It's Sunday at the Masters, and the leaders going out in the afternoon make up about as deep a group as we could have hoped for with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson absent this weekend. The final pairing of the day, Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth, will be hailed as the future of golf, symbolizing the transitional day at Augusta without Tiger and Phil.
Spieth spent Saturday grinding through Augusta to stay under par for the third straight day. He made no major charge, and didn't go on some raucous birdie run, but mitigated the bumps and posted a few red numbers. By the time it was over, he held a share of the lead with Bubba. Now he'll play in the final group on Sunday at the Masters, trying to become the youngest player ever to win the green jacket. At 20, he'd break the age record set by Tiger Woods, who had that historic rout in 1997 at the age of 21. Spieth is also trying to end a rookie drought, the last first-time invitee winner was Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
We expected Spieth to be one of the top American prospects in golf. His name has been out there ever since he made the cut and actually got inside the top 20 on Sunday as a 16-year-old at the Byron Nelson. But what he's accomplished in just over a year as a pro, and the speed of the progression, is astounding. The expectations were high for Spieth, but he was still just a prospect and probably a couple years away from winning on the PGA Tour. Well, he started last season without his tour card, immediately started making cuts and contending, earning more sponsor's exemptions, and then winning in early July at the John Deere. He got full-time status, contended until Sunday at the British Open, and bolted through the FedExCup Playoffs all the way to the finale in Atlanta. Now he's among the top 15 players in the world and will sleep on the 54-hole lead at the Masters. A win on Sunday will fire up the narrative that a new era has arrived in American golf.
Spieth and Bubba will go off at 2:40 p.m., a start time set to deliver an estimated finish at 7 p.m. ET. The Masters is unique for many reasons, and one of those is the size of the field. It starts about 50 players smaller than the other three, and this week's field of 97 was whittled down to 51 for the weekend. That gives Augusta a lot of flexibility for scheduling the final two rounds. There's never any need to send players off split tee boxes, and the weather disruptions always seem to be minimal. Sunday's forecast is expected to be perfect again, so everything should stay on schedule.
2014 Masters
That limited field also allows a cushion in the morning, for the first time off is not until after 10 a.m. ET. Larry Mize, who admirably made the cut, will be out with noncompeting marker Jeff Knox. Both are Augusta locals, and Knox made headlines on Saturday edging Rory McIlroy by a shot in the the third round. Knox is an ANGC member and not some chop off the street. He currently holds the course record from the member tees, a 61, and he's won multiple amateur titles. But that didn't make his 2-under round of 70, unofficially scored of course, any less impressive. Knox's job is to keep Mize's score and generally maintain the pace and rhythm of a two-man round. Rory and Knox, however, played in just over three hours on Saturday and got several holes ahead of the second tee time of the day.
So Knox and Mize to lead us off, and Bubba and Spieth to anchor us late in the day. It's Sunday at the Masters and there's no better day of the year on the golf calendar. Here's the full tee sheet for the final round:
Tee time |
Players |
|
10:10 a.m. |
Larry Mize |
|
10:20 a.m. |
Stephen Gallacher |
Joost Luiten |
10:30 a.m. |
Brandt Snedeker |
Mike Weir |
10:40 a.m. |
K.J. Choi |
Sandy Lyle |
10:50 a.m. |
Francesco Molinari |
Nick Watney |
11:00 a.m. |
Oliver Goss |
Brendon de Jonge |
11:10 a.m. |
Thongchai Jaidee |
Thorbjorn Olesen |
11:20 a.m. |
Lucas Glover |
Billy Horschel |
11:30 a.m. |
Stewart Cink |
Darren Clarke |
11:50 a.m. |
Jose Maria Olazabal |
Vijay Singh |
12:00 p.m. |
Steven Bowditch |
Hunter Mahan |
12:10 p.m. |
Bill Haas |
Martin Kaymer |
12:20 p.m. |
Jamie Donaldson |
Louis Oosthuizen |
12:30 p.m. |
Bernhard Langer |
Henrik Stenson |
12:40 p.m. |
Rory McIlroy |
Jimmy Walker |
12:50 p.m. |
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano |
Russell Henley |
1:00 p.m. |
Chris Kirk |
Steve Stricker |
1:10 p.m. |
Jason Day |
Adam Scott |
1:30 p.m. |
Ian Poulter |
Kevin Streelman |
1:40 p.m. |
John Senden |
Gary Woodland |
1:50 p.m. |
Fred Couples |
Kevin Stadler |
2:00 p.m. |
Thomas Bjorn |
Justin Rose |
2:10 p.m. |
Jim Furyk |
Lee Westwood |
2:20 p.m. |
Rickie Fowler |
Miguel Angel Jimenez |
2:30 p.m. |
Jonas Blixt |
Matt Kuchar |
2:40 p.m. |
Jordan Spieth |
Bubba Watson |