Nine Things to Remember From Day 3 at the 2023 Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was another rugged day at Augusta National Waterpark & Wetlands, where raindrops kept falling on (our) their heads during a start-again, stop-again Masters.

The second round finished Saturday morning. The third round began and the leaders, playing in the last group, completed only six holes before play was called for the day at 3:15 p.m. Here are the highlights, lowlights and wetlights …

1. The Big Two. This Masters still looks like a Dynamic Duo challenge. Brooks Koepka is still Batman, managing a birdie at the par-5 2nd hole in the third round to reach 13 under par. Spain’s Jon Rahm, who had a strong second-round finish Saturday morning in heavy rain at the end, is still Robin. Rahm is at 9 under, four shots behind Koepka. He was hanging tough, two shots back, until consecutive bogeys at 3 and 4 in the third round. No other players are within six shots of Koepka and only six are within eight shots. The field is thinner than orange hair.

“It’s obviously super difficult,” Koepka said of the conditions. “The ball’s not going anywhere. You’ve got rain to deal with and it’s freezing cold. You’ve just got to grind through it and try to salvage something.”

2. Weather or not. Not even a duck would enjoy this mix of rain and cold (upper 40s), which was substantial enough to see steam rising from ponds on the course. It was a mist for the first hour or so of play as the second round tried to finish but then morphed from light rain into a steady downpour as the later tee times straggled in. The third round featured short breaks from the rain, only slightly warmer temperatures (50 degrees) and periods of heavy rain that led to puddling on the greens and, ultimately, the decision to call of play because the radar showed there was no chance of improvement.

The rain is scheduled to stop around 3-4 a.m. Sunday morning with a low of 43 degrees. The rest of Sunday looks cloudy with a high of 61. So if the players go all day, they can finish the Masters on schedule Sunday night. That means the final pairing of Koepka, Rahm and Sam Bennett will have to play 30 holes tomorrow.

3. The Tiger Report. It looked as if Tiger Woods was going to miss the cut when he bogeyed 17 and 18 as he finished his second round in a heavier downpour. At 18, he lost his drive well right into the trees and had to chip out. But Justin Thomas finished bogey-bogey, too, which pushed the cutline to 3 over par—letting Woods in—and bumping Thomas out. Thus Woods tied Fred Couples and Gary Player for the Masters record of 23 consecutive cuts made.

The good news stopped there. Woods was last off on the back nine for the third round but after making pars on the first four holes, he went bogey-double-double before play was halted.

At 14, he pulled a drive left, then didn’t escape the trees on his first try. At 15, he laid up but spun his third shot off the green into the water. At 16, in the worst of a downpour, he mis-hit an iron shot that he knew immediately was not going to clear the pond.

He was 6 over par through seven holes, 9 over for the tournament and in 54th (and last) place.

4. The mudder. U.S. Amateur champ Sam Bennett slipped back two shots but was still in third place, seven shots behind Koepka. “It was brutal out there,” Bennett said.

Asked if these were the worst conditions he’d played in, Bennett answered, “No—college golf, you play through it all.”

5. The chase goes on. There were two notable additions to Saturday afternoon’s leaderboard. One was U.S. Open champ Matthew Fitzpatrick, better known as the star of the Netflix behind-the-scenes series, Full Swing. Fitzpatrick picked up three birdies through 11 holes to reach 5 under and tie for fourth with Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay.

Cantlay was the other, charging with birdies at 2, 3 and 4. He played 13 holes.

6. LIV and let pay. The Masters announced its purse Saturday morning. It rose $3 million to $18 million, with the winner getting $3.4 million—or 85 percent of LIV Golf’s usual $4 million first prize.

7. Phil house. Friday, Phil Mickelson oozed confidence and said he was ready to go on a tear. He did go on a brief one, making birdies at 3 and 6 to reach 6 under. Then he bogeyed 7 and 8 and made the turn at 4 under, right where he started, when play stopped. With players backing up in the nasty weather, Mickelson is tied for eighth with Justin Rose, Russell Henley, Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Young and Jason Day.

8. An old record. Fred Couples took a Masters record away from Bernhard Langer. Couples needed only to finish the 18th hole Saturday morning after the restart. He made a bogey but made the cut at 1 over par, making him at 63 the oldest player to make a Masters cut by a matter of weeks over Langer.

"Am I going to look thrilled to play 18 holes in this (weather) this afternoon?" Couples joked. "No, I'm a wimp. I'm an old wimp, But I'm excited to play."

As for the topping Langer's mark, Couples said, "Bernhard's got enough records. He'll probably make the cut next year."

9. The short goodbye. Masters champs Sandy Lyle and Larry Mize said before the tournament that this would be their final Masters appearances.

Lyle’s finish Saturday morning lacked any drama. He was on the 18th green, maybe 60 seconds from finishing, when play was called Friday evening. He came back this morning and putted out, making his 81-83 missed cut official.

Mize came in two groups later. It was so cold and rainy that he hit driver, 5-iron, 6-iron into the final green, then three-putted for 79-80. A few hundred fans huddled under umbrellas or wearing ponchos gave him the best cheer they could.

After Mize shook hands with playing partners Min Woo Lee and Harrison Crowe and the caddies, he was surprised when Lyle walked onto the green for a handshake and a hug. “I thought it was the right thing to do,” said Lyle, 65. “The wives suggested it and I said, Yeah, I’m going to go back out there and welcome him to a new era.”

Mize was touched by the gesture and the warm welcome at the green, surprised that anybody was out in the cold and rain shortly after the 8 a.m. restart.

“For him to come out and greet me like that was very special,” Mize said. “I can’t believe he did that.”

Mize, who grew up in Augusta and worked at the third-hole scoreboard in two Masters when he was a teen, added, “To get a reception like this in weather like this, I didn’t expect it. I’m 64 and still living the dream. I love this place.”