The Masters: More Rain, Another Early Finish but Collin Morikawa Remains Tied for 4th

Rains once more forced early cancellation of the Masters, with Cal grad Collin Morikawa still tied for fourth place through seven holes of the third round on Saturday.

Golfers who had not completed the second round on Friday did so early Saturday and third-round play survived 3 hours, 45 minutes before the horn was blown at 12:15 p.m. PT. None of the 54 entries was able to finish his round before the weather interruption.

Sunday’s forecast is much more optimistic, calling for temperatures to reach the mid-60s and sunshine arriving by mid-afternoon.

Morikawa birdied the fourth hole to go to minus-7 but had bogeys on 6 and 7 to drop back to 5 under and into a four-way tie with Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland. Fitzpatrick and Cantlay both were at 3-under through 11 and 13 holes, respectively.

Six golfers, including Phil Mickelsen, share eighth place, one stroke back of Morikawa.

Morikawa is eight strokes back of leader Brooks Koepka, who is at minus-13 after scoring minus-1 through six holes, He has a four-stroke lead over Jon Rahm, who was at minus-9 for the tournament and 1 over through six holes on Saturday.

Amateur Sam Bennett, a senior at Texas A&M, remains alone in third place despite making bogeys on his first two holes. He was at plus-2 for the day and minus-6 overall through six holes.

Cal’s Max Homa, the world’s No. 5 player, began his day on the back nine and completed 10 holes before play was halted. He included three birdies and two bogeys in his 1-under round and is tied for 23rd place at minus-1.

World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler was even through 12 holes Saturday and sits at minus-2, good for a tie for 18th.

Tiger Woods bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes while completing his second round early Saturday but still made the cut at plus-3. It was the 23rd consecutive time he has made the cut at the Masters, tying the modern record shared by Gary Player and Fred Couples.

But he struggled in the third round, shooting 6 over through 16 holes, including double-bogeys on 15 and 16, dropping him to 54th place, last among those who made the cut.

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Danielle Parhizkaran, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo