Scheffler Leads Morikawa By 1 After Another Day of Angst and Pressure at Augusta National

Earning a green jacket isn't supposed to be easy, but Augusta National's conditions this week have been especially trying.

Apr 13, 2024; Augusta, Georgia, USA; Collin Morikawa hits from the gallery on No. 18 during the / Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Network

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The wind died down but not the angst. That came back in full force on a beautiful afternoon at Augusta National, one that again saw the course’s beastly qualities override its beauty.

The home of the Masters might be one of the most serene settings in the game, but when conditions are like they have been the past two days, the best players in the world often get tied in knots trying to figure out its complexities.

There is far more pressure than peace.

A man who has put himself in this position countless times of late emerged on top through three rounds. Scottie Scheffler did it with a 1-under-par 71 on Saturday, but not without his share of difficulty.

Collin Morikawa, in a ballstriking slump for most of this year, emerged with the only sub-70 score atop the leaderboard to give himself a chance at a third major. And Max Homa failed to make a birdie but hung tough to remain just two strokes back.

It was not a day for the meek.

“If you don't enjoy the challenge, you're playing the wrong sport,” said former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover. “The conditions make the day, right? Styles make fights, as they say. The style here is firm and fast, and when it's like that, it's a challenge.

“It's hard to get your ball close. It's hard to chip it close. It's hard to putt it close sometimes. You know that coming in. That's the way it should be. It's a major. Anybody complaining about the golf course or the conditions, we knew it was going to be like this.”

There was some grumbling, to be sure. The pin placements were not easy. While it was nowhere near as blustery as Friday’s second round, the wind was still tricky and the greens got very slick.

For a time, the usual Augusta roars were scarce. But Scheffler showed some emotion when he made an eagle at the 13th, Morikawa kept in the game with some strong putting after birdieing the first three holes and Bryson DeChambeau might have saved his tournament when he holed out for birdie from 80 yards at the last hole.

“It was a frustrating day to be playing this golf course,” said Scheffler, 27, whose 71 gave him a one-shot lead over Morikawa and a two-shot advantage over Homa. Ludvig Åberg, playing in his first major championship, shot 70 to remain in contention at 212, 4 under par, and three strokes back.

DeChambeau, the first-round leader who seemingly fell out of contention with a double-bogey, bogey stretch, salvaged his day when he punched out of the woods on the 18th hole and then knocked a wedge shot into for a birdie. It was a 75, but kept him within range, four strokes back.

“It's not easy when the course conditions aren't just kind of lending to your favor, and just the breaks aren't going your way is what I mean by that,” he said. “You just have to stay positive no matter what. I had a great break on 18. I'll take that any day of the week.”

Scheffler, who won the Masters two years ago and has two recent victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, saw the breaks go against him when a wind gust carried his approach shot over the 10th green and into a bush, leading to a double bogey.

He followed with a bogey at the 11th to drop to 4 under and was looking at another one on 12 when he made a 7-footer for par. That seemed to steady him before he made a 30-footer for eagle at the 13th.

“It was exciting, and it was nice to be able to steal a couple shots there on 13 and get back in the tournament,” he said.

Morikawa, 27, who won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 British Open, has found winning difficult since his DP World Tour Championship title in 2021. He’s struggled to get into contention, mainly due to issues with putting.

This year, Morikawa’s usually strong iron play has been the problem. Having ranked no worse than third in any year going back to 2020 in strokes-gained approach on the PGA Tour, he has dropped to 79th this year.

Morikawa said he “found something” on Monday has stuck with it to this point. He also changed putters between the first and second round.

“It's been a struggle the past few years. And, you know, hasn't been fun, but it's been fun to learn about the game and learn about myself,” he said. “The past few days, I've seen some shots that I haven't seen in quite some time, and that's really, really exciting for me because it's just being able to just know point-and-shoot and find the ball, and hopefully you've got a birdie chance.”

Homa, 33, who has just one top-10 in a major, shot 73 without making a birdie, making 17 pars and a bogey. He managed to stay in contention on what he called a tough day.

“Very glad I got through it today,” he said. “It was very tough. I left the gym, and all of a sudden the nerves hit. I'm glad I did it once before.

“I had a lot of firsts. Playing with Tiger (Woods) the first two days. Playing in the last group on Saturday. I feel like going into tomorrow I have a good game plan of how I'm going to approach the morning, and I'm quite excited about it.”

History says the winner will come out of the final group, as has occurred in 10 of the last 11 years. That means either Scheffler or Morikawa. Homa and Åberg are in the group in front, with DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele also in the mix.

Sunday promises to bring the warmest day of the week, which means the ball will be flying, especially with predicted less wind. Typically, the lords of Augusta allow for some Sunday fun with their pin placements, but the greens don’t figure to be any less severe in their speed and firmness.

Will there be fireworks or frustration? Probably a good bit of both.

“Look, tomorrow, anything could happen,” Morikawa said. “There's still a lot of guys right beneath us. We don't know what conditions are going to be like. The greens are getting firmer than I've ever seen out here. So it's going to play a lot different from kind of what we've seen the first two rounds.”