Masters up for grabs

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The morning of the Super Bowl, or the seventh game of any championship series, we awake knowing the winner will be either Team A or Team B. This morning, we awake knowing the list of potential Masters winners is as long and varied as the alphabet.

Today at the Masters, we could see the oldest winner (Kenny Perry), the first Argentinean champion (Angel Cabrera), the first from Asia (Shingo Katayama), the first with a figure-8 swing (Jim Furyk), the first from Wisconsin (Steve Stricker) or the first named Chad (Campbell).

After three rounds in glowing sunshine and unpredictable winds at Augusta National, the result is very much in doubt, as much because of the names lurking off the leaderboard as because of the names atop it.

Perry and Cabrera will play in the last pairing today, and 17 of the past 18 Masters champions have played in the final pairing.

Perry shot a 70 and Cabrera a 69 to leave them tied for the lead at 11 under, two shots ahead of a fading Campbell. Furyk is at 8 under, Stricker is at 7 under, and Todd Hamilton, Rory Sabbatini and Katayama are at 6 under.

The largest final-round comeback in Masters history belongs to Jackie Burke, who won from eight shots back in 1956. Gary Player won after trailing by seven entering the last round in 1978.

For Tiger Woods to win his first major since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, he will need to match Player’s feat. He and rival Phil Mickelson are in the group tied for 10th at 4 under.

Woods has never won a Masters by coming from behind on Sunday. He drove and putted poorly Saturday, but the nine players ahead of him have combined to win only three majors. If ever Woods is going to stage a dramatic comeback at Augusta National, this could be the year.

“Today is as hard as I’ve ever fought to get a score,” Woods said after shooting a 70. “Today was tough. I wasn’t as precise as I need to be.”

Woods drove into the trees on the first two holes. He made a double-bogey at the first hole, then drove into the pine trees to the right of the fairway on the second hole, and had to chip out while on one knee. “I hit an 8-iron,” he said. “I hit it 12 yards.”

We have never heard those words from Woods before.

Three of his first six drives found the woods, and he three-putted for a bogey on 11, and yet he will loom over the proceedings today if he can start making birdies while the leaders wait to tee off. “You keep firing at pins and try to post a number,” Woods said.

Perry didn’t really do either. He admitted he felt “out of sorts” early in his round, and his opening drive landed pretty much where Woods’ did – in the trees left of the fairway.

Perry survived, though, as Cabrera crept up the leaderboard and Campbell took one major step back.

The pin on the picturesque par-3 16th was set in the back right. Nearly every player who hit a solid shot there landed the ball in the middle of the green, watched it roll 40 feet away from the hole, and tried to two-putt for a par.

Campbell got ambitious and landed his shot in the back bunker, leading to an unforgivable double bogey. “I felt sorry for Chad on that one,” Perry said.

Today, Woods and Mickelson will play together, both hoping to produce roars that will shake the leaders.

“Somehow, I need to get through that front nine with a decent score,” Perry said. “That’s going to be a big test for me.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m looking forward to see what I’ve got. This might be the last time I get this opportunity.”

He’s 48 and trying to become the oldest winner of the Masters. “There’s quite a few guys who have a shot at this tomorrow,” Perry said. “I think you’ll see somebody win it on the back nine (today).”

It might be a somebody. It could be just about anybody.