'Hard to watch': Fans saddened by 'awful' Tiger Woods drama

Hopes of a miraculous third round charge from Tiger Woods have been emphatically crushed after a day of unprecedented drama at the Masters in Augusta.

In what was his worst ever round at the Masters, Woods shot a 78 to crash out of contention on a day where World No.1 Scottie Scheffler held off an inspired Cameron Smith to take a three-shot lead heading into the final round.

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Woods was clearly struggling throughout his third round, looking every bit like a man still recovering from a horror car crash 14 months ago that nearly took one of his legs.

Just making the cut was astonishing enough for the 15-time major winner, but the 46-year-old had inspired so much more hope after insisting he had what it took to claim a record-equalling sixth green jacket.

Those hopes are as good as over after Woods struggled to place his approach shots anywhere near the flag, and simply couldn't seem to get any putts to drop.

He used clubs as impromptu canes, and when he left the scoring room to fulfil his media obligations, Woods visibly limped so badly that even stepping up onto the one-step podium came with risk.

"It's been hard," Woods said after his round.

"The conditions were tough today. ... It's just been blustery all day. You add in the temperature difference, it was cold starting out. The ball wasn't going very far."

After fighting his way through yet another up-and-down round — three birdies, three bogeys, one double-bogey — through the first 15 holes, Woods fell apart within sight of the clubhouse.

He bogeyed 16 and 17 and doubled 18, walking off the final green like he was losing parts. He three-putted four holes and four-putted a fifth, unable to get any sense of a read on how the greens were rolling Saturday.

Woods said his "awful" putting was largely to blame for the third round meltdown that proved tough to watch for fans.

“I just could not get a feel for getting comfortable with the ball. Posture, feel, my right hand, my release, I just couldn't find it,” Woods said.

“Even as many putts as I had, you'd think I'd have figured it out somewhere along the line, but it just didn't happen.”

In a grand context, Woods didn’t play terribly. His 78 was the equal of two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson, one stroke better than reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, two strokes better than Masters champion Adam Scott, just one shot worse than reigning US Open champion Jon Rahm.

Scottie Scheffler takes 3-stroke lead into final round

There’s nothing left for Woods to play for but pride at this point; he walked off the course 18 strokes behind Scheffler, who held off a remarkable charge from Australia's Smith to keep hold of his lead from the second round.

Smith set himself up for a shot at Masters glory with a supreme third round, four-under-par 68 score at Augusta National.

Smith slashed Scheffler's half-way lead to three shots to secure an all-important place in Sunday's final group with the World No.1.

Scheffler's 71 — including a dramatic bogey on the last after the American found the trees off the tee and needed to take an unplayable penalty stroke — left him at nine under for the tournament.

Smith at six under and Korean Sungjae Im (71) at four under appear the only two challengers within striking distance of Scheffler.

Twenty six of the past 31 champions at Augusta have played in the final pairing down the stretch, setting the scene for an enthralling Sunday shootout between Scheffler, the WGC Match Play winner last month, and Smith, the newly-crowned Players champion.

Rebounding from a disappointing second-round 74, Smith birdied the second, sixth and eighth holes to reach the turn in five under on moving day at the Masters.

But with Scheffler surging to 11 under with four birdies of his own, Smith still trailed the American by six strokes heading into the homeward nine.

Picking up more shots on 10, 13 and 15, Smith cut the deficit to three before making bogey on the par-3 16th after finding the bunker off the tee and failing to get up and down.

Scheffler, though, made successive bogeys on 14, 15 and then 18 to open the door for Smith to join 2013 winner Adam Scott as only the second Australian in 86 Masters to claim a famous green jacket.

Ireland's Shane Lowry and South African Charl Schwartzel both carded 73s to be two under and sharing fourth spot, seven shots adrift of Scheffler.

with agencies

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