Cabrera and Perry pass muster at Masters

THE plan, after too many years of tedium, was to create a more interesting Masters, like those won by Palmer, Nicklaus and Ballesteros and, more recently, Woods and Mickelson.

The plan was to reproduce the loud and lustrous back nine birdies, eagles and roars that once captivated spectators around the world. The plan was to forget what has recently been.

And this Masters, the 73rd, has, broadly speaking, achieved all of the above. So far at least. But what wasn't anticipated was a dollop of irony. While the men atop the leaderboard after 54 holes are all fine golfers, none is the most charismatic character amongst the game's elite. For "interesting" read "introverted".

With one round to play today, the destination of the green jacket awarded annually to the Master golfer would seem to be between two good ol' boys in Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell and a brace of former US Open champions in Angel Cabrera from Argentina and a third American, Jim Furyk (whose smooth 68 tied yesterday's low round). Perry and Cabrera share the lead on 11 under par, two shots ahead of Campbell and three clear of Furyk. No one else is within four of the leader.

Whatever happens over the closing 18 holes on a course that still has a ways to go before it is restored to the strategic masterpiece it once was – all of the rough and more than a few trees need to be removed – one thing is certain: the eventual winner isn't going to be a member of Colin Montgomerie's Ryder Cup side at Celtic Manor next year. The leading Europeans, if that is not too flattering a term, are Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. The Englishmen are both on four under par and in a somewhat crowded and distant tie for tenth spot.

Not that those from the old world have been alone in their struggles. Yet again, no Australian has mustered anything like a serious challenge for the one major championship that proud golfing nation has still to win. And the pre-tournament favourites, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, are no better placed than Poulter and Westwood, surely too far back of the leaders. Woods in particular has been the very picture of frustration in an event he has won four times.

"It was not a very good start, obviously," said Woods, who began his third round 70 with a double-bogey six. "But I'm pretty proud of the fact that I got myself back into the tournament, considering that I didn't hit it as well as I wanted to and had two three-putts."

Even more disappointed was Europe's best pre-tournament hope, Padraig Harrington. Having won the previous two Tiger-less major championships, the Irishman, could manage no better than 73 yesterday, a quadruple bogey nine as early as the 2nd hole only compounding the misery of the one-shot penalty he was assessed on Friday when his ball was deemed to have moved after he addressed it on the 15th green. He did, in fact, do well to score as well as he did after such a start.

"Obviously I didn't expect to take a nine at the second, but it happens in golf at times," he said philosophically. "You have to put up with it. But there were 34 holes to go and I still felt like I was in the tournament and could make some birdies. Someone (Anthony Kim] made 11 birdies yesterday so it is possible. Anyway, I did make some and could have made more. I probably could have clawed my way into the tournament. I played okay, but not really good enough."

And then there is Rory McIlroy. The 19-year old golden boy of European golf played the sort of steady round he had been looking for but hadn't managed less than 24 hours earlier when his round fell apart over the closing three holes. In a tie for sixth place standing on the 16th tee, the young Ulsterman four-putted that treacherous green then made a triple bogey seven on the closing hole.

That wasn't the worst of it, of course. As much as four hours later, McIlroy was still under investigation for what officialdom suspected might have been a petulant kick at the sand after he failed to escape from a greenside bunker in less than two shots. So it was that the waiting press pack wasn't at all interested in the one bogey and three birdies recorded in what was the third round of McIlroy's first professional major championship. Oh no, "sandgate" was the only thing on their agenda.

"I played my bunker shot and didn't get the ball out," he explained. "I didn't even think about what I had done until (official] Fred Ridley rang to tell me what happened and what he had seen on tape. That was about 6.30. They asked if I wanted to see the tape before they made a decision. I said no because I was confident I hadn't done anything wrong.

"They rang back later to say it would be in my best interests to come and see the tape. We looked at it and I told them it was my natural instinct to smooth out my footprints. I do that same on every bunker shot. The big thing is testing the condition of the sand. The definition is kicking it. I didn't kick it. It was more of a sweep. I didn't feel I did anything wrong."

And he didn't, of course. But Americans, so used to using rakes and/or caddies when it comes to the unseemly matter of sand smoothing, are unfamiliar with the British/Irish way of things. It's a cultural thing. Yet again, we are two nations separated by a common language.

Speaking of nations, our own representative, 52-year old Sandy Lyle, followed up his remarkable back nine on Friday with a solid display reminiscent of McIlroy's two-birdie, one bogey round of 71. There were only two birdies at the 6th and 14th to brag about, but the former Open, Masters and Players champion slipped up only thrice, at the 3rd and 5th and 14th. All in all, he was steadiness personified – not normally his forte – en route to a one over par score of 73 that leaves him one under, tied for 25th. "I would like to go round in 67 tomorrow," he said. "Set my sights high and then I'll be happy to shoot 70. I am playing a bit better now and have some idea where the ball is going. This is making sense now."

Speak for yourself Sandy; speak for yourself.

Scores

(USA unless stated, par 72):

205 (-11)

Angel Cabrera (Arg) 68 68 69

Kenny Perry 68 67 70

207 (-9)

Chad Campbell 65 70 72

208 (-8)

Jim Furyk 66, 74, 68

209 (-7)

Steve Stricker 72, 69, 68

210 (-6)

Todd Hamilton 68 70 72

Shingo Katayama (Jap) 67 73 70

Rory Sabbatini (SA) 73 67 70

211 (-5)

Tim Clark (SA) 68 71 72

212 (-4)

Sean O'Hair 68, 76, 68

Ian Poulter (Eng) 71, 73, 68

Lee Westwood (Eng) 70, 72, 70

Tiger Woods 70, 72, 70

Phil Mickelson 73, 68, 71

Nick Watney 70, 71, 71

Stephen Ames (Can) 73, 68, 71

Hunter Mahan 66, 75, 71

Anthony Kim 75, 65, 72

213 (-3)

Steve Flesch 71, 74, 68

Camilo Villegas (Col) 73, 69, 71

Vijay Singh (Fij) 71, 70, 72

214 (-2)

Dustin Johnson 72, 70, 72

John Merrick 68, 74, 72

Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71, 70, 73

215 (-1)

Justin Rose (Eng) 74, 70, 71

Larry Mize 67, 76, 72

Padraig Harrington (Ire) 69, 73, 73

Sandy Lyle (Sco) 72, 70, 73

Graeme McDowell (NI) 69, 73, 73

Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 68, 74, 73

Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73, 67, 75

216 (level)

Stuart Appleby (Aus) 72, 73, 71

Rory McIlroy (NI) 72, 73, 71

Luke Donald (Eng) 73, 71, 72

Ken Duke 71, 72, 73

Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71, 70, 75

217 (+1)

Ryuji Imada (Jap) 73, 72, 72

Trevor Immelman (SA) 71, 74, 72

DJ Trahan 72, 73, 72

Robert Allenby (Aus) 73, 72, 72

Paul Casey (Eng) 72, 72, 73

Dudley Hart 72, 72, 73

Bubba Watson 72, 72, 73

218 (+2)

Ross Fisher (Eng) 69, 76, 73

Ben Curtis 73, 71, 74

221 (+5)

Andres Romero (Arg) 69, 75, 77

Miguel A Jimenez (Spa) 70, 73, 78

Rocco Mediate 73, 70, 78

222 (+6)

Kevin Sutherland 69, 76, 77

Mike Weir (Canada) 68, 75, 79