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AUGUSTA, Ga., April 7 — The last red number at Augusta National died quickly in the third round of the 2007 Masters. Stuart Appleby performed last rites with a pull-hooked drive into the trees on the 17th hole and six more awful strikes through forest and sand.
The time was 6:30 p.m., and the temperature with wind chill was just above 40 degrees.
Appleby's triple-bogey 7 pushed his score from one under par to two over, which was where he finished the day. Vaughn Taylor, playing four groups behind him, offered some hope when he birdied the par-5 15th hole to get to one over par, but he bogeyed the last three holes and finished the day at four over. And that was that; red was dead.
"This is the worst I've ever seen it here," said a gallery guard on the 15th hole, shortly after Vijay Singh walked by holding an umbrella against the bitter wind. "You know it's miserable when you don't even have fans out here watching the Masters."
Those fans that stayed wore parkas, mittens and earmuffs, and clutched cups of coffee with both hands. Some, like Sweden's Henrik Stenson, wore a ski hat. Club officials brought down the umbrellas on the lawn outside the clubhouse, lest they take flight and violate the National's no-flying-umbrellas rule. All that was missing at frigid, hilly Augusta was a chairlift.
How bad was it? Second-round co-leader Tim Clark shot 80 and was still on the first page of the leaderboard. Until Appleby's 218 Saturday, the highest score by a third-round Masters leader was 216, even par, by Tommy Jacobs and Jack Nicklaus in 1966. The field averaged 77.35 strokes. A dozen players shot in the 80s, most notably fast-falling 36-hole co-leader Brett Wetterich (83).
And yet at the end of the day there was at least one predictable element amid the swirling insanity: Tiger Woods. He is only a shot back and will play in the final group at 2:15 p.m. Sunday with Appleby, as unlikely as that seemed when Woods finished. He bogeyed his final two holes to shoot 72 and finish at three-over for the tournament, just where he started the day. He was five off the lead and furious, storming to the driving range, where he refused to talk even to his caddie, Steve Williams, or his coach, Hank Haney, for several minutes.
"It was a tough day with the wind gusts," Woods said after he had composed himself. By then the leaders were coming back to him and he was only four strokes back. "You hit quality shots and you just get absolutely hosed," he continued. "That's the way it is here."
In fact Woods gained more ground after his round than he did on the course, ending up tied with Justin Rose, who bogeyed two of his last three holes for a 75. Zach Johnson (76) and Padraig Harrington (75) joined Taylor at four over par, two strokes back.
