The final day – live!

• Click refresh to update or click the auto-update button • Email your thoughts to scott.murray@guardian.co.uk • Read Lawrence Donegan’s day three report • Official Masters leaderboard • A golf tome you may like (but I would say that) 6.35pm: Dustin Johnson, tipped by many to do well this weekend on account of his searing talent, although only by those who didn’t factor in his ability to implode on a regular basis, has been uncharacteristically steady today: six pars followed by a birdie on 7. He’s -2 for the tournament. “Forget green jackets for a sec, some Scots Green Battle Fever is on,” writes Greig Aitken, and he’s not talking about Martin Laird. “The Scottish Greens launched their election broadcast online today, featuring among others a Jock Wallace sound-a-like discussing Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf abomination.” I’ve had a wee look further down Greig’s email, and it turns out he’s a press officer for the aforementioned envoronmentally friendly clique, and this is crowbarring of the most shameless order. But it does give me an excuse to link to this , without waiting for somebody to toss their wedge at their caddy after chipping into Rae’s Creek from a bunker at 12, so I’ll let that slide. 6.25pm: Not a huge sample, admittedly, but no amazing scoring out there yet, which suggests the course is set up to give up as few birdies as possible. I’m hoping the pins aren’t too tight today: there’s nothing like witnessing a few charges on Masters Sunday. All good news for McIlroy, though, providing he doesn’t implode himself. 6.20pm: Trevor Immelman was as steady as they come in 2008, leading from beginning to end, but today he’s anything but: a run between holes 3 and 7 of birdie, bogey, bogey, birdie, birdie to find himself one under for the day, and -2 for the tournament. Justin Rose, who came so close here in 2007 before falling away at the death, has started smoothly enough, though: he’s birdied 2 and is alongside Immelman at -2 on the scoreboard through 5. 6.10pm: Villegas bucks his ideas up with a birdie at 9. Meanwhile the first-day co-leader, Alvaro Quiros, has opened with a bogey. He’s +3 for the 1st hole this week. That opening-day 65 remains the only time he’s broken par at Augusta in three visits, having followed it up this time round with 73 and 75. 6pm: One player who started the tournament well, only to fall away dismally, was Camilo Villegas. He started out with a 70, before carding 75 and 73, and today he’s +3 for his round through 8, with only Kim Kyung-tae below him on the leaderboard. For some reason I’ve had him suspended in amber for the last few years in my mind: I thought he was in his early 20s, but he’s 29 now! Three top-ten major finishes doesn’t seem much of a return for his talent, especially as he was never really in the running for any of those tournaments (the 2008 US Open and PGA, and last year’s PGA). I suppose being constantly voted the sexiest player on tour by the readers of glossy magazines is fair compensation, though. Tiger must be awfully jealous. 5.50pm: Ishikawa’s double-bogeyed the par-three 4th to drop back to level par for the day, -1 for the tournament. The main movers now are Justin Rose and Ryan Moore, who are both -1 today through 3, -2 overall, and Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk, good Scrabble hands who have both birdied 2 and are -3 for this year’s Masters. “Where on the leaderboard is the 31-year-old American with a bad shirt, terrible sunglasses and all the conversational verve of a mormon insurance salesman on a twelve-step programme who’s going to nick this?” asks Jon Millard, who I’m sensing hasn’t got over Zach Johnson’s victory in 2007 yet. Then again, who has? 5.40pm. In lieu of anything interesting to report at this early stage, some music: “Awww-gusta I love you but you’re bringing me down…” 5.30pm: So, let’s get on with it. A couple of minor moves down in the nether regions of the leaderboard. The heroic Ryo Ishikawa has eagled the 2nd to move to -3 for the tournament. Sergio Garcia, meanwhile, has dropped a shot, need we tell you. He’s level par for the championship through 4. I wonder whether he’ll ever win a major? Actually, no I don’t. I know the answer to that one. It’s the final round of the Masters, everyone! Hee heeeeeeeeeee! IT IS ON!!! Some selected times, in the UK money: Justin Rose is off at 5.10pm, Ian Poulter at 5.30pm, Lee Westwood at 6pm, Lefty at 6.10pm, the amateur Hideki Matsuyama at 6.20pm, Tiger at 6.40pm, Freddie Couples at 6.50pm, Bubba and Ross Fisher at 7pm, Luke at 7.10pm, and the final pairings: 7.20pm – Jason Day and Adam Scott 7.30pm – Charl Schwartzel and KJ Choi 7.40pm – Rory McIlroy and Angel Cabrera Other golf players are available, of course. And there’s a selection of fine fellows who, should McIlroy not make it, would also be worthy Masters champions. Angel Cabrera, Tiger Woods and Fred Couples, the only men with a realistic shout who’ve been there, got the jacket. The Korean pair KJ Choi and YE Yang. The talented Charl Schwartzel. The Aussie pairing of Jason Day and Adam Scott. Golf’s Mr Beige Nice, Luke Donald, and his British compatriots Ross Fisher and Martin Laird. Bubba Watson, Bo Van Pelt, Matt Kuchar, Ryan Palmer, Phil Mickelso… I’m just typing out the entire field now. Whatever happens, it’s going to be a very enjoyable afternoon’s golf, is what I’m trying to say. A very enjoyable afternoon’s golf indeed. Rory, then, if history teaches us anything, will need to keep going with the positive approach he’s displayed all week. Tee to green, he’s been in a league of his own. It’s no exaggeration to say that, had his putter been hot this week, his current lead could be double figures. If he keeps hitting the approaches he’s been hitting, this should be a done deal. But he’ll have to stay firm with the putter, and there have been times (especially on Friday) when he’s been wafting it around like a divining rod. Still, no great disasters with it yet, but the pressure’s going to be unreal now, so hopefully he’ll maintain his mental equilibrium and putt with conviction. It’s nothing he doesn’t already know, of course: after the first round, he spoke of the importance of staying positive and attacking the course whenever possible. It’s an approach that should, all being well, win him the green jacket. God speed, young man. Venturi had a four-shot lead going into that fateful final round, but ended up shooting 80, and was overtaken by Jack Burke Jr, who won by a single stroke. Venturi could cite mitigating circumstances: it was pelting with rain, the wind was blowing a gale, and the lowest scores of the day were a pair of 71s, from Burke and Sam Snead, the only two men in the field to break par. Also, Venturi was, at the time, an amateur (which meant, adding insult to injury, he disappeared back down Magnolia Lane without a dime in his pocket for his troubles). Despite all this, Venturi’s story is probably the most relevant to McIlroy. Because instead of blaming the conditions for his collapse, Venturi would blame his putter. “The mistake I made was consciously trying to two-putt every green and just coast home,” he admitted years later. “I hit 15 greens that day but three-putted six times. The hardest thing in golf is trying to two putt when you have to, because your brain isn’t wired that way. You’re accustomed to trying to make putts, and when you change that mindset, your brain short-circuits, especially under pressure.” There’s an elephant in the room, of course. And there’s no point trying to ignore its brash trumpeting: should Rory fail to seal the deal today, the capitulation would go down as one of the great instances of Masters gift-horse dentistry. There have been 13 previous occasions where the 54-hole leader has held a four-shot advantage or more, and only three men have failed to go on and win. There’s Greg Norman in 1996, of course, who had a six-shot lead over Nick Faldo going into the last day, only to stumble along the first nine before crumbling round Amen Corner and then totally losing his motor skills during a painful traipse home. There was Ed Sneed in 1979, who held a five-shot 54-hole advantage, and was still three ahead with three to play; he bogeyed 16, 17 and 18, then lost a play-off to Fuzzy Zoeller. And then there was Ken Venturi in 1956. Now, if Rory pulls this off, he’ll become the second-youngest Master of all time. He’s 21 years, 11 months and six days old today, a rickety old pensioner compared to Tiger Woods, who was 21 years, three months and four days old when he ran away with the green jacket in 1997. Still, it’d be an amazing record nonetheless. Although not quite as jaw-dropping as the fact that, if he does end the day triumphant, 50% of golf’s current major champions will hail from Northern Ireland. So have the exploits of Rory McIlroy given you Masters Fever? Yes, I thought they would have. Let’s all just try to calm down, and concentrate on what could be a very enjoyable afternoon’s golf. A very enjoyable afternoon’s golf indeed. Masters 2011 Golf The Masters Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 10, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.