Tiger Woods bringing the roars to Sunday at the Masters

Tiger Woods looked nothing like the player who’s missed three of the past five Masters on Saturday. Instead, he was back to being a four-time champion

Through five holes of Saturday’s third round at the Masters, Tiger Woods was one-over and watching as the rest of the field was taking advantage of the easy scoring conditions. It was then that he turned around his day like only the old Tiger Woods could do.

He started at the par-three sixth hole, rolling in an 18-foot, left-to-right birdie putt to get back to even. At the next hole, Woods hit his approach to a foot for another birdie. He missed an 11-footer for eagle at the par-five eighth but tapped in for three birdies in a row and made the turn at eight-under for the tournament.

The four-time Masters champion birdied both par-fives on the back-nine before making a seven-foot putt at the par-three 16th that briefly tied him for the lead at 11-under. Woods finished his round with a five-under 67, his lowest score at Augusta National since 2011, and trails leader Francesco Molinari by two shots going into Sunday’s final round.

It’s been quite a turnaround for Woods compared to where he was the past few years. In 2017 at the Masters Woods wasn’t in the field and was telling people he thought his playing career was over due to the back issues that plagued him for years. Last year, playing at Augusta for the first time in three years, he finished tied for 32nd. But he showed the rest of the season that he was back to his old self, contending at both the Open Championship and PGA Championship before winning the Tour Championship. This week Woods wasn’t just hoping to play the Masters like in 2018; he was playing to win.

“I feel like I can win. I’ve proven that I can do,” he said earlier this week. “I just feel like I’ve improved a lot over the past 12-14 months, but more than anything I’ve proven to myself that I can play at this level again”

To do that he’ll need to overcome a player who’s vaulted himself into the game’s elite in the past year. The first time Molinari came to Augusta, in 2006, he was caddying for his brother in a group with Woods. Fast forward 13 years and Molinari is a three-time PGA Tour winner, a major champion, and will be playing with Woods in the final pairing on Sunday.

Molinari, the defending Open Champion, began Saturday’s round as part of a five-way tie for the lead. He was two-under on his day going to the par-three 12th, where he nearly made a hole-in-one and tapped in from five inches for a birdie. The Italian two-putted for birdie at the 13th, holed an eight-footer at the 14th and got up-and-down from just over the green at the par-five 15th for his fourth birdie in a row. He closed with a round of six-under 66 to finish at 13-under and leads Woods and Tony Finau as he looks for his first Green Jacket.

Since last year’s Masters, Molinari is playing arguably as well as anybody in the world. He won the Quicken Loans National, Woods’ own tournament, by eight shots before winning at Carnoustie in July. Last month he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by shooting 64 in the final round. Through 54 holes this week Molinari has only made one bogey, and that came during the first round on Thursday at the 11th hole.

Woods and Molinari will be joined in the final threesome on Sunday by Finau. The powerful Utah native tied the Augusta record with a 30 on the front-nine Saturday and just missed the course record of 63, finishing with an eight-under 64. It was a day to go low at Augusta National like there’s never been before. Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay also shot 64, the first time three players shot that low on the same day in Masters history. The field combined to shoot 80-under on Saturday, the lowest in tournament history.

Brooks Koepka is in fourth place at 10-under, three behind Molinari. He will be joined in the penultimate grouping by Simpson and Ian Poulter. But the focus will be on the final group, where Woods will be looking for his first Masters title since 2005 and his first major in 11 years. He’ll have to reverse his own history, though: none of Woods’ 14 career majors has come when he trailed heading into Sunday.

Molinari, and Finau, look to keep it that way beginning at 9:20 a.m. EST.