Through Augusta's winds, Max Homa is still standing

Without a birdie, Homa stayed within two strokes of the lead as a dynamic fourth round looms.

For many years Saturday has been known as Moving Day at any golf tournament you can name. On this Saturday, Max Homa did not budge. Eighteen holes, 17 pars, one bogey on No. 12 when Homa’s putter couldn’t save him. He began Saturday at the Masters tied for the lead and he walked into the clubhouse two strokes back. He marched in place. Whether that means he’ll be hampered by inertia on Sunday or whether he’ll just be gathering strength is something Homa, for one, can’t wait to discover.

“If you had told me I wasn’t going to make any birdies today,” Homa said, “I would have probably said I would have imploded. But I’m just going with the flow. ”

All around him, the Masters contenders fluctuated like a seismograph. Homa was playing alongside Bryson DeChambeau, as best anyone can. On the par-5 15th, DeChambeau flared his second shot into the pine straw right of the green, then somehow dumped his approach into a bank and then into a pond. That equaled double bogey. On the par-4 18th, the toughest hole on the premises, DeChambeau’s drive found the right trees, and he couldn’t see anything green from where he was, so he pitched out. His next shot was a 77-yard wedge that landed near the cup and then rolled into it. “I just figured it was easier than putting,” he joked. He is four strokes behind.

Nicolai Hojgaard, the 23-year-old from Denmark, had the lead for a few seconds and then plunged, like all indelicate shots did when they bounced near the edges. Ludwig Aberg, the Swedish rookie who is playing in his first major championship and was at Texas Tech 12 months ago, got in with a two-under-par 70 and was five-under over the past 36 holes, when the average score was seven-over.

Scottie Scheffler, whose elevated flatline has dominated most of the last three years on the PGA Tour, was all over the lot as well. He chipped in on the first. He made a 25-foot birdie on the third after he had treed his drive. But on the 10th he airmailed his approach into the bushes for double bogey — three holes before he slammed home the only eagle of the day on the 13th. He wound up at 7-under, one stroke ahead of Collin Morikawa.

In fact, Homa and Morikawa could possibly stage an all Cal-Berkeley playoff. Morikawa, who adopted a mallet putter after Thursday’s round, birdied the first three holes and played even-par the rest of the way. Morikawa already has Open Championship and PGA Championship trophies, and even though he’s been quiet in this calendar year, he ran away with the Zozo Championship in Japan last fall, winning by seven and shooting 14-under on his last 32 holes. He will be Scheffler’s playing partner Sunday and is unlikely to struggle with that.

The brutality of Augusta National Friday and Saturday, with the wind machine raging one day and leaving the greens like trampolines the next, has left the issue up to the lean and hungry. Scheffler is the only Masters champ who seems like a possible winner on Sunday. Rory McIlroy is on the fringes again, still without a major victory since 2014, Jon Rahm fell out of contention Friday and suggested play should have been suspected, and Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Wyndham Clark and Viktor Hovland hit the road, or the air, on Friday night.

It makes Scheffler even more of a book favorite, but he is still missing short putts on strange occasions, and on Thursday and Friday he hit water balls on the 13th. The tournament committee, in search of roaring reactions, will go back to the Sunday pin placements (I don’t work for CBS, so I’m not going to call them hole locations. They are intentionally placed where they are placed). Those holes often resemble the 18th at your favorite Putt-Putt, the one that sends you home happy, but it’s hard to imagine the course turning into tapioca, not with the way the greens are rejecting every assertive shot.

Most of the Sunday thrills, over the years, have happened at 13 and 15. Both par-fives have been beefed up. The 15th played at only 500 yards in the Palmer-Nicklaus years, but still ambushed careless golfers, because the green sits between two ponds, and its front bank has been shaved to the texture of El Capitan.

Now it’s a 550-yard hole and it requires two momentous shots to get to the 15th green, and when the winds are teasing, it’s far more comfortable to lay up….except that laying up gives you a third shot off a downhill lie into the green that doesn’t have a great deal of stopping distance. Patrick Cantlay’s eagle on No. 15 in 2019, the one that gave him a brief lead until he bogeyed 16 and opened the portal for Tiger Woods, might have been the last dramatic shot there. Sergio Garcia also eagled it when he won in 2017.

There have been no eagles on 15 yet, through 54 holes. That hasn’t happened since World War II. This is also the first Masters since 1999 in which the 15th has played over par, as of Saturday night.

Not that Homa won’t need birdies. He has not had one since the fourth hole on Friday, in fact. 

“I would say it’s frustrating at times, but also I’m really, really pleased with it,” Homa said. “It would have been nice to see some putts go in, but I’m not hating how I putt. If I catch myself thinking about what could go wrong, I let myself dream about what could go right. Just because you’re nervous and uncomfortable doesn’t mean you’re not going to succeed. I showed myself that. Even if I’m nervous, just embrace it.”

Homa leads the field in strokes gained/approach. If you believe Augusta National is the ultimate second-shot course, then that’s a helpful stat. He has hit 38 of 54 greens in regulation, tying Rahm for best in the field, and four better than Scheffler. Although Homa didn’t drain any long putts Saturday, he has zero 3-putts for the tournament, and no double bogeys either. Those are two traits of players who win.

Plus, Homa has distinguished himself on the best courses. He has won at Quail Hollow, Torrey Pines and Riviera. Translating that into major tournament success has been a slow process. Homa missed the cut in seven of his first nine majors. Last year at the Open Championship, he finally nudged himself into 10th place. But then he also won a tournament in South Africa, and he played well in the Ryder Cup. His whole career has been a lot like Saturday’s round, a long, slow movie that promises a fulfilling end. But when?

“I came here with the gratitude and appreciation that I get to do this,” Homa said. “I’m happy to get to do it again. I’m going to remind myself that I’m a dog. I’m ready for this moment.”

Sunday is a chance to remind everyone else, as long as he’s not playing from the bark.