Dustin Johnson Broadens Masters Lead and Eyes Scoring Record

"Well," said Fleetwood with a laugh, then added, using Johnson & # 39; s nickname, "Unfortunately DJ plays. "

Three golfers are in second place behind Johnson with 12 under par: Masters rookies Abraham Ancer from Mexico and Sungjae Im from South Korea, along with Cameron Smith from Australia.

With softer-than-usual greens in this year's Masters, a by-product of heavy rainfall on Thursday and several pitches in November, scores were significantly lower. For example, each of the second-place golfers only posted underperforming rounds. When the delayed second round was completed early Saturday morning, the cutting line to trim the field was 144 strokes, the lowest in Masters history.

“With the mild conditions you can be really aggressive no matter what. club you have in your hand, '' Johnson said. "You have to be aggressive, and you have to attack the flags."

Not every golfer was as confident or fit as Johnson.

Woods, who started the third round five under par, was clearly bothered Saturday by his unpredictable and surgically repaired back. He moved stiffly and didn't swing with the same smoothness he'd shown in the first two rounds. His condition was especially noticeable when Woods went to get his ball out of the holes, which he did gently and by only bending his knees to limit the strain on his back. He finished his round on even par and was eleven strokes behind Johnson, nearly excluding him from the fight for a sixth green jacket.

DeChambeau, the tournament favorite, revealed on Saturday that he was not feeling well and went for a Covid-19 test Friday night. Although the test result was negative, DeChambeau, who is 13 strokes behind Johnson, said he still felt bad and suffered from dizziness.