Augusta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Defending champion Bubba Watson had an up- and-down day in Saturday's third round on his way to a 1-over 73 at the Masters.
Watson, the winner of two of the last three at Augusta National, finished 54 holes at 1-under 215 and was 13 shots back of the lead when his third round ended.
It was a miserable start for Watson at the par-4 first. After hitting a fairway bunker and blocking his second shot to the left, Watson put his ball in a greenside bunker and it took him two shots to get out. Three putts later and it was an opening triple-bogey for the world No. 3.
Watson came back strong and got all of those shots back right away with a trio of birdies from No. 2 on putts of four, 14 and seven feet.
A 3-putt bogey on five was wiped out by a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-3 sixth and Watson continued to hover around even-par for the day.
Watson's first three pars on the day were in a row from seven before he made two consecutive bogeys at 10 and 11. Like he did all day, Watson had an answer with a 15-foot birdie on 12 followed by a 2-putt gain at the par-5 13th.
Another birdie at 15 got Watson into red figures for the first time, but he went on to bogey the final two holes to shoot his first over-par round of the week.
Watson played the four par-3s well on Saturday as he made three birdies and a par at 16.
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