TIGER WOODS SAID he planned to get up at no later than 4am on Sunday as he bids to end his lengthy major drought by claiming a fifth Masters title.
Woods is firmly in contention for the third major in succession after shooting a third-round 67 at Augusta to share second with Tony Finau on 11 under, two behind leader Francesco Molinari.
Almost 11 years have passed since Woods last claimed one of golf’s premier strokeplay prizes, at the 2008 US Open, and he is ready for an early start ahead of round four, with the final group set to go off at 9.20am local time due to the threat of afternoon thunderstorms.
“I’ll wake up around 4am, maybe 3.45 am… Start the process of getting this body ready and get after it,” said the 14-time major champion.
“Usually the reward for playing hard and doing all the things correctly is you get a nice little sleep in come Sunday, but that’s not going to be the case.”
Woods was one over through five holes on a day when three players shot 64 and revealed he told himself to “just be patient” before reeling off three straight birdies starting at the sixth.
A further three gains came in the space of four holes on the back nine as the 43-year-old briefly moved into a share of the lead and completed his best round at Augusta since 2011.
Asked what he had executed well, Woods replied: “Everything. I drove it well and hit my irons well. I made some putts. I just let the round kind of build.
The goal today was to start at six [under] and make sure I got to double digits and I was able to do that.”
Woods was a final-day contender at The Open and US PGA Championship in 2018, losing out to playing partner Molinari in the first of those events.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention here, but then again the last two majors count for something,” he added.
“I’ve been in the mix with a chance to win major championships … and that helps.”
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Vincent Debaty, unreal support running from the prop, amazing run as well Nakaitaci ..
100% best try. I reckon the effort probably took a year off his life.
Love that he immediately had to go off. He literally gave everything for the try. And was forced back on. Unbelievable. What a day.
Agree 100% Vincent ran at some pace, and scored a crucial try. What a fecking legend the next time he is in Limerick the pints are on me!!!
Magic stuff. Is that Nigel Owens in the background saying “every game should be like this”? And they were singing a cracking rendition of Swing low when the move started. Love the six nations.
I’m still dancing at the crossroads, the wifi isn’t great.
Great tries great day. But a try saving tackle by Jammy won it for us. Never been a Heaslip fan but he earned his corn yesterday.
Great article. We’ll done on compiling the list!
Great line from Owens after the Debaty try ‘Every game should be like this’
Leonardo Sarto for Italy in the last minute! Went from needing 28 points to 21, which was massive psychologically. Bravo sir!
Thanks for sharing. Live in USA for last 5 years but still a huge fan. Was following text commentary on Saturday. These are great times for Irish Rugby. We should cherish them.
And then this
The Irish, French and Italian ones.