AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) \u2014 The weekend couldn\u2019t come soon enough for players at the Masters, who really had only two choices as the sun began to set on Augusta National and the reality of their situation became clear.<\/p>\n
They could watch Scottie Scheffler roll in birdie putts and wonder why more of theirs don\u2019t go in, too.<\/p>\n
Or they could study the weather and hope the wind howls through the tall Georgia pines.<\/p>\n
Tiger Woods didn\u2019t need to announce what group he\u2019s in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be windy. It\u2019s going to be cool,\u201d Woods said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be the Masters that I think the Masters Committee has been looking forward to for a number of years. We haven\u2019t had it like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
We haven\u2019t had a leader like Scheffler in a while, either. He\u2019s got a five-shot lead that looked stunningly easy to craft and, more importantly, perhaps, he\u2019s got history on his side.<\/p>\n
Just five times before in Masters history has a player had a five-shot lead going into the weekend. The last four times the player won, most recently in 2015 when Jordan Spieth picked up a green jacket.<\/p>\n
And all Scheffler needs to do is play the same kind of competitive crushing golf he\u2019s been playing all year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as I\u2019m committed to everything, everything should be fine,\u201d the Texan said. \u201cThe rest really isn\u2019t up to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That kind of calm attitude has made this a breakthrough year for Scheffler, who suddenly finds himself the No. 1 player in the world. After his first win in February in Phoenix he added two more championships to his collection, including two weeks ago at the Match Play in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
For those keeping score at home, that\u2019s three wins in five tournaments.<\/p>\n
Those were nice, and those were important. They paid good money and probably already have made Scheffler the player of the year.<\/p>\n
But this is the Masters. The winner gets a green jacket and all that goes with it.<\/p>\n
The weekend pressure can be suffocating. What looked doable on Friday may not be on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Oh, and then there\u2019s Woods, who lurks nine shots back but still has hopes of contending. And, really, who\u2019s going to count him out after all he already has overcome?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a chance going into the weekend,\u201d Woods said. \u201cHopefully I\u2019ll have one of those light-bulb moments and turn it on in the weekend and get it done. You\u2019ve seen guys do it with a chance going into the back nine. If you are within five or six going into the back nine, anything can happen. I need to get myself there. That\u2019s the key. I need to get myself there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those may be little more than wishful thoughts for Woods, no matter the number of green jackets he already has won (5) or his familiarity with every blade of grass on the golf course he loves most.<\/p>\n
But a guy\u2019s got to have something. And he\u2019s not the only one holding out hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe clearly has control of everything right now based off the last couple of months, so I\u2019m not too surprised,\u201d said Justin Thomas, who matched Scheffler\u2019s 67 but was still seven shots back. \u201cBut yeah, I would appreciate it if he would stop going too far away.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s anything that can shake Scheffler \u2014 and with three wins in his last five starts it\u2019s hard to figure what that might be \u2014 there are three former champions who are within six shots of him.<\/p>\n
That includes last year\u2019s winner, Hideki Matsuyama and 2011 winner Charl Schwartzel. Looming just a shot back is former world No. 1 and 2020 winner Dustin Johnson.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of golf firepower and Augusta National is a lot of golf course. Strange things can happen on a weekend when the wind blows, especially if the greens dry out more and the shots become that much tougher.<\/p>\n
Scheffler is only in his third Masters, so he\u2019s not one to judge history. Up until February he hadn\u2019t even won a tournament on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
A few early birdies by Woods, a few big roars echoing across the landscape can do damage to a player\u2019s psyche.<\/p>\n
Besides, as lore goes, nothing ever starts at the Masters until the back nine on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re within five or six on that back nine going into Sunday you\u2019ve got a chance,\u201d Woods said. \u201cSo I just need to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
A tall task, sure, but what does Woods have to lose?<\/p>\n
Remember, he wasn\u2019t supposed to be here anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) \u2014 The weekend couldn\u2019t come soon enough for players at the Masters, who really had only two choices as the sun began to set on Augusta National and the reality of their situation became clear. They could watch Scottie Scheffler roll in birdie putts and wonder why more of theirs don\u2019t go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-188438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}