AUGUSTA, Ga. – In the Netflix show, “Full Swing,” Brooks Koepka shows off the four major championship trophies he’s won along with crystal for being World No. 1 in his trophy case.
“But I only put the big ones up there just to remind myself that’s there’s plenty more big ones to win,” Koepka said.
He admitted that he had the center of the display reserved for a particular trophy.
“Augusta is right in the center,” he said. “Just saying, that’s it.”
Koepka is 18 holes away from slipping into a green jacket and filling the hole in his trophy cabinet. It took two days to do so but the 32-year-old Koepka posted a 1-over 73 at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday morning for a 54-hole total of 11-under 205 and maintained his two-stroke lead over Spain’s Jon Rahm.
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In bone-chilling cold and steady rain, Koepka made a birdie at the second and five pars on Saturday afternoon before play was called for the day at the Monsoon Masters. Koepka, who began Sunday’s resumption of the third round at 13 under, held a four-stroke lead over Rahm when play resumed but that figure got sliced in half as Rahm made birdie at seven and Koepka made bogey. Both Koepka and Rahm made birdie at eight and Rahm cut the deficit to one when Koepka bogeyed No. 12. But then Rahm, who carded 73 in the third round, backtracked with a 3-putt bogey at 13 and a poor iron right of the 16th green that dropped him back to 9-under 207. Koepka took three putts at 17, the first time he’d done so at the tournament to drop to 11 under.
Viktor Hovland is the only other player less than five strokes from the lead. The Norwegian chipped in for birdie at 12, the second of five straight birdies on the second nine that kept him in the Green Jacket hunt. He signed for 2-under 70 and a 54-hole total of 8-under 208.
Viktor Hovland looks over his putt on the 15th green during the third round of The Masters golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network
Patrick Cantlay hit a gem of a 7-iron at 16 to set up a short birdie and posted 68 to improve to 6-under 210 and is alone in fourth place. Don’t count him out just yet.
“I think I’m close,” Cantlay said. “It depends how they finish up this round and obviously how they play on Sunday. It’s definitely a two-man race at this point. But I’ll do my best to post as low a round as I can.”
The rain halted but cool temperatures remained and the wind picked up on Sunday morning. Hovland wore a stocking cap and Matthew Fitzpatrick slipped on oversized mittens between shots.
“Today was colder, definitely windier, wind was moving around a little bit on the back, so definitely tricky, but as long as I don’t have to deal with an umbrella, I’ll take that,” said Georgia native Russell Henley, who shared fifth at 5-under 211 with Hideki Matsuyama.
Tiger Woods withdrew before the resumption of the third round, citing injury. He tweeted that he had re-aggravated his plantar fasciitis. Woods was in last among those who made the cut at 9 over for the tournament and 6 over on the round through seven holes after starting on No. 10. It marked the second time in his last three major championship appearances that he was forced to withdraw due to injury.
Koepka, who won LIV Golf Orlando last week, is seeking his fifth major championship. Only 20 men have achieved five or more major wins.
“The whole goal is to win the Grand Slam, right,” he said on Friday. “I feel like all the greats have won here and they have all won the British Opens as well. Look, I guess it’s one more box for me to tick to truly feel like I’ve done what I should have accomplished in this game.”
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