Rose aims for England’s second straight Masters title

AUGUSTA, Ga. – News and notes from Saturday’s third round of the Masters, where a drama-filled afternoon set up a mouthwatering leaderboard heading into Sunday. Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia lead the way, with Rickie Fowler a shot back, and Jordan Spieth joined by Ryan Moore and Charley Hoffman just two off the pace. Click here for a full recap.  ENGLAND BACK-TO-BACK? While defending champion Danny Willett failed to get himself a weekend tee time at Augusta National, this time around he may still get to drape the green jacket over a countryman’s shoulders. England celebrated wildly when Willett became the first from the Old Dart since Nick Faldo in 1996 to win the Masters last year, and now Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Paul Casey have a chance to make it consecutive celebrations. Faldo went back-to-back at Augusta National in 1989 and 1990 – the only time England has had the double celebration. Rose is a co-leader at 6-under, while Westwood bounced back from a 77 on Friday to shoot 4-under 68 and is five back at 1-under. Casey’s Saturday 69 left him even-par. “Tomorrow is a huge day. I have an opportunity. That’s all you want, but really it starts on the back nine on Sunday,” Rose said.  “A one‑shot lead starting the day doesn’t mean much. You’re going to have to go out and play a good round of golf, and I think there are going to be four or five guys pretty much with the same mindset tomorrow.” Casey was trying to “fly under the radar” but admitted, “You never know,” with his trademark grin when asked about his chances Sunday. He’s got four top-10 finishes on his Masters resume including a T6 and T4 the last two years. Westwood has six top-10 Masters results in the past, including his T2 effort last year. “I’ve got half a chance tomorrow if I can get a roll going on the front nine,” he said.  FORMER CHAMPS LAY IN WAIT While Garcia, Fowler, Moore and Hoffman chase a maiden major and Rose looks for a first green jacket title, three former Masters champions loom large on the leaderboard. Jordan Spieth is by far the most ominous after his 4-under 68 leaves him just two off the pace. And remember, he had a 9 on the par-5 15th hole on Thursday. Spieth has become a Masters machine, as he was runner-up in his debut in 2014, the winner in 2015, and one bad hole away from winning in 2016 on his way to another runner-up finish. If he wins Sunday at 23, you’d have to think he’s a serious contender for Jack Nicklaus’ record six green jackets. “It’s exciting,” Spieth said. “Waking up and you have a chance to win your favorite tournament that you’ve dreamt of winning and competing in since you were a kid, and to be able to have your fourth opportunity now, I didn’t know going into my first one if I would have five chances in my life. So it’s awesome.  “And at the same time, I’ve been on both sides of it now, and I like the winning side better. So I’m certainly going to go for broke tomorrow.” Sitting just three shots back is 2013 champion Adam Scott. The Australian has hit the ball tremendously – ranking second in the field in greens in regulation and strokes gained: tee-to-green.  But he’s missed four putts inside 5 feet this week, and eight from 5 to 10 feet, to leave him slightly off the mark. “I firmly believe that the past champions here develop a level of comfort,” Scott said. “Whether it’s guys who are currently trying to play and win, Fred Couples manages to smooth it around here every year, and play well at 57. Jordan Spieth is a huge threat to this tournament, certainly one guy I’ll look at immediately tomorrow.” The 2011 champion Charl Schwartzel is also a threat, sitting four off the pace at 2-under. Ominously he was four back to begin Sunday in his winning year, making four straight birdies to finish to claim the green jacket. SERGIO SMASHES SATURDAY CURSE Prior to Sergio Garcia’s 2-under 70 on Saturday, the Spaniard’s Saturday scoring average at Augusta National was a pretty dismal 74.92. When he needed to move on Moving Day this time around, he got the job done. The 70 tied his lowest third-round Masters score, set back in 2002, and was just the third time he’s been under par in 14 attempts on Saturday. Just last year, Garcia imploded with an 81 in the third round. “I’m glad I took the scoring average down a little bit. That’s a big positive,” he said. “But Saturday’s gone and now Sunday’s coming. A very exciting Sunday. So we are going to go out there and do well again and just make sure we have a good chance coming into the last five or six holes and see what happens.” FOWLER FLYING ON GREENS Jordan Spieth is known as the putting master, especially around Augusta National, but it is the man he will play with Sunday who has negotiated the slick surfaces the best so far this week. Rickie Fowler, who will start Sunday just one back in search of his first major championship, has demolished the field on the greens thus far. The four-time PGA TOUR winner has gained 3.778 strokes on the field on the greens to lead the strokes gained: putting statistic, well ahead of second-ranked Russell Henley (2.010). Spieth is back in 21st (0.736). Fowler has needed just 79 putts all week thus far and is 30 for 30 from inside 5 feet. With an 80 percent success rate from 5 to 10 feet, Fowler is behind only Charl Schwartzel (83.33 percent). “I feel good about everything. The game feels good. I haven’t swung my best this week, or as good as I have the past few weeks. But I know we can pull out our best stuff tomorrow,” Fowler said.  “The short game’s been good. Putting’s been nice. Making good par saves. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’m excited about it.” HOFF HANGS IN For 13 holes of the third round, Charley Hoffman was more than holding his own amongst a superstar-studded leaderboard. Hoffman has been the outlier of sorts all week at Augusta National, surging to the first-round lead and holding on in Round 2 amongst some big names. Fans who expected a further crash on Saturday are likely unaware of his impressive resume that includes four PGA TOUR wins, the last coming in the 2016 Valero Texas Open. He played like a winner early Saturday, holding a two-shot lead after a birdie at the 13th, before a sluggish finish. A bogey on 14 was no big deal, but a loose swing on the par-3 16th found the water, and the resulting double bogey left him two off the pace. “The swing on 16, it happens. It was a bad one,” Hoffman said.  “I was able to regroup and make a couple pars coming in, two birdie looks. I’m two back, I’ve been playing good golf and I’m really happy with where I’m at.  “I’ve been in the lead for 36 holes and more than that, almost all day today, and I’m playing good golf, and if I play my game tomorrow, I think I’ve got a good chance.” Hoffman shot 31 on the back nine Thursday, but posted 37 and 38 the last two rounds. He will look to attack Sunday. “Everybody knows (that) with this back nine, anything can happen,” he said.  “You can make birdies, eagles, bogeys. So it’s the same game plan on the front, play solid golf and see where I need to attack on the back nine. Hopefully, I have a chance coming up 18.”  DAY DIGS IN TO BEAT MARKER After a terrible back nine on Friday, Jason Day found himself playing with the legendary Augusta member Jeff Knox in the first pairing out on Saturday. Knox has served as the Augusta National marker since 2003, helping keep pace of play with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson in recent years when an odd number of players make the cut. The local amateur, who holds the course record (61) from the members’ tees at Augusta National, has beaten the pros before, but Day’s competitive instinct kicked in early to make sure it didn’t happen. “I just didn’t want Jeff to beat me, right. I heard that he beat Rory. He said he was nervous on the first tee and in my head, I’m like, ‘I’m kind of nervous because I don’t want to let my marker beat me,’” said Day, who surged with four consecutive birdies on the back nine on his way to a 3-under 69. “It was kind of neck and neck. I bogeyed the second hole and he parred it and he was, kind of had a little 1‑up lead there for a bit, so I’m glad I ended up carving up the back side.” For the record, Knox shot 76 according to tournament officials.  BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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