Runaway Masters leader Chris DiMarco kept his cool in Augusta in the third round on Saturday when he held off a charging Tiger Woods and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.
All three, along with 41 other players, will have to return early on Sunday morning to finish their rounds after darkness halted play.
But DiMarco has the comfort of knowing he is four ahead of Woods and five ahead of Bjorn with nine holes left to complete.
”I’m going to have to keep the foot on the accelerator, especially with Tiger behind me. I’m hitting the ball well and I’m putting great. I’m happy with the lead,” said DiMarco.
Woods put early pressure on in the morning when he fired a stunning six-under 66 in the storm-interrupted second round.
He instantly carried on where he had left off when the Masters organisers finally managed to work out a start time and the pairings of the 50 players who had made the cut.
A promised 3pm start time for the third round ended up being 35 minutes late — much to the anger of several players.
”This is like the dark ages,” fumed former champion Bernhard Langer. ”How difficult can it be to get 50 players back on course?”
But the delay clearly had no effect on the 29-year-old Woods, looking for his fourth green jacket.
Woods reached the turn in a stunning five-under 31 — only three players in Masters history have ever shot lower over the outward nine.
”The golf course wasn’t playing as difficult today as it usually does. You can be aggressive,” explained Woods. ”Everyone is making birdies out there.”
DiMarco collected three birdies of his own as he reached the turn in 33, keeping daylight between him and Woods.
Playing partner Bjorn reduced his four-shot gap with DiMarco immediately when he rammed home a birdie putt on the first hole.
But disaster struck the 34-year-old Bjorn on the par-four seventh when his foot-long par putt horseshoed around the hole and rolled 18 inches away.
With Woods, playing in the group in front, collecting another birdie, Bjorn suddenly dropped into third spot.
But Bjorn was still delighted with his performance.
”I am very happy with my golf and the situation I’m in. I played pretty much as well as I would like to round here,” said Bjorn.
”There are another 27 holes of golf to be played tomorrow. This tournament is far from over,” he added.
World number one Vijay Singh, who had angered Phil Mickelson on Friday when he complained that the defending champion’s spikes were digging up the greens, was one-under for his third round after 11 and making no real impression on the leader.
Mickelson reached the turn in two-under 34 to go four-under for the championship but gave a shot away on the 10th — his final hole for the day.
With a 10-shot gap, Mickelson has his work cut out to try to retain the championship.
Ernie Els went backwards, going out with a two-over 38 and all but out of the tournament. — Sapa-AFP