AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler was in the lead and seemingly in control of his game during the third round of the Masters until realizing there was no such thing Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club.
He posed after another beautiful shot at the flag on the 10th hole and was stunned to see the ball take a hard hop over the green and roll down into the bushes. He made a double bogey and suddenly was one stroke behind.
“Make another bogey at 11,” Scheffler said, “and all of a sudden I’m probably going from in the lead to a few out of the lead — and then, you know, things happen pretty fast out there.”
It was so fast and furious that it was hard to keep up. Six players had at least a share of the lead at one point. There was a five-way tie on top early on the back nine. No one was safe, and it was like that to the very end.
Scheffler made an eight-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 1-under-par 71 to move to 7-under 209 through 54 holes at the year’s first major tournament. That gave him a one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa, the two-time major champion who has largely disappeared from the elite in golf but is now one winning round away from the third leg of the career Grand Slam.