Australian Cameron Davis remains in contention at the Masters after heavy winds at Augusta National on Saturday left the world’s finest golfers struggling to make par on a day of high scoring.
Davis enters Sunday just three shots off the halfway lead in a share for fifth alongside Colin Morikawa while Cameron Smith is also still in the frame, recording a 71 to sit inside the top eight at one-under.
It followed a wind-swept second day which saw Tiger Woods face a mini-sandstorm at the 18th green while at one point Gary Woodland was about to putt before his ball blew away.
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Day talks through “tough” conditions | 02:28
“It’s a different direction for the wind, so the holes play completely differently. Completely different plan for each hole when it’s like that,” Davis said.
The top round of the day was a three-under 69 from Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg with only one the trio of co-leaders, Max Homa, getting below par with his one-under 71.
Homa, at six-under, has a share of the lead heading into Sunday alongside American duo Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.
Jose Maria Olazabal, Masters champion in 1994 and 1999, said he doesn’t think “it gets any tougher” than what players have and will continue to face this weekend.
“I mean, you really don’t know where the wind is coming from, what the wind is doing. Some of the times you are guessing how the ball is going to react up in the air,” he said.
That is a point that Davis echoed, describing the conditions as “really unpredictable”.
“Even if you do have good control of your golf ball, if your wind read was wrong, right now you’re missing the green,” he said.
“Right now it’s fluky. If the wind dies down a little bit, I feel like everyone has a little more control, which we all appreciate. We also know, if you’re able to grind out a good score in conditions like that, it’s good work.”
Davis and Smith will be the two leading Australians to watch on Sunday, although Jason Day and Min Woo Lee also made the cut after finishing Saturday at four-over and a tie for 35th.
Adam Scott, meanwhile, just scraped in at six-over.
TEE TIMES (AEST)
11.35pm: Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama
11.45pm: Thorbjorn Olesen, Russell Henley
11.55pm: Jose Maria Olazabal, Luke List
12.05am: Tom Kim, Jake Knapp
12.15am: Si Woo Kim, Adam Scott
12.25am: Jon Rahm, Grayson Murray
12.35am: Chris Kirk, Tony Finau
12.45am: J.T. Poston, Keegan Bradley
12.55am: Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas
1.05am: Joaquin Niemann, Min Woo Lee
1.25am: Sahith Theegala, Phil Mickelson
1.35am: Adam Hadwin, Jason Day
1.45am: Denny McCarthy, Vijay Singh
1.55am: Erik van Rooyen, Will Zalatoris
2.05am: Akshay Bhatia, Shane Lowry
2.15am: Patrick Cantlay, Neal Shipley
2.25am: Corey Conners, Harris English
2.35am: Brooks Koepka, Taylor Moore
2.45am: Tiger Woods, Tyrrell Hatton
2.55am: Xander Schauffele, Eric Cole
3.15am: Sepp Straka, Matt Fitzpatrick
3.25am: Kurt Kitayama, Lucas Glover
3.35am: Adam Schenk, Patrick Reed
3.45am: Byeong Hun An, Cameron Smith
3.55am: Danny Willett, Ryan Fox
4.05am: Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood
4.15am: Ludvig Aberg, Matthieu Pavon
4.25am: Cameron Davis, Collin Morikawa
4.35am: Scottie Scheffler, Nicolai Hojgaard
4.45am: Max Homa, Bryson DeChambeau
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