The Masters 2023: third round resumes on marathon final day – live

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Koepka makes his birdie putt … but so does Rahm, who pours in from ten feet. Right in the middle of the cup, never missing! That’s a big birdie that ensures he stays on the leader’s tail. Tell you what, though, Koepka really has been taking care of business on the par-fives this week. He’s birdied every one so far, with two exceptions: a bogey at 13 on Thursday, and an eagle at 8 on Friday. (Bachman-Turner Overdrive earworm.)

-13: Koepka (8)
-11: Rahm (8)
-6: Bennett -a- (8)
-5: Cantlay (14), Morikawa (9)

Rahm’s wedge into 8 is pin high but a good 12 feet right of the hole. Half a chance for birdie, which he’ll do well to make, because Koepka chips to a couple of feet. He’ll surely be taking back the shot he dropped on the previous hole in short order. But before he can, Bennett drains a 30-foot left-to-right breaker for a birdie of his own! The 22-year-old Texan amateur moves back to -6. A huge roar as the nerve-settler drops, and a big smile plays across his face.

Brooks gives it all he can with his fairway wood. He can’t reach. If Koepka can’t get there in two, surely nobody can. Rahm lays up, as does the amateur sensation Sam Bennett … who for the record couldn’t make his par saver on 7 and carded his third bogey of the round. He’s going backwards, now at -5, but whatever happens from here on in, he’s guaranteed to win the silver medal, as the only amateur to make the cut. He’ll join a select list: previous low amateurs at Augusta include subsequent champions Cary Middlecoff, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama.

… so the gap having closed to two, it’s advantage Koepka from the tee at 8. Rahm’s drive finds the bunker to the right of the fairway, while Brooks splits the fairway. Exactly how much of an advantage that’ll be is something we’ll soon find out: while the weather is dry today, it’s cold and windy, and having also had a good drink yesterday, the course is playing longer than it did on the first couple of days. In other words, Koepka still has a ways to go to reach the green if he’s dreaming of a second eagle of the week on this hole.

Brooks Koepka restarts the day with a four-shot lead … but that doesn’t last long! First off he trundles his ten-foot par saver on 7 four feet past the hole. He makes the one coming back, but that’s a bogey five. Then Jon Rahm pours in his birdie putt, deserved reward for the glorious approach he hit into the green during the deluge last night. It’s not taken long … but this is on!

-12: Koepka (7)
-10: Rahm (7)

Tiger withdraws

Here we go, then, a shotgun restart. But there’s one player who won’t be teeing it up again today … the five-time winner and living legend Tiger Woods. The leg’s giving him too much gyp, 20-plus holes in a day 20 steps too far. He withdraws. But it’s not been a wasted week for the great man: he’s extended his sequence of never missing a cut at Augusta National to 23 consecutive tournaments, a record he now shares with Gary Player and Freddie Couples. Godspeed Tiger, see you here next year, we hope.

Preamble

Good morning Augusta National! Yesterday the heavens opened and this happened …

… and now a Homeric, but hopefully dry, super Sunday awaits us. The third round resumes at 8.30am local time (1.30pm BST) with the final round expected to begin at 12.30pm local (5.30pm BST). We’ll get going the minute the players do. In the meantime, here’s how the top of the leader board looked when the hooter went last night …

-13: Koepka (6)
-9: Rahm (6)
-6: Bennett -a- (6)
-5: Cantlay (13), Fitzpatrick (11), Morikawa (7), Hovland (7)
-4: Rose (9), Henley (9), Mickelson (9), Niemann (9), Young (8), Day (7)
-3: Scheffler (12*), Fox (11), Woodland (9)
-2: Schauffele (12), Matsuyama (11), Reed (10), Lowry (9), Burns (9), Spieth (8)