Sunday 12 April 2015 08:56, UK
Tiger Woods was left to reflect on some missed opportunities after his third round 68 in the Masters at Augusta.
Woods played some superb golf on the front nine, picking up four shots, but a couple of dropped strokes on the back nine left him on six under with 18 holes remaining.
He birdied the second, third and fourth and picked up another stroke at the eighth after missing a couple more birdie putts.
The former world No 1 produced one of the most incredible birdies at the 13th, where he hit a snap hook drive that clattered around the trees before coming to rest on the edge of the pine needles. However he was able to get on the green in three and holed a tricky downhill putt.
But a bogey followed at the 14th and, after making the most of the par-five 15th, another poor drive at the closing hole led to a second dropped shot and a huge deficit on Jordan Spieth.
Woods told Sky Sports: “It could have been super low today. I birdied two, three and four, I stuffed it at six and at seven and missed those, stuffed it at eight and 17 and missed that.
“I made a crazy birdie at 13 and a stupid bogey at 14 so all in all it probably should have been about two shots better."
But despite Spieth continuing to run away at the top of the leaderboard, Woods is not giving up on hopes of a big turnaround on Sunday.
When asked if anything is possible, he added: “It really is. Look at what happened in ’96 (Nick Faldo came from six strokes back to beat Greg Norman by five), you just never know.
"A lot of it is dependent on conditions, if you get a little bit of wind. They are going to use the SubAir all night and all day, start drying these greens out and tucking away these pins.
“Today we noticed they are probably a step easier than they normally are, and a step is huge here.
“Sometimes, certain putts you lag them up there, short of the hole so it doesn’t fall off two feet past the hole. Things of that nature, they have given us a bit of a cush, and with the greens being a little softer, you are seeing the guys fire at a lot more flags than they normally ever would.
"I'm going to have to post something low, shoot 30 or 31 (on the front nine) and continue it on the back nine, at least give myself a chance going into the back nine.
"Right now it's in Jordan's hands. He could put a substantial gap between himself and the rest of the field. He is playing steady Eddie and that's all he needs to do; handle the par fives, stay away from bogey and miss it in the correct spot."
Watch live coverage of the final round from Augusta from 6:00pm on Sunday on Sky Sports 4.
