Saturday 9 April 2016 20:44, UK
Louis Oosthuizen defied "brutal" conditions at Augusta National to make huge strides up the Masters leaderboard with a commendable third-round 71.
After the second day produced only four sub-par rounds, scoring continued to be high on Saturday as winds gusting up to 30mph took its toll on the remaining 57 players in the field.
Oosthuizen was two over for the day after back-to-back bogeys at the sixth and seventh, but he got one back at the next and birdied 14 and 17 while parring the rest to close on four over par.
The former Open champion, who lost a play-off to Bubba Watson at the 2012 Masters, said: "It probably feels like 66. It was a grind. There wasn't one easy shot I had today, not even having a little wedge or sand wedge in.
"I think the seventh hole is proving that. I had lob wedge in and made a good putt for bogey. So, it's just tough. It's really brutal out there.
"Coming in I told myself to really stick in there and try and squeeze level par. One or two under would be great knowing that the golf course is going to play that tough.
"If you can get the lead down to being six behind maybe, five behind, it would be great going into tomorrow. Obviously, Rory and Jordan are great players, so it will be interesting to see how they go today. But the golf course is really playing tough. I think the way it is now, a good score is probably 74, 75."
Two-time champion Watson was first out along with marker Jeff Knox, and the left-hander conceded defeat to the course after handing in a 76 which left him on 10 over par.
"The golf course beat me this year, so I've just got to improve, try to get better around this place," said Watson.
