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regular-article-logo Monday, 23 December 2024

Augusta Masters: Brooks Koepka extends lead, Tiger Woods withdraws

Five-time champion finishes his second round in cold, driving rain on Saturday to make cut on number at 3 over

AP/PTI, Reuters Augusta Published 10.04.23, 05:26 AM
Representational image.

Representational image. File photo

Tiger Woods withdrew from the Masters before the resumption of the third round on Sunday, ending his streak of completing all 72 holes of every tournament he has played at Augusta National as a professional.

The tournament said about 90 minutes before play was to begin that Woods, who is still hobbled by the effects of a 2021 car accident that nearly cost him his right leg, had withdrawn with an injury. He had limped through practice rounds early in the week and again during the first and second rounds, but it had become more pronounced as the weather worsened.

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The five-time champion finished his second round in cold, driving rain on Saturday to make the cut on the number at 3 over.

The 47-year-old Woods headed back out for the start of the third round as temperatures struggled to reach 50 degrees, and it wound up being a water-logged slog. Wearing a gray winter hat over a baseball cap, he started on the 10th hole with a bogey, added another at No. 14, and then had back-to-back double bogeys after finding the water on Nos. 15 and 16.

It was the first time Woods has ever had consecutive double bogeys at the Masters.

By the time the horn blew ending play with rain still pouring and puddles beginning to stand at Augusta National, Woods was at 9 over and alone in last place among those that made the cut. That was 22 shots behind leader Brooks Koepka.

The 15-time major champion also withdrew before the final round of last year’s PGA Championship with what his agent, Mark Steinberg, described as pain and discomfort in his right foot. That came hours after he shot 79 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in similarly cold and windy weather.

LIV Golf’s Koepka extended his lead to four shots over Spaniard Jon Rahm before the third-round play was suspended for the day due to intense rain.

Koepka, who began the day two shots clear of Rahm with amateur Sam Bennett a further two strokes back, had one birdie through six holes and was staring at an 11-foot par putt at the seventh when play was suspended with no players having completed their rounds.

It marked the second consecutive day that rain interrupted play at the year’s first major as 39 golfers returned early on Saturday to complete their second round.

“Yeah, it’s obviously super difficult,” said Koepka. “Ball’s not going anywhere. You’ve got rain to deal with, and it’s freezing cold. It doesn’t make it easy.”

Players went out in threesomes off split tees with hopes of completing the entire third round despite the forecast of heavy rain and wind that picked up shortly after the final group headed out.

Koepka and Rahm birdied the par-five second hole just as the rain intensified while Bennett made a second consecutive bogey to drop off the pace as the year’s first major quickly turned into a two-horse race.

Four-time major winner Koepka moved three clear at the par-three fourth where he got up and down from the left greenside bunker while world No. 3 Rahm made bogey after chipping over the green from the other bunker.

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