Virtual Masters Round 3: He’s some Player

4 Apr 2001: Gary Player of South Africa on the 12th hole during Wednesday's practice round at the 2001 Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GA, USA.....DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Munday/ALLSPORT
4 Apr 2001: Gary Player of South Africa on the 12th hole during Wednesday's practice round at the 2001 Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GA, USA.....DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Munday/ALLSPORT /
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Gary Player rides a 68 to a two-stroke lead entering the final  round of play

For the third consecutive day, a new leader emerged in the Virtual Masters Championship Saturday. Three-time champion Gary Player shot 68 to assume a two-stroke lead with just 18 holes remaining to be played.

But Player’s path to the ultimate Masters title is hardly a clear one.  When he approaches the first  tee Sunday, he’ll have no fewer than 10 of the game’s greatest starting  within a doable six shots of him.

The Virtual Masters pits all 52 former Masters champions against one another in a conditions-neutral tournament with each player’s performance based on the standard deviation of his best stretch of 10 consecutive years at Augusta National.

Player’s third round was constructed on six birdies offset by a double bogey, that coming on the day’s opening hole.  Following Thursday and Friday rounds of 69 and 65, it gave him a 54-hole  total of 14-under 202.

That’s two better than a pair of multiple champions, three-time winner Jimmy Demaret and two-time champion Horton Smith. Demaret shot 70 Saturday and Smith turned in a 68. Both finished at 12-under 204.

Ben Hogan, Phil Mickelson and Ralph Guldahl stood one additional shot behind at -11, 205. Jack Nicklaus was at -10, 206, while a foursome at -8, 208, included Tiger Woods, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard and second-round leader Bob Goalby.

Among pre-tournament favorites,  four appeared to be too far back to contend. Jordan Spieth turned in his best round of the tournament, a 68, but it still left him nine shots behind Player at five-under 211. Tom Watson managed nothing better than an even-par 72 and also stood at five-under.

Arnold Palmer, the crowd-favorite and pre-tournament favorite, took a major stumble down the stretch Saturday. Palmer played the final four holes at Augusta National in four-over par, suffering through a triple-bogey seven at the 18th, to record a 75. He is at 212, four-under and 10 strokes behind Player.

And Sam Snead, hoping to capitalize on his five-under  standing at the tournament’s halfway point, instead went the other way. Snead took double bogeys at the 4th and 9th holes and never got anything going after that, finishing with a 77 that left him at even par 216.

Player’s round was uneventful and — following that opening double bogey – efficient. He birdied the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 15th and 18th holes to go with 10 pars.

Demaret lost his shot at the lead with a double bogey six at the par four 11th. But he closed sensationally with birdies on each of his round’s final four holes to reduce his four-shot deficit to just two.

Smith, winner of both the inaugural 1934 and 1936 Masters, matched Player’s 68 to hold his place two strokes behind the South African. Smith had six birdies and two bogeys.

For several putative contenders, Saturday was a day that brought disaster on a single hole. Palmer’s misadventure at 18 was the most extreme example. Even par for the round and six behind Player at the 18th tee, his drive caught the lip of the first fairway bunker and lodged in it, permitting nothing more than a hack of about three feet into the rough. His third shot approach  failed to carry the front bunker, and he followed his explosion out with a damning three-putt.

Watson joined Palmer in late-round agony. The two-time Masters champion stood seven-under for the day through 13 holes and – thanks to a front nine 32 –just two behind Player through 13 holes. But he played the 14th through 16th in  6-6-7, giving back seven strokes to par. Both his tee shot and his subsequent drop at 16 found the pond left of the green.

That saddled Watson with a back nine 40 for perhaps the strangest even par 72 you’ll see.

Second round leader Goalby’s hope to pull off a major upset foundered on a pair of holes. He double bogeyed both the par five 2nd and the 18th to finish the day at 75.

Miguel Angel Cabrera registered the day’s best round, a 65. But Cabrera started play at six-over 150, so that score only brought him up to one-under 215.  At the other end of the scale, Tommy Aaron saw his fleeting chances destroyed Saturday. Three-under when the day  started, Aaron made six bogeys and just a single birdie for a 78 that left him three-over and 17 strokes off Player’s pace.

For the third consecutive day  there was a hole-in-one. Seve Ballesteros made it at the par three 4th. It helped the 1980 and 1983 Masters champion to a round of 71, leaving him at even par 216 through three rounds.

The field’s 71.67 stroke average was the highest yet for the virtual tournament.

Here are the leaders’ cards

Hole                      1 2 3    4 5 6   7 8 9   10 11 12   13 14 15   16 17 18

Par                        4 5 4    3 4 3   4 5 4     4   4   3      5   4   5      3   4   4 — 72

Player                   6 5 3    2 4 3   4 4 4     3   3   3      5   5   4      3   4   3 – 68

Demaret              4 4 4    3 4 2   4 6 5     4   6   3      5   4   4      2   3   3  –70

Smith                   4 4 4    3 3 3   3 5 4     4   5   3      5   3   4      3   5   3 – 68

Guldahl               5 5 3    3 3 3   3 5 4     4   4   3      5   4   4      4   4   3 — 69

Hogan                 4 5 4    5 4 2   4 5 4     3   4   2      4   5   6      3   4   3 — 71

Mickelson          4 5 4   4 3 2   3 5 4      4   3   2      5   4   5      3   5   4 — 69

The scores through 54 holes.

Gary Player                         69-65-68-202      -14

Jimmy Demaret                 67-67-70-204      -12

Horton Smith                     65-71-68-204      -12

Ralph Guldahl                    66-70-69-205      -11

Ben Hogan                          64-70-71-205      -11

Phil Mickelson                   66-70-69-205      -11

Jack Nicklaus                      69-69-68-206      -10

Bob Goalby                         66-67-75-208        -8

Tiger Woods                       70-68-70-208        -8

Byron Nelson                     67-72-69-208        -8

Henry Picard                      67-72-69-208        -8

Vijay Singh                          69-70-70-209        -7

Fred Couples                     69-70-71-210         -6

Jordan Spieth                    72-71-68-211         -5

Ray Floyd                             71-68-69-208       -5

Nick Faldo                           73-68-70-211        -5

Tom Watson                      71-68-72-211         -5

Herman Keiser                  74-67-71-212         -4

Arnold Palmer                   67-70-75-212         -4

Cary Middlecoff                66-72-74-212         -4

Ben Crenshaw                   72-70-70-212        -4

Charl Schwartzel               72-70-72-214        -4

Ian Woosnam                    72-67-74-213         -3

Adam Scott                         69-68-75-212        -3

Fuzzy Zoeller                      71-75-67-213        -3

Doug Ford                           72-74-68-214        -2

Claude Harmon                 74-67-74-215        -1

Larry Mize                           72-69-74-215       -1

Sergio Garcia                      74-70-71-215       -1

Bernhard Langer              79-66-70-215        -1

Miguel Angel Cabrera    76-74-65-215         -1

Mark O’Meara                  70-75-71-216          E

Sam Snead                          65-74-77-216        E

Seve Ballesteros               71-74-71-216        E

Jose Maria Olazabal        78-69-70-217       +1

Zach Johnson                     72-73-73-218      +2

George Archer                  70-74-74-218       +2

Gene Sarazen                    74-74-71-219      +3

Tommy Aaron                   68-73-78-219       +3

Billy Casper                         73-76-70-219     +3

Gay Brewer                        69-75-75-219      +3

Craig Stadler                       74-71-75-220     +4

Craig Wood                         79-71-70-220     +4

Jack Burke Jr.                     73-75-73-221      +5

Charles Coody                   71-78-72-221      +5

Mike Weir                           75-69-78-222      +6

Danny Willett                    72-79-71-222      +6

Art Wall Jr.                          75-74-75-224      +8

Sandy Lyle                          71-76-77-224      +8

Trevor Immelman             80-74-72-226    +10

Patrick Reed                      75-79-72-226    +10

Bubba Watson                  79-77-77-233     +17