US Masters / Steven Rawlings / 12 April 2009 / Leave a comment

The Punter can't see beyond the first five on the leaderboard going into the last round of the US Masters. But even more realistically, it will be down to Cabrera and Perry to fight it out for the right to wear the coveted green jacket.

Day three was a grind. It wasn't necessarily fun to watch but it was pretty much as I'd expected it to be, apart from Angel Cabrera's fine performance.

Once Woods had double bogeyed the 1st his backers were always struggling, and so were those that followed any of the host of big named players that had started day three on the fringe of things. Woods, Mickelson, Kim, Ogilvy, Garcia and Harrington all failed to shoot the very low rounds they needed.

I layed off even more of my Mickelson wager, firstly at [10.5], when he was just one under par for his round and then some more at a ridiculously low [8.0], when he was two under, just before he played the 10th. Two bogeys followed and I'd definitely done the right thing.

The final pairing of Kenny Perry, who I'd backed on Friday at [16.0], and Chad Campbell, who I felt was the biggest danger, started very well and the two friends had an obvious chemistry that clearly helped their relaxed progress. As they went through the first nine holes I used the reclaimed monies from Lefty for a few bets on Chad and ended up backing him at an average of [8.4].

As they played the 11th, it looked like I was in a cracking position but then Perry dropped a few shots and Campbell was nowhere near as calm and collected once he was handed the sole lead.

Jim Furyk then birdied three on the spin to put himself in the picture, while Cabrera's smooth progress continued and he now goes into today's final round tied for the lead with Perry on -11. Chad Campbell's two back, Furyk three, and Stricker four and that, I suspect, is as far as you need to look to find this year's champ.

Angel Cabrera is now slight favourite, and justifiably so. It's highly likely he or Perry will win, given that 17 of the last 18 winners have come from the final pairing. Can Cabrera go low again and be the first player ever to shoot all four rounds in the 60's? Or will Perry become the oldest major winner ever? I hope it's the latter, though I know Paul Krishnamurty, who shrewdly latched on to Cabrera after day two, at a whopping [55.0], doesn't.

In truth it's a bit of a coin toss, but I keep casting my mind back to day three of the 2007 US Open for inspiration when Cabrera started round three with the lead but shot a nervy 76. More of the same would be nice.

The side-show is the pairing of Woods and Mickelson, after Woods' caddy, Steve Williams, made some very unsavoury comments about Lefty a few months back.
Whatever happens tonight, I'll pick the bones out of it all tomorrow morning.