Augusta (United States) (AFP) – Justin Rose takes a tenuous one-stroke lead over Bryson DeChambeau into Saturday’s third round of the Masters, where Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler remain within striking distance as they chase historic wins at Augusta National. “The leaderboard is stacking up very favorably for what looks like world-class players right up there,” said Rose, who is leading the Masters through 36 holes for the third time. The 44-year-old Englishman, who lost a Masters playoff to Sergio Garcia in 2017, knows he’ll have to “get after it” if he wants to add a second major title to his resume 12 years after he won the US Open.
Rose carded a second-round 71 for an eight-under total of 136, his three-stroke lead dwindling to one as DeChambeau delivered a four-under 68 that made him the only golfer this week to post two sub-70 rounds. DeChambeau, one clear of a resurgent McIlroy and Canadian Corey Conners, was looking forward to an action-packed weekend as five strokes separated 16 players atop the leaderboard — with nine major champions among that bunch. “This is what golf is about,” said DeChambeau, who will tee off alongside Rose in the final group on Saturday at 2:40 pm (1840 GMT). “Got a lot of great names up there, and looking forward to an unbelievable test of golf.”
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Defending champion Scheffler leads a group on 139, where he is joined by former British Open champion Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, and Matt McCarty. Scheffler, who also won the Masters in 2022, could join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-to-back Masters titles while McIlroy is trying, for the 11th time, to claim a first green jacket and become just the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam. Scheffler had five bogeys in his second-round 71, but after playing in the worst of Friday’s blustery winds, the world number one was looking forward to the weekend.
“We’ve got a great golf course, conditions should be really good, challenging, and we’ve got some great guys on top of the leaderboard,” Scheffler said. “So it should be a fun weekend.” Australian Jason Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner who was runner-up at the Masters in 2011, headed the group sharing ninth place on 140, where he was joined by Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard.
– ‘Get through’ –
The forecast called for mostly sunny skies and light breezes, but Day expected Augusta National’s notorious greens to firm up to produce a fierce challenge. “There’s guys up at the top of the leaderboard that can hit it a long way, so I know that they’re going to try and make it as difficult for us onto the greens as much as possible,” Day said. “We know that Saturday usually is the tougher day of the two,” added the Aussie, who said the third round was all about gaining position for the fourth. “Get through (Saturday),” he said. “I know it’s going to be tough, but get the opportunities, try to capitalize on them and then get myself into contention on the back nine on Sunday.”
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