It took a while for moving day to get off his backside and then it ended with a dance of utterly brilliant carnage. If the organizers of this beautiful madness had been patrons, the green vests would have launched them from the site.
But where to start? How can you explain the sheer wildness of a two-hour piece at the end of the third round?
Before we get to a leaderboard with Scottie Scheffler at the top and four men within four shots of him, we have to travel a long way south to Tiger Woods.
Remember Friday, when he broke the record for the 24th time in a row by making the cut on one leg in the most brutal wind? He had been a titan for 36 holes.
A vision of teeth-grinding minds and proof that the brain is worth more than any club. In the next 18 he achieved his worst score ever on this legendary piece of land: it cost him 82 strokes.
Scottie Scheffler has a one-shot lead Sunday after a day of chaos at The Masters
After making the cut on Friday, Tiger Woods posted his worst score ever at Augusta National
That may have been the old, aching body catching up with him, but what an extraordinary way to combine triumph and disaster in the space of 48 hours. Always a drama with that cat.
But it had nothing to do with the shenanigans on the business side. That was much more remarkable.
A day that started with Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa leading at six under par would eventually turn into a demolition derby with Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard also occupying the top spot at one point or another.
When the music stopped, Scheffler led at seven under, one better than he started and one ahead of Morikawa, but that was achieved through more undulations than you would ever expect from him in his 71.
It’s worth knowing a few details here: He went as far as eight under three, gave one back on four, and then went into a tailspin on the 10th.
As always, he had smoked a drive off the tee but started the frenzy with an approach that sailed through the green and into the crowd. A missed putt from four feet meant a double bogey, which coincided with Hojgaard grabbing his third straight birdie in the group behind him to move ahead.
We had a new leader, but he was no longer there. Hojgaard bogeyed every hole of his next five holes. He has had a wonderful Masters debut, will resume at two under, and yet if he draws a 74 he could be forgiven for flying back to Denmark overnight to sleep it off.
Collin Morikawa is hoping to win a third major title and put in a solid round on Saturday
Max Homa’s record at the majors is abysmal, but he’s just two shots clear of Scheffler
Morikawa came up short, a two-time major winner, who opened at three under but then birdied each of the first three holes with a combination of hot putting and an excellent save from the sand on the second.
Amid the chaos, he was steadfast – even in the increasing evening breeze he was able to close with 11 consecutive pars for 69. After not winning a major in three years, Morikawa began to shy away from conversations about golf’s best players, but only 27-year-old American flies at this tournament.
His 69 might have been enough for the top if Scheffler had not woken up again. After his disaster at age 10, the world No. 1 would drop another to fall to four under – his nadir, namely.
The highlight of his resurgence was an eagle shot on 13, from such a distance it could have been from a different zip code. That got him back to six under before two birdies in his final four holes left him one clear.
Dangerous at five under is Homa, who is a bit of a mystery on this stage.
His talent is plentiful, but his best major finish, a 10th place, is an isolated achievement; his other results in the four major tournaments were terrible considering his potential. Here he was as steady as Morikawa and his 73, although he made no birdies, had only one bogey. On such fried, fast greens, that was impressive.
Ludvig Aberg is a remarkable talent and the dark horse is still very popular here
Just like Aberg. Surely. It’s remarkable to think that this is his first major and comes just ten months after leaving college, but such is his breakthrough that he already has two professional titles to his name and is here as a dark horse before the title has arrived. Now it’s not that unlikely, right?
His round of 70 was a masterclass in driving and some impressive early putting, before successive bogeys at 14 and 15 pulled him back. In him and Hojgaard, European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald knows he has some gems in him that are still on steep upward curves.
The biggest pain of the day was felt by DeChambeau. People always made a “DeShambles” joke about the mad golf scientist, and unfortunately his back nine fueled that narrative. His troubles began with bogeys at 11 and 12, which left him at four under, but after a birdie at 14 he lost the plot at the par-five 15th.
The trouble started when he tried to go around the corner with his second shot, but instead the flight held straight and shot into the trees. In an attempt to throw himself free, he played in the creek and eventually carded a seven. An implosion was brewing with a three-putt bogey on 16, but just as his day seemed to have collapsed, he holed from the fairway for birdie on the last on 18.
It was really great theater.
Bryson DeChambeau had a back nine to forget until he left the fairway on the 18th
Time will tell what Sunday brings. Obviously Scheffler will be the favorite for the final loop because of who he is. Because of his experience as a former champion and his possession of such a reliably excellent game. However, he’s starting to miss some of those shorter putts again.
Aside from his horror show on the 10th hole, there were four leaky putts on the front nine alone that came away within 10 feet. That will be a consideration to keep in mind, as will Xander Schauffele, whose 70 has him in a group of two.
As for Rory McIlroy, the best he can hope for is another backdoor to a decent result. His 71 left him ten off the lead, two better off than defending champion Jon Rahm, who like most early starters found little movement on moving day. It was an indictment of his week that his 72 was his best of the three rounds so far.
He left with a face like thunder, which had none of the grimace of Tiger Woods after his 82. That consisted of a three-putt bogey on six, a puffed throw into a bunker for a double-bogey six on seven and a missed quadruped. on the way to a seven on the par-five eighth – five strokes in three holes.
His whole game was crap. When asked if there was a moment when he felt it unraveling, he responded briefly, “All day.”