had no control over the outcome. A captain's role is overrated."

He did give, sort of, a rousing speech on Saturday night before the singles matches.

"I simply told them, 'We're going to win because I'm lucky,' and Lanny Wadkins jumped up and said, 'That's right, you're the luckiest SOB alive.' And so we won."

Don't ask Tiger Woods if he struck out against John Smoltz.

Tiger Woods doesn't strike out. Even if he did, we wouldn't know it.

Woods took batting practice against Smoltz, the Atlanta Braves' ace.

"It was fun," said Woods, talking about something besides golf to break the tension before the Masters. "It's one of those things that I've always wanted to do. My dad played baseball and I grew up playing baseball but not to face probably a future Hall of Famer in Smoltzie, and having to get up there and have him throw you all of his stuff and to make contact and drive one up the middle a little bit was pretty cool."

Woods and Smoltz have also met on the golf course. No reason to go into details about who won that showdown.