Surveying the Last Five Groups for Today's Masters Third Round

Realistically speaking, only the players in the last five groups have the best chance to win the Masters this week.  We'll take a look at each group individually and assess each player's chances today and to win.

1:55 - Tom Watson (-3), Trevor Immelman (-2)

Watson got into position with 67 on Thursday, following up by 74 on Friday.  Honestly, it should've been 73 or 72, but it is what it is.  Watson struggled yesterday with the more difficult pin placements, as did Fred Couples.  Watson still struck the ball well, but the short game let him down.  Last time that he played deep in the third round of a major, he played with Steve Marino and lit up his world.  Immelman is a former Masters champion in '08 (yeah, really), but the guy is playing well almost entirely out of being jacked up for the one major where he is safe for life.  Expect more from Watson than Immelman today.

2:05 - Soren Kjeldsen (-3), Fred Couples (-3)

What a bizarre pairing.  Kjeldsen has made no worse than bogey all week, but no better than birdie.  It's like he is Sandy Lyle, but with a lot more 4s than 6s.  That leaves him 62nd in the field in putting.  He is getting there by hitting 80%+ of the fairways.  He will have to pick up those putting numbers to gain ground.  Couples fell back yesterday with a finish of three straight bogeys.  Hopefully that didn't crush his spirit.  He will need to borrow from Kjeldsen and hit more greens in regulation to at least give himself a chance to make up what he lost.

2:15 - Phil Mickelson (-6), Y.E. Yang (-5)

YE Yang tweeted this morning that he feels a sense of calm in playing with Mickelson (for the fifth straight round).  Hard to argue with the results at the Masters.  Both are playing well in terms of par, but both are showing suspect driving and iron games.  They're playing worse than the group prior to them in driving and GIR.  Mickelson, though, remains confident that he can be wayward off of the tee and still score at Augusta.  Perhaps if Phil realized how much better he could score by positioning the ball better, he could inspire Yang to do the same.  After all, Yang has proven that he can play as well (or as poorly) as his better known opponents.

2:25 - Ricky Barnes (-6), Anthony Kim (-6)

When did Ricky Barnes become Mr. Major?  A runner up at the US Open has been followed with these two rounds at the Masters.  His secret so far has been only make birdies or pars.  He has two bogeys all week.  That kind of steady play is rewarded in this tournament.  If Barnes can continue to wait to strike, he will be sittin' pretty after today.  As for Kim, he is down near the bottom of the field in both GIR and fairways hit.  Where Barnes has been consistent with pars, AK has been regularly posting anything but.  In round one, he only made seven pars.  Round two was calmer and showed more signs of maturity.  Perhaps Barnes can influence Kim's aggressive streak.

2:35 - Tiger Woods (-6), K.J. Choi (-6)

The next to last group resumes playing together for the third straight day.  Tiger Woods typically makes his move on Friday and Saturday, but made it on Thursday this year.  Friday was a controlled round for him with a bogey and three birdies.  Just when everyone (myself included) thought that Westwood and Poulter would blow by him, they came back to him.  Choi seems to revel in playing with Woods and has approached the tournament in the same way as Woods - lots of pars and targeted birdies.  Both will likely move with each other today, and since we're talking about Tiger Woods here, that means higher up the leaderboard.

2:45 - Ian Poulter (-8), Lee Westwood (-8)

The final pairing features the best player so far this week and a guy that has never won a major championship.  Can you guess who is who?  Trick question of course, but Ian Poulter has played the best of anyone this week.  He has done it while being mediocre with the short stick, but never getting into much trouble.  Westwood found trouble on fourteen yesterday and looked like a deer in headlights.  If that happens more often today than yesterday, Poults could be the only of the pair to be left with a chance on Sunday.