Mark O’Meara made it to the start line but no
farther. O’Meara, hoping to play through a recent
injury to his back and ribs, had the problem flare
up Thursday morning before his tee time and
withdrew. The 1998 Masters champion played
practice rounds and hit “ 40 or 50” balls on the
range before deciding there was no point to it.
Gary Woodland reached the third round
before he re-injured his left wrist. But he
wasn’t ready to call it quits. Woodland finished
the round with 85 and notified officials he was
withdrawing. Woodland said he experienced pain
6R
Saturday morning and took anti-inflammatories.
“Got on the first tee and just progressively got
worse,” he said. “I wanted to finish today and take
it from there. I’ve never quit anything in my life.”
6S
7X
8
0
-
2
0
0
9
-
0
2
2
0
1
-
0
7
-
0
2
0
0
2
1
B There have been double-eagles on all the
Augusta National par- 5 holes – Oosthuizen
(4-iron from 253 yards; Sarazen (4-wood, 235
yards); Bruce Devlin at the eighth in 1967 (4-
wood, 248 yards); Jeff Maggert at the 13th in
1994 (3-iron, 222 yards).
For the leaders at The Masters, the early
going Sunday is a key indicator. It tells them if
Augusta National is going to be lenient or cruel.
Bo Van Pelt told them what they needed to
know. He shot a back-nine, 6-under 30 with an
eagle at the 13th and a hole-in-one at the 16th.
He shot 64-287. A year ago, Van Pelt was in contention down the stretch but made a bogey at the
16th, shot 70 and tied for eighth at 8-under 280.
“I was just one year late,” Van Pelt said.
After making pars at the first three holes
on the back, Van Pelt went on a tear with birdies at the 14th and 18th to go along with the
eagle and ace. He nearly holed a 5-iron from
198 yards at the 510-yard 13th.
He used a 6-iron from 170 yards for the ace
at the 16th. But he didn’t win a skin, as Adam
Scott also made a hole-in-one at the 16th
later in the day.
Dustin Johnson was forced to withdraw
from The Masters because of a back ailment
he suffered while lifting a jet ski a week earlier.
Johnson, ranked No. 12 in the Official World
Golf Rankings, was a serious threat at Augusta
National because of his length.
Johnson tweeted his disappointment: “You
have no idea how much I wanted to walk the
fairways at Augusta and fulfill what I’ve been
practicing for!!”
Ten major champions were at par or bet-
ter after 36 holes. In addition to co-leader Fred
Couples, the group included Oosthuizen, Rory
McIlroy, Paul Lawrie, Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim
Furyk, Y.E. Yang, Zach Johnson and Harrington.
