The Masters on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk Masters Sunday

I ended my blog on Saturday by saying Masters Saturday would be gripping, thrilling, dramatic, exciting and enthralling, it was but perhaps for all the wrong reasons and it was but it wasn't on the golf course. Saturday revolved around the world's number one golfer but not because of his amazing golf, Saturday at the 77^th Masters was dominated by arguably the most high-profile and controversial rules incident in many years in golf. Tiger Woods somehow survived his mistake on the fifteenth hole in his second round due to a little-known rule change from 2 years ago amid outrage in the golf community on various social networks and in the opinions of many players and good judges should have been disqualified for taking an illegal drop following his approach to the fifteenth green on Friday evening.

Tiger not only remained in the tournament against all the odds but quite disgracefully remained in the same group in the third round as drawn on Friday evening, meaning he had longer to prepare than those others on the score he was awarded at 1-under-par. 70 shots later the world number one remains firmly in contention for a fifth green jacket and has the potential to earn perhaps the most controversial win of his or any players career in the majors. The course on Saturday was devilishly difficult and the number of players under par has reduced from 45 on Thursday to just 17 going into Sunday. The course to me seems to have the wrong mix, with the first cut stopping balls from going into the pine straw and trees, and the fairways slightly longer so shots like the one Adam Scott hit at the fifteenth didn't roll back into the water. But the greens are firming up and getting faster, this combination of course conditions produced a much less fluid days golf and very few players changed positions with birdies and eagles coming down the stretch. I for one hope that this changes for Sunday and the chasing pack can be aggressive and the course conditions punish mistakes more but allow for more birdies and eagles.

Rory McIlroy began the day four shots back and after a birdie at the 3^rd hole he closed to within three shots, but bogeys at 7 and 9 followed by a treble at the 11^th, double-bogey at the 15^th and a bogey at the 16^th took him completely out of contention at 5-over-par and a full twelve shots behind. For Rory the quest for the green jacket will continue in 2014 and he now must focus on the summer.

At 3-under coming into the third round my tip Lee Westwood played a little more inconsistently on Saturday but two bogeys and one birdie along with fifteen pars meant the Englishman slipped five behind the lead but I still retain a little hope for him. In 1989 the first 14 winners were American, Sir Nick Faldo went into the final round five behind and won the tournament, we have got the exact same scenario going into the final round for Westwood tomorrow. But of course with 8 players ahead of him it will not be easy and the conditions will dictate if a lower round is possible on Sunday.

For a long time it looked as though Fred Couples would remain in contention for a second green jacket, but a double-bogey at 7 and a treble-bogey at 17 crushed his hopes and he will start the final round seven behind at level par. Angel Cabrera is perhaps the most unique golfer in the world, he hasn't won a tournament for four years of any note and that was The Masters, the two titles he took before that was the 2007 US Open and the 2005 BMW PGA Championship. It is as if he just turns it on when he fancies and then goes into hibernation like a bear in the winter time, and every time he comes out of hibernation he demonstrates an incredible array of shots and a deft touch around the greens, the Argentine is quite remarkable. The way he rolled in his birdie putt at the 18^th to tie the lead at 7-under was reminiscent of the 2007 US Open especially.

The man he tied was the likeable Brandt Snedeker. The man from Nashville, Tennessee has won once this season at Pebble Beach and was widely considered a contender for the tournament before hand, and he quietly moved into contention before birdies at 13, 15 and 16 saw him surge into the lead, a lead he did share with Cabrera and Jason Day until Day's late mistakes at 17 and 18 saw him fall two behind in his quest for a first Major title.

And so to Masters Sunday. Where does the tournament stand with 18 holes to go?

We have joint leaders in Angel Cabrera and Brandt Snedeker, Cabrera has two major titles but no wins for four years and Snedeker has no major titles but 2 wins in the last 8 months. They hold a one shot lead on Adam Scott who is looking for that elusive first Major after finishing second at the 2011 Masters and 2012 Open Championship, he in turn is one ahead of two fellow Australians in Marc Leishman and Jason Day. With three Aussies in the top five it could finally be that an Australian dons the green jacket for the first time ever. Tucked in behind Leishman and Day is the Players Champion Matt Kuchar on 4-under, he has continued to stay in contention despite the course not being perhaps the one you would think he would excel on. At 3-under we have Tim Clark, the South African has also won The Players Championship and finished second at Augusta before, he is tied with Tiger Woods. Behind them we have Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Steve Stricker, Bernhard Langer and Lee Westwood all on 2-under and five shots back of the lead. These are the thirteen players which I believe still have a chance to win The Masters in 2013.

I could of course be outrageously wrong.

We have seen some incredible things on Masters Sunday in the not so distant past.

In 2012 Bubba Watson started three behind and Louis Oosthuizen began two behind, they ended up in a play-off with 5 and 4 shot swings to the leader respectively on the final day. In 2011 Charl Schwartzel won from four back but there was actually a fourteen shot swing between himself and the 54-hole leader Rory McIlroy, and in 1996 there was a 12 shot swing between Greg Norman and Nick Faldo. Faldo himself came from 5 shots behind in each of his three Masters wins and while in general if you play in the final group you tend to win there is precedent for and many examples of a major comeback in the history of The Masters that means any of the leading 13 players on the leaderboard at the start of Masters Sunday can take the green jacket home with them.

I read someone say on Thursday that it was like Christmas Day well I would say that Masters Sunday is more like Christmas Day because you know you are going to get something, you just don't know what. From Jeff Maggert's triple and quintuple bogeys in 2003, to Norman's meltdown in 1996 to Rory in 2012 and from Player's comeback from 7 behind in 1978 to Nicklaus's 30 on the back nine in 1986, Masters Sunday has often delivered the unexpected and I would say to expect the unexpected this Sunday. I have a feeling for a couple of players but I won't give that way just now.

Enjoy the final round of 77^th Masters Tournament.