AUGUSTA, Ga. - Francesco Molinari surged two shots clear at the top of the Masters leaderboard on Saturday to set up another final round showdown with Tiger Woods for a major title.
It has been an almost flawless Masters for Molinari, who has carded just a single bogey through three rounds. The Italian turned in another error-free effort in Saturday's third round, signing for a six-under 66 to top the leaderboard at 13-under.
Molinari, the first Italian to win a major with his victory at last year's British Open, will start in pole position to claim a Green Jacket to go along with his Claret Jug.
Joining him in the last group will be Woods, who also paired with the Italian in the final round at Carnoustie, after the American electrified the massive galleries with a five-under 67, his best score at Augusta National since 2011 when he shot rounds of 66 and 67.
"He (Woods) obviously loves this place and he's playing great golf," said Molinari. "So I'm aware that it's not going to be easy tomorrow, I can just do my best.
"But it's not like I can only worry about him. There's a lot of guys I think in with a chance."
Woods and Molinari will be accompanied in the final round by Tony Finau, who matched Woods's 11-under total with a dazzling eight-under 64 that featured a Masters record-equalling front nine of six-under 30.
Lurking one shot further back is twice U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who scrapped his way to a three-under 69 to trail Molinari by three.
With the forecast calling for heavy rain and thunderstorms late on Sunday officials have decided to send golfers off in threesomes from both the first and 10th tees rather than traditional pairs in an attempt to get the final round completed and avoid a Monday finish to the year's first major.
TRUMP ON TIGER
With Woods chasing his first major title since the 2008 U.S. Open, and first Green Jacket since claiming his fourth in 2005, 'Tiger-mania' is again reaching fever pitch.
Even United States President Donald Trump, who has golfed with Woods at his Mar-a-Lago resort, said on Twitter he was looking forward to Sunday's final round. "Great playing by @TigerWoods (at the) @TheMasters. Tomorrow will be a big and exciting day for golf and for sports. Many fantastic players in the hunt. Ratings Gold - Good luck to all!," tweeted Trump.
Woods was in contention on the final day at the last two majors but was unable to get over the line. He led on the back nine of the British Open before being overtaken by Molinari and finished runner-up at last year's PGA Championship.
"It's been a while since I've been in contention here," said Woods. "But then again the last two majors counts for something.
"I've been in the mix with a chance to win major championships in the last two years and so that helps."
While Finau is playing in just his second Masters the 29-year-old has displayed plenty of guts to go along with some superb form at Augusta National.
Famed for dislocating his ankle celebrating a hole-in-one at last year's par-3 contest, Finau will now be remembered for matching the Masters record for the lowest front nine.
He joins five others -- Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, K.J. Choi, Gary Woodland and Phil Mickelson -- who have all carded 30 over the first nine holes.
"As a kid, I always wanted to compete against him (Woods)", said Finau, who popped his ankle back in and bravely came back to finish 10th at last year's Masters. "I've dreamed of playing in the final group with him in a major championship."
With no wind and a layout softened by days of rain, the early starters attacked the pins and the Augusta record books with gusto, taking full advantage of the ideal scoring conditions on what is known as Moving Day.
The Masters course record seemed under constant threat with Finau, Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay all carding 64s, one shy of the mark owned by Greg Norman and Nick Price.
The three 64s were nonetheless the most in the same round at any Masters.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Major winners Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen, Brooks Koepka, Jason Day and Adam Scott shared top spot at the Masters on Friday at the end of the second round, but it was Tiger Woods who commanded the spotlight once again at Augusta National.
Woods brought the roars back to the famed venue with a brilliant four-under-par 68, putting himself on track for a fifth Green Jacket. At six-under-par 138, the American is just one shot off the leaders heading into 'moving day.'
After an ordinary outward nine featuring three birdies offset by a pair of bogeys, Woods embarked on one of his trademark charges, carding three birdies after the turn to shoot up the leaderboard.
"I feel like I played my own way back into the tournament," said Woods. "I was just very patient today, felt very good to be out there doing what I was doing.
"This is now three straight majors that I've been in the mix and so it's good stuff."
The stage is now set for an extraordinary weekend as Woods attempts to slip into his first Green Jacket since 2005 and claim his first major since 2008.
Woods has made huge strides since returning from back fusion surgery nearly two years ago, collecting his 80th career PGA Tour title at last season's ending Tour Championships.
However, nothing less than a 15th major victory will quell talk of an unfulfilled comeback.
It would also reignite his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus's record haul of 18 majors.
On Friday, it was like old times as the 43-year-old turned up the buzz with each shot, the roars echoing across Augusta National when Woods rolled in a long birdie putt at 15 and continued until he walked off the 18th where his birdie putt clung to the lip leaving him a tap-in par.
The Woods show overshadowed everything else.
Any other time, a hobbled Day might have been the story after getting up off the deck to shoot five-under 67.
Barely able to walk after throwing out his back bending over to kiss his daughter on the practice range on Thursday, the battling Australian somehow turned in a near flawless scorecard, with six birdies and a single bogey.
"Pain is a funny thing, it goes up and down, and everybody's pain threshold is different," said Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner.
"Someone that is in a lot of pain might feel something totally different compared to me, so it's hard.
"Every day I feel like I wake up with some sort of aches, you know, and I think you just kind of learn to live with it and you just go along the way."
Italian Molinari carded an error-free 67 for his best round in eight Masters that put the British Open champion in contention for a Green Jacket to go along with the Claret Jug he hoisted last year.
Koepka, who had shared a one-shot overnight lead, also deserved applause, staging a back nine recovery after a stumbling start to the second round.
After a flawless opening round, Koepka had two bogeys and a double in his first six holes on Friday but the twice U.S. Open champion was able to regain his composure, steadying himself with six straight pars from the ninth.
He followed that with birdies at 15 and 18 to salvage a 71 and join the leaders at seven-under 137.
It also looked like old times for Australian Scott, the 2013 champion, who moved up the leaderboard with a four-under 68.
British Open winner Oosthuizen also joined the party with a 68, while world number two Dustin Johnson returned a two-under 70 to join Woods at six-under.
There was drama up and down the leaderboard.
Patrick Reed kept his Green Jacket defense alive, making the cut with a two-under 70, but Spain's Sergio Garcia, the 2017 champion, made an early exit for the second straight year after returning a 73.
World number one Justin Rose also headed for the exit after he bogeyed the final two holes to miss the cut by one shot.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
PARIS - Italian Francesco Molinari fittingly took the glory as Europe regained the Ryder Cup from the United States in dominant style on Sunday, but it was a complete team effort that delivered what turned out to be a crushing 17.5-10.5 victory.
With Molinari safely on the 16th green, Phil Mickelson conceded their singles match after firing his tee shot into the water, taking Europe to the magical 14.5 mark they needed to win the Cup for the fourth time in the last five.
It completed a magical year for Molinari, the British Open champion, who became the first European to win all five matches in a week -- having not won any of his previous six.
Europe were effectively assured of victory when the Italian teed off as he, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia were all dormie and guaranteed at least half a point - with Europe needing just one more.
All three went on to secure wins and Swedish rookie Alex Noren completed the day's action in style when he sunk a 40-foot putt to beat Bryson Dechambeau on the last and complete a 7.5-4.5 singles victory for Europe.
It seemed a long time since the United States won Friday's opening morning fourballs 3-1 but, after Europe roared back to sweep the foursomes 4-0 in the afternoon, they never looked back.
"How do you sum that up?," European captain Thomas Bjorn said. "I just cannot describe how I feel about these 12. They have been amazing from day one and it was easy for me to guide them.
"It doesn't happen very often that everybody on the team scores points and so I think we got it right this week - we worked as a team."
The Europeans, playing in France for the first time, had started the day 10-6 up needing to secure four and a half of the 12 points available to win back the trophy and extend their stranglehold on home soil dating back to 1993.
Only twice before had a team come from four down going into the singles to win -- the U.S. at Brookline in 1999 and Europe in 2012 at Medinah but another stunning comeback never really looked on the cards.
Justin Thomas, who was the top American performer with four points, Webb Simpson and Tony Finau gave Jim Furyk's team a glimmer of hope with early wins but then the European points started pouring in.
Thorbjorn Olesen hammered Jordan Spieth and fellow rookie Jon Rahm beat Tiger Woods -- leaving the weary-looking 14-times major champion with a stunning four defeats out of four.
Ian Poulter, "Mr Ryder Cup", then got to smash his fist against the European crest on his chest one more time as world number one Dustin Johnson conceded on the 18th green.
AMAZING SCENES
The three dormie games meant victory was secure but Ryder Cup tradition demands a man who delivers the winning point and nobody has delivered this week like Molinari, whose mesmerising consistency was perfectly suited to a course designed to offer maximum punishment for the wayward.
"This means more than majors, more than anything, I couldn't even dream of a summer like this," said Molinari, who won all his four pairs matches with Tommy Fleetwood in another European first.
"I've been carried the other guys the other two times I was on the winning side and it was about time to help them."
Moments later Garcia beat Rickie Fowler 2&1 to become the competition's all-time leading scorer, his three points taking his career tally to 25.5 to overhaul Nick Faldo and fully justify Bjorn's decision to select him as a wildcard.
"I don't usually cry but what a week," said the Spaniard.
Stenson duly handed Bubba Watson his fourth defeat in four singles matches before Noren added the icing with the last shot of the week.
"They outplayed us," said U.S. captain Jim Furyk, who has cut a dignified figure through difficult times for his team which included nine major champions.
"We got some momentum but the Europeans responded well as they have all week," he said. "It's a course they know pretty well but they did a great job playing it. They hit key shots and knocked in the clutch putts.
"But you could not ever have a better venue or better crowd to play in front of - it's been a wonderful week."
Four years ago after defeat in Gleneagles Mickelson was hugely critical of captain Tom Watson but he had nothing but praise for Furyk.
"We had phenomenal leadership - they put us players in a position to succeed but unfortunately it didn't happen," said the 48-year-old Mickelson, the five-times major champion who lost both his matches this week.
"The European side played some exquisite golf and flat-out beat us - but they beat us on the course."
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Woods fades to tied sixth after topping leaderboard
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Francesco Molinari kept the coolest head in Carnoustie as he steered a steady course through a wild afternoon of nail-biting tension at the British Open on Sunday to become the first Italian major champion.
With a strong breeze causing mayhem at the top of the leaderboard which a charging Tiger Woods had topped with nine holes to play, the 35-year-old Molinari buckled down to produce a flawless 69 and claim victory by two strokes.
Overnight leaders Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner ended two shots back in four-way tie for second place with England's Justin Rose and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.
Molinari ended a compelling four-day drama on eight-under 276 -- the lowest combined score in the eight Carnoustie Opens.
Huge crowds descended on the seaside links and the majority were willing Woods to claim a fairytale 15th major a decade after his last one. But it was the American's playing partner Molinari who wrote his own script to claim his major breakthrough at the 36th time of asking.
With defending champion Jordan Spieth, Woods, English duo Rose and Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy in the Sunday mix, the Molinari sub-plot was almost overlooked as the leading groups went out.
Yet his recent form, two wins and two runners-up finishes in his last five tournaments, should have served as a warning on a day when a steady hand was needed on the tiller.
While Spieth, Schauffele and Kisner endured a rollercoaster ride across the sun-blasted links, as if spooked by the presence of a resurgent Woods, Molinari cranked out 13 consecutive pars before making his move.
He rolled in a birdie on the par-five 14th to move into the lead on seven-under.
With Rose and McIlroy in the clubhouse on six-under, Schauffele fought back from a 40-stroke outward nine to get to seven-under but Molinari was unflappable.
Carnoustie's 18th hole has witnessed its fair share of horror shows but Molinari safely negotiated the snaking Barry Burn with his tee shot before planting his second to six feet.
Molinari was a picture of calm as he walked up to his putt and only after it disappeared into the cup did he allow his mask to slip -- turning to punch the air.
MOST ANXIOUS
The most anxious he looked all day was sitting watching Californian Schauffele play the 17th and 18th.
When Schauffele's par putt stayed out on the 17th the Italian puffed out his cheeks knowing only an eagle for the American at the last could deny him.
The moment Schauffele's approach stopped short on the 18th green the celebrations could start.
"It is absolutely amazing," Turin-born Molinari, who went bogey-free from the 17th hole of his second round, said.
"The course bit me a few times the first couple of days, but then to go bogey-free over the weekend on a course like this is incredible. For the first time I felt like I was ready for it.
"Playing with Tiger makes it even more special. I couldn't have written it any better."
Molinari broke a sequence of five majors won by Americans and for a while Woods looked like making it six.
In his trademark red shirt, the 42-year-old looked in complete control as he birdied the fourth and sixth holes.
He reached the turn in 34 strokes and with Spieth and Schauffele imploding a few holes back Woods was suddenly clear at the top of the leaderboard on seven-under.
A miss-hit flop shot at the 11th ended cost him a double-bogey that stopped him in his tracks and although he birdied the 14th to stay in the hunt he fell just short, finishing in a tie for sixth on five-under.
Spieth's hopes of emulating Woods by winning the Claret Jug for a second successive year withered away as he slumped to a final-round 76 on a desperately hard scoring day.
He had looked assured as he began with four pars but a bogey at the fifth rattled him and the wheels fell off when a trip to a gorse bush ended with a double-bogey at the sixth.
McIlroy had struggled to make any headway but when he eagled the 14th he rocketed to the top of the leaderboard.
Rose also eagled the par-five 14th -- the only hole that was offering any gifts as a course so docile on Saturday bit back.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
