Augusta—Long-driving Tony Finau, 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson and fellow American Patrick Cantlay all fired eight-under par 64s in Saturday’s third round of the Masters at rain-softened Augusta National.
“The ball was going the right distance, the wind wasn’t blowing too much, greens were soft and the hole locations were much easier than the last few days,” Cantlay said.
“So it was kind of the perfect storm for a good round.”
While climbing up the leaderboard to contend for the green jacket in Sunday’s final round, they all fell one shot short of matching Augusta National’s course record of 63.
That remains shared only by Zimbabwe’s Nick Price from the third round of the 1986 Masters and Australian Greg Norman from the first round of the 1996 Masters.
Finau stood with 14-time major winner Tiger Woods on 11-under 205, two back of Italian leader Francesco Molinari, the reigning British Open champion.
Simpson was four adrift in fifth with England’s Ian Poulter while Cantlay, who opened with back-to-back 73s, shared 14th on 210.
Finau, who leads the Masters in driving distance at 318.8 yards through 54 holes, opened with three consecutive birdies, added another at the par-3 sixth, eagled the par-5 eighth and birdied the par-5 13th and 15th — making him 10-under this week on par-5 holes.
“I’m driving the ball nicely, and I can attack the golf course if I’m hitting my driver well,” Finau said. “I felt calm and comfortable, and I think my score showed that.
“I got off to a nice start. I kind of got in that zone. And looked up at the leaderboard, and I knew I needed to keep making birdies.”
Finau had his lowest career 18-hole major round and his front-nine 30 matched an Augusta National record.
“I was happy to post the number I did, but more than anything, just keep my foot on the gas pedal and not let off,” Finau said.
Finau is of Tongan and Samoan heritage and sees that as a help in keeping calm when major pressure is on.
“My heritage is a huge part of who I am, my culture being Tongan and Samoan,” he said. “A lot of very faithful people and very driven people. We’re also very relaxed and we enjoy ourselves.
“Some of those qualities can help you in a major championship when you’re in contention, being relaxed and having fun in the atmosphere is a cool thing.”
Simpson’s 64, which saw him go eight-under over the last 12 holes, matched his low round in any major.
“I made a sloppy bogey on six and I just kind of had a talk with myself, thinking about all my bad shots this week have been just some poor thinking and not being really committed,” he said.
“I said, ‘Hey if you stay fully committed the rest of the day, you’re swinging great, you’re putting well, you’re going to make birdies.’ And that’s what I did.”
Both Simpson and Cantlay said they were not thinking about getting to 63 given how tough the 17th and 18th holes can play.
“I just tried to take care of each shot the same,” Simpson said.
Cantlay managed his second sub-par Masters round after a 71 in his first round at Augusta National, while playing as an amateur in 2012.
“Of all the rounds I played here this was the easiest scoring condition wise,” he said. “I was just trying to stay aggressive and make good swings.””‹
