-7: Scottie Scheffler (USA)-6: Collin Morikawa (USA), Ludvig Aberg (SWE)-5: Max Homa (USA)-3: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Bryson DeChambeau (USA)-2: Cameron Smith (AUS), Tyrell Hatton (ENG)
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6.06am
Aberg continues to impress in first major
It feels like we’re still in a bit of a feeling out period at the top of the leaderboard. You know a tense football match when both teams don’t show their hand early, this is what the final round of The Masters has been like so far. No one has really made a serious move yet.
Collin Morikawa - vying for the third leg of golf’s grand slam - misses a good birdie chance on the sixth, and Scottie Scheffler’s putt from downtown just shaves the hole. That would have been a huge make.
Maybe it’s going to be the Swede, Ludvig Aberg, who will rise to the occasion. Europe’s Ryder Cup star - incredibly only playing his first major despite being ranked inside the world’s top 10, such has been his meteoric rise - has picked up a shot on the seventh to be just one behind Scheffler now.
Meanwhile, Max Homa drops a shot to be two back.
6.01am
Woods battles his way to the finish line
The Masters is well and truly done for Tiger Woods, who completed his final round earlier today after another record-breaking week at Augusta National.
After making the cut for a record 24th consecutive time, the five-time Masters champion had a horror weekend and carded a five-over 77 today to finish at 16-over for the tournament - at the bottom of the leaderboard for those who made the cut.
But to see him just finish 72 holes is a massive achievement in itself. He’s golf’s answer to tin man at the moment, held together by rods and plates and every step he takes looks painful, let alone watching him bend down to pick up his ball or tee.
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Will we see him back next year? I suspect so.
Tiger Woods in his final round.Credit: Getty
5.50am
Day commits to Olympic GamesBy Darren Walton
Australian golf star Jason Day has committed to the Olympic Games for the first time, revealing a sense of regret at skipping the Rio Games eight years ago.
An upbeat Day said he was excited to have the chance to represent Australia again after finishing the Masters with a flurry at Augusta National.
Day closed with a three-under-par 69 on Sunday to climb into the top-30 at the first major championship of the year.
“Today was a good positive step in the right direction,” he said after conceding it may have been a bad idea to tinker with his swing while playing the first two rounds at Augusta with five-time champion Tiger Woods, the Pied Piper of the fairways.
Jason Day.Credit: Getty
“It felt a little bit different today. I was just saying that I was making some continuation of swing changes on top of playing in a major championship with Tiger Woods and in 40-mile-an-hour breeze at the start of the week.
“It can be very difficult to try and make those changes.”
Day was world No.1 when he opted out of the Rio Olympics, saying he was uneasy about going to Brazil with the Zika virus spreading while his wife was pregnant.
But as the country’s No.1 player, Day is in pole position to claim one of Australia’s two spots for this year’s Paris Games.
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“I’ll play. If I’m in, I’ll play for sure, yeah. I’m looking forward to it,” the one-time major champion said. “I think I made a bit of a mistake not going down to Rio, even though part of it was family-related. I kind of missed out on that, and I probably should have gone.
“But if I get the opportunity, I’m looking forward to going.”
Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman represented Australia at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
On rankings, Min Woo Lee would nab the second spot for Australia behind Day.
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5.47am
Smith on his knees - literally
Cameron Smith is in all sorts of trouble on the par-five eighth, pulling his drive left into the trees.
His only way out is to get down on his knees and try to chunk the ball back into play. You walked down your local on any average Saturday and you wouldn’t be surprised to see that, but Augusta has brought one of the world’s best players to his knees - literally.
Remarkably, Smith fights his way to a par with a fantastic save from 12 feet. How big will that be in the wash-up?
Scottie Scheffler doesn’t seem quite on his game through the first five holes. I reckon the door is open for anyone good enough to walk through it. He makes par on the fifth - still leading by one - but hasn’t quite had his distance control on point yet.
Who is going to be good enough to challenge him?
5.35am
Scheffler blots scorecard, Smith misses golden opportunity
There’s hope for the rest of the field.
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Scottie Scheffler has given back that shot he picked up[ on the third with a bogey on the fourth, rifling his approach into the monster 240-yard par-three long over the green. How do you do that?
Needless, he can’t get up and down and that’s the first blot on his scorecard for the day. His lead is back to just one stroke.
Cameron Smith is showing his first sign of frustration as he misses a very makeable birdie putt from eight feet on the seventh hole.
He just hit the putt a little too hard through the break. If he’s going to be any chance of making a run at this - five behind Scheffler - you suspect those opportunities need to go in.
5.29am
Mad scientist Bryson making a charge
There might not be a more interesting golfer on the planet than Bryson DeChambeau.
Only this week, he had the US Golf Association approve a new set of irons for him to use at Augusta National. Most golfers would be reticent to change any of their equipment on the eve of such a big event, but not Bryson.
He’s challenged the physics of the game and started hot this week with an opening round seven-under 65 to lead The Masters.
His challenge has fizzled at times over the next couple of days, but he’s just made back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes - two of the hardest on the course - to get back to three-under for the tournament.
The mad scientist still might have a say in how this tournament finishes.
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Bryson DeChambeau.Credit: Getty
5.22am
Baby and birdies the key to Scheffler
There has been one story which has had everyone on tenterhooks this week, not least of all Scottie Scheffler.
His wife, Meredith, is due with their first child any day and the world No.1 has promised to withdraw from The Masters if he had to rush to the birth.
There’s been 80-odd golfers wishing she would go into labour this week! But it looks like Scheffler will be hanging around for the completion of the tournament as he chases a second green jacket in three years.
He’s struck his first major blow of the day making a short birdie putt on the third to extend his lead to two shots. Advantage Texas.
Scottie Scheffler has been on baby watch all week.Credit: Getty
5.17am
Smith drops shot with cruel twist in Scheffler pursuit
Not great news for Australian fans, with Cameron Smith giving back one of those two shots he picked up with a remarkable eagle on the second.
After finding the greenside bunker on the left of the fifth hole, Smith’s curling 12-footer for par sat on the lip of the hole and refused to drop. That’s a cruel, cruel blow. One little gust of wind and it would have fallen.
He makes par on the sixth hole after his birdie try just shaves the inside of the cup. He’s still five shots behind Scottie Scheffler in the early stages of the final round.
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Cameron Davis has also made bogey on the fifth hole to drop a couple of shots on his round. He’s back to even par for the tournament, seven behind Scheffler.
5.11am
Scheffler feeling the heat early?
Are there a few nerves from world No.1 Scottie Scheffler on the opening holes?
Two years ago, when he was in the final group with Cameron Smith, Scheffler confessed to crying like a baby in front of wife Meredith at home on the morning of the last day, realising the enormity of the challenge he faced.
He’s been so much more dominant as golf’s best player in the last 12 months, but he’s scrambled par on the first hole and then left an approach with his third into the par-five second scattering patrons behind the green. It’s a minor miracle no one was seriously hurt from that.
He admits to touching the ball as he addressed the delicate downhill chip, but the ball didn’t move. Play on. He makes his up-and-down for par. Morikawa misses a very makeable eight-footer for birdie. Chance missed?
The second last group, Max Homa and Ludvig Aberg, both made earlier birdies on the second to close the gap. It’s remarkable to think Aberg is only playing his first major championship. He will be a star for a very long time.
Scottie Scheffler talks to a rules official on the second hole.Credit: Getty
4.58am
Lee, Day enjoy good days as Scott surges
While Australia’s top two this week - Cameron Smith and Cameron Davis - are now out on the course, the rest of The Masters contingent were out much earlier with no hope of challenging for the green jacket.
It was a good day for Jason Day (+5) and Min Woo Lee (+4), who both shot three-under 69s in their final round to move up the leaderboard.
Adam Scott (+2) is down at Amen Corner at the moment and has already picked up a couple of shots on his round. How do you reckon he feels walking off the 10th today? He had a disastrous triple bogey 7 during his third round, but today? Birdie.
