Guardian sport
Three-time runner-up throws his putter after missing birdie chance on the 4th as he chases long-held Augusta dream They’re hot days and hard greens at this year’s Masters. The temperature was up in the mid-80s by lunchtime on Friday, and that was underneath the pine trees with a Georgia peach ice-cream sandwich. Out there on the other side of the ropes it looked a whole lot hotter again. The world’s best golfers sweated away chasing after Rory McIlroy’s lead in conditions which, they all agreed, could yet get as tough as they come at Augusta National. By midway through the afternoon McIlroy loomed over the tournament like the midday sun, and you worried the players who made the mistake of looking directly at the big white leaderboards around the grounds might burn their eyes. A way up ahead of McIlroy, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth were all playing together in his shade, each doing their best to just stay within a short-iron’s distance of catching him. All of them, at one time or another in the past, had a claim to be the next best, or even, in Spieth and Koepka’s case, better than the man they were trailing. They have nine major victories between the three of them, not to mention six runners-up finishes at Augusta. Continue reading...
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