Gavin Cooney reports from Augusta National Golf Club

THE THIRD ROUND of the 87th Masters was suspended due to extremely heavy rain on Saturday, and will now be completed before the final round on Sunday. 

There hasn’t been a Monday finish to the competition in 40 years, but organisers are confident the tournament will be finished on schedule tomorrow with improved conditions forecast. 

Thunderstorms led to the suspension of yesterday’s second round, which was then completed early this morning, despite heavy rain soaking the course at Augusta National. 

The second round was completed, with Jon Rahm completing his final eight holes to close within two shots of leader Brooks Koepka, while Tiger Woods narrowly made the cut. 

In a bid to sprint through the third round as quickly as possible, the tournament sent players out in the threes – rather than pairs – and made two-tee starts, with half the field beginning their rounds on the 10th tee. 

While play began at 11.30am local time, the rains were unrelenting and eventually play was suspended at 3.15pm due to a waterlogged course. Leaders Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm were on the seventh green at the time of suspension, parts of which were flooded. 

Koepka stretched his lead across the six holes he and Rahm played, and now leads by four shots going into tomorrow morning. He and Rahm both birdied the par-five second, but where Koepka parred his other five holes, Rahm bogeyed holes four and five, the latter the most difficult hole on the course.

Koepka had an 11-foot putt for par and Rahm a nine-footer for birdie at the time of suspension. 

Shane Lowry struggled amid the conditions, shooting two-over through nine holes. A birdie at three provided brief respite in a card featuring bogeys at one, four, and nine. 

Seamus Power made the cut at one-over and slipped a further shot back: he started on the tenth tee and bogeyed 14 and 16, getting a shot back with a birdie on the par-five 15th. 

Lowry is now in a tie for 17th, with Power sharing 40th place. 

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, toiled, drifting to nine-over for the tournament. He bogeyed his first hole and then endured a horror run, bogeying the 14th before signing for double on each of 15 and 16, finding the water on both. 

Patrick Cantlay and Matt Fitzpatrick were among the best performances in the brutal conditions: Cantlay reeled off three birdies in a row between holes two and four to get to minus-five through 13, while Fitzpatrick went bogey-free and three-under through his 11 holes. Both are in a tie for fourth place with Collin Morikawa, who shot one-over through seven. 

Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, briefly threatened the upper echelons of the leaderboard with birdies on three and six, but bogeyed seven and eight to slip back to four-under in a tie for eighth.