AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A brief look at the third round Saturday at the Masters (all times EDT):
LEADING: Hideki Matsuyama of Japan shot a 7-under 65 — the best round of his Masters career — to take a four-stroke lead at 11-under 205 heading to the final round.
TRAILING: Four players were tied for second, including 18- and 36-hole leader Justin Rose. The Englishman was joined at 209 by Xander Schauffele, Masters rookie Will Zalatoris and Australia’s Marc Leishman.
PROTECTING THE LEAD: Only four players have squandered a lead of at least four strokes going to Sunday, with Rory McIlroy being the last to do it in 2011.
SHOT OF THE DAY: Matsuyama’s second shot from 205 yards stopped 6 feet from the cup at No. 15, setting up an eagle putt that pushed him to the lead all by himself.
UNLUCKY 13: Justin Thomas fell from contention with a triple-bogey 8 at the 13th hole, where he chunked one into Rae’s Creek, took a penalty and three-putted from 35 feet.
CANADIAN ACE: Corey Conners became the second player to make a hole-in-one this weeks, acing No. 6 with a 180-yard shot. Tommy Fleetwood knocked one in at the 16th hole Thursday.
KEY STATISTIC: Matsuyama has gone 20 consecutive holes since his last bogey at No. 16 on Friday.
NOTEWORTHY: Matsuyama is the first Japanese player to lead after any round at the Masters and also is trying to become the first male player from his country to win one of golf’s major championships.
RAIN DELAY: Play has halted for 78 minutes in the afternoon when thunderstorms rumbled through the Augusta area.
QUOTEWORTHY: “After the horn blew for the restart, I hit almost every shot exactly like I wanted to.” — Matsuyama, who played the final four holes at 4 under.
TELEVISION: Sunday, 2-7 p.m. (CBS)
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