Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Deep in the Masters Pack as Dustin Johnson Takes Charge

Morikawa shoots two-under 70 but is 14 strokes off the lead going into Sunday

Collin Morikawa shot a two-under-par 70 but the 23-year-old Cal grad will not be in contention for the Masters title in Sunday’s final round.

Morikawa sits at two under for the tournament and is tied for 36th place, 14 strokes off the lead.

Morikawa, ranked fourth in the world, is playing solid golf at Augusta National. He shot 70s in two of his three rounds so far but hasn’t shown the high-end play he used to win the year’s first major this summer, the PGA Championship.

Dustin Johnson owns a four-stroke lead heading into Sunday after his second round of 65 in three days. The world’s No. 1-ranked player is cruising at 16 under par after carding five birdies and an eagle in the third round.

Four strokes back at minus-12 are Abraham Ancer, Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im. World No. 3 Justin Thomas is in sixth place at 10 under and second-ranked Jon Rahm is one stroke back of him.

Johnson has four times held and shared the third-round lead at a major and been unable to finish the job on Sunday.

"If I can play like I did today, I think it will break that streak," Johnson said Saturday. "Tomorrow, it's just 18 holes of golf. I need to go out and play solid. I feel like I'm swinging really well. If I can just continue to give myself a lot of looks at birdie, I think I'll have a good day.”

Thomas wishes there fans were able to be on the course in order to create a more pressure-packed final round.

"Unfortunately for all of us chasing DJ is there's no fans or nothing to make that moment even harder, to have the buzz, to have the adrenaline, to have a little bit more pressure put on him that won't be there this year," Thomas said.

Tiger Woods shot even-par 72 and resides in a six-way tie for 20th place at minus-5, which leaves him 11 strokes off the pace.

Woods is the defending Masters champion but he has tried to block out all emotional distractions.

"I have not thought about tomorrow yet,'' said Woods, who had two birdies and two bogeys after beginning the third round just 4 shots off the lead. "I was focused on trying to get myself in contention going into tomorrow. ... We'll see how emotional it'll be after tomorrow's round.''

U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau, a popular pick to win the Masters, barely made the cut then shot his best round of the tournament on Saturday. With a 69, he is tied for 29th place at three under par, 13 back of Johnson.

.

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

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page