Masters scores and results 2016: Jordan Spieth holds slim lead after Saturday’s round

Rory McIlroy will probably have to wait another year for a go at the career grand slam, as a case of the lefts on Saturday at Augusta knocked the four-time major winner out of his marquee duel with Jordan Spieth -- and possibly out of contention for the 2016 Masters.

A late-inning slump by last year’s wire-to-wire winner, however, brought McIlroy and a whole lot of others back into the game.

McIlroy, at 3-under, started out just one shot behind Spieth, who confessed he would have preferred a somewhat less challenging third-round opponent.

“I’d rather be playing with someone less threatening to be honest,” Spieth said with a laugh after following his opening-round 6-under 66 with Friday’s 74. “He’s certainly proven himself in majors. But I think it’s going to be fun, a really fun challenge.”

With the wind gusting as much as it had the first two days, we’re not so sure about the fun part, and the challenge never really materialized.

Despite a big advantage off the tee over his opponent, McIlroy quickly dug himself a hole when he bogeyed two holes on the front while Spieth made the turn at 1-under 35. Neither player wanted much to do with the fairway, but the shortest stick in Spieth’s bag got the defending champ out of trouble time after time while McIlroy could not rein in his big dog.

“He’s putted beautifully,” CBS’ Ian Baker-Finch said after Spieth made a knee-knocking putt for birdie on the par-5 eighth after McIlroy had to settle for a par.

Boothmate Nick Faldo echoed the sentiment.

“Most definitely [the best putter in the game today],” said Faldo.

The worst was yet to come for McIlroy, but he had to know after his blown opportunity on the par-4 seventh that he was heading in the wrong direction on moving day at Augusta. The seventh was the most difficult hole on the course on Saturday, with a 4.6 scoring average and only 30 percent of players finding the green in regulation by the time the high-powered duo arrived on the tee.

Spieth, who bogeyed the seventh twice over the weekend last year, was wayward as ever this Saturday when his drive went wide right into the trees. From there, he found a green-side bunker and watched his next shot roll across a ridge on the green and way past the hole. It was advantage, McIlroy, who split the fairway with his drive and was on in two. But no harm, no foul, as Spieth made a solid bogey putt after McIlroy blew an opportunity to make up some ground by three-putting for his own five.

Meanwhile, as the final pairing made the turn toward what would be McIlroy’s complete undoing, Hideki Matsuyama and the rest of the field were on fire and catching up.

World No. 1 Jason Day drilled a 69-foot huge birdie putt on the par-4 14th to pull into a tie for third.

Not to be outdone, 58-year-old and two-time Masters champ, Bernhard Langer, impressed Day when he matched his playing partner with a chip-in birdie of his own on 14.

McIlroy, who had already fallen down the leaderboard before making the turn, must have had flashbacks to his final-round collapse in 2011, when he hit his drive on No. 10 into South Carolina. His tee shot on this day was way left into the pines as well and, though he reloaded, he was able to punch his first ball out into the fairway.

He escaped with a bogey 5 and fell to 3-over for the day, while Spieth made a ho-hum two-putt par. McIlroy was not so fortunate on the par-4 11th, where he once again hooked his tee shot. A double-bogey ensued when he made the inexcusable mistake of flirting with the water that runs on the front left half of the green. No one goes in that anymore.

He was error-free in his final seven holes but went birdie-less for the day when he let another chance slide by, as he could not convert a makable putt on No. 18. It was the first time in 80 major championship rounds that Rory did not make a birdie.

Though the 54-hole leader stumbled with a bogey on No. 17 and doubles on Nos. 11 and 18 to fall to 3-under and take a slim one-shot advantage over Smylie Kaufman into Sunday’s finale, McIlroy was simply not up to the task of bettering Spieth in their seventh head-to-head major battle.

Certainly, McIlroy’s 5-6-3 through Nos. 10, 11, and 12 was an improvement over the 7-5-5 he put up in 2011, but Baker-Finch opined that his power fades on each of those holes were going to cost him the career slam this time around.“I’m sure he’ll figure it out one day,” he said.

Not this day, though.

“We were hoping for a prize fight today,” Faldo summarized “but Rory’s given himself too many body blows.”

Spieth’s late stumble had him walking off the course red-faced and angry, but it’s now the seventh straight round he’ll go to bed with the lead at the Masters. That’s ... still pretty good.

Here’s your leaderboard after 54 holes:

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