AUGUSTA, Ga. – 12:30 p.m.
After a stormy night, the sun broke through Saturday at Augusta National.
Steve Stricker was the first to tee off in the third round. Since an odd number of players made the cut, he's playing with a marker — club member Jeff Knox, who's a pretty good player in his own right. Knox holds the club record for members with a 61 and last year, filling the same role, beat playing partner Rory McIlroy — the world's top-ranked golfer — by one stroke.
Heavy rains after the second round kept the greens soft, which should allow players to keep attacking the pins like they did the first two days. No one did a better job than Jordan Spieth, who has a five-stroke lead after breaking the Masters record for lowest 36-hole score with a 14-under 130.
He'll tee off with Charley Hoffman in the final group at 2:55 p.m. EDT. All but six players are at least 10 strokes behind Spieth, including McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
Among those with early tee times, Bae Sang-moon of South Korea and Henrik Stenson of Sweden were both at 3 under for the round, taking advantage of the soft conditions. In fact, 14 of the 25 players on the course are at par or better in the early going, though things are likely to toughen up through the afternoon — especially if the wind picks up.
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