Scottie Scheffler’s lead shrinks at Masters Tournament

AUGUSTA, Ga. – You look at the scoreboard, the golfers, and back again.

You do the math, run the scenarios, and wonder if there’s any way Scottie Scheffler won’t win the 86th Masters Tournament. And then along comes Cameron Smith, whose third-round 68 was the lowest round of the day by two and cut the deficit to just three shots behind Scheffler (71) going into Sunday.

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“I've always been quite good at not giving up,” Smith said after his first individual PGA TOUR victory in a playoff over Brendan Steele at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii.

The deficit Smith overcame that day? Three shots.

No player would admit it, but Smith is the last guy a leader would want to see in the rearview mirror right now. When he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, his 34-under total was the lowest 72-hole score in PGA TOUR history. (He also held off then-world No. 1 Jon Rahm.) He made 10 final-round birdies to win THE PLAYERS Championship last month.

The attribute that best describes Smith: grit. He made eight birdies here Thursday; has finished in the top 10 in three of his five Masters starts, including a T2 in 2020; and took down Justin Thomas in Presidents Cup singles in 2019 after falling 3 down through five holes.

“He is a danger man,” said CBS golf analyst Nick Faldo, who in 1996 overcame a six-stroke deficit to win his third Masters over a faltering Greg Norman.

Scheffler, meanwhile, had held steady before bogeys on three of his last five holes Saturday.

“Yeah, should be a great fight tomorrow,” he said. “Obviously, Cam is a tremendous player, and he's got a fantastic short game, and he's coming off a huge win at THE PLAYERS.”

If there were a final pairing that made the most sense, given where golf is now, Scheffler and Smith are that pairing. They are both in the top five in the FedExCup, and the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and each has won multiple tournaments already this season.

The last time the final pairing at a major met any of those criteria was the 2015 PGA Championship, with Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, who also met all of those criteria.

Sungjae Im shot 71, one of just nine under-par scores on the day, to get to 4 under, five back.

Shane Lowry and Charl Schwartzel each shot 73 and were at 2 under, still with an outside shot.

Warmer temperatures are expected for the final round after a frigid, blustery Saturday in which Scheffler repeatedly put on a vest in between shots. Others, including Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner and Hudson Swafford, wore ski hats. Tiger Woods shot his highest Masters round (78).

Scheffler started the day with a five-shot lead over four players, briefly extended it to six on the front nine, and then began to come back to the field with bogeys on 14 and 15, the latter when a gust of wind appeared to blow his birdie putt well past the hole and he missed the comebacker.

Although he birdied 17 to get the lead back to four, Scheffler pulled his drive into the trees at the narrow, uphill 18th hole. He found the ball but had to take an unplayable lie, and bogeyed.

Scheffler is world and FedExCup No. 1 after victories in three of his previous five starts, most recently at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Smith also won in his last start, at THE PLAYERS, and also seems to be coming into his own.

His never-say-die attitude is quite unlike the borderline-defeated tone of many of his peers.

“Whatever I do is in his hands,” Tommy Fleetwood (70, 1 over total) said of Scheffler.

Said Rory McIlroy (71, 1 over), “I think I moved up a few places with that score today, and just try to move up a few more tomorrow and try to get a top 10 and move on.”

A 10-shot deficit, alas, is very different from a three-shot deficit. Although even a 10-shot lead is not entirely insurmountable. Faldo began the final round six shots behind Norman in ’96, but the steady Englishman shot 67 to Norman’s 78 and won by five.

“I think the back nine tomorrow is obviously where the tournament will be decided,” Smith said.

Asked what people should glean from his track record, those victories at THE PLAYERS, Sentry TOC, Presidents Cup and elsewhere, he said, “Yeah, it just means I can get it done I guess when I'm up against the best guys in the world. It's a good feeling to have.

“It's earned,” he added. “It's not given to you.”

With the game’s two hottest players ready to square off Sunday, that seems like a safe bet.