April 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nAnd if you think that was just business as usual, listen to what PGA Tour winner Andrew Novak had to say following his second round when he was asked if they watered the greens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI three-putted four times early today because I was not prepared at all the for how slow the greens were,\u201d Novak said. \u201cJust on the putting green and stuff they were still rolling fast. I didn\u2019t realize how much slower they were going to be this morning, and, yeah, it took me a little too long to adjust to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Novak, of course, got the worst of it on Thursday, as he played in the afternoon wave. Then he and the rest of that wave went out Friday morning on what had to feel like a completely different golf course. Meanwhile, the early\/late crew got the best of both worlds\u2014a softish Thursday morning and a far softer Friday afternoon than Thursday\u2019s. It\u2019s no coincidence that the first five names on the leaderboard after 54 holes all teed off before 10:45 a.m. in the opening round.<\/p>\n
Saturday played the easiest of all. There were two 65s (Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young), two 66s (Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley) and 35 total rounds under par. Of the first 10 names on the leaderboard, only one player\u2014McIlroy\u2014was over par in the third round. The field scoring average for Saturday was 70.6, marking just the third time in the last 10 years that a round average was lower than 71. That 70.6 mark is also the lowest third-round scoring average in the history of this storied tournament (not a typo). The course played a full two strokes easier than Friday and four strokes easier than Thursday.<\/p>\n
Some might argue that\u2019s a great Moving Day at the Masters, a perfectly fine opinion to have. The roars were deafening, the excitement infectious. But there\u2019s also an argument to be made that a 66 on Saturday at the Masters should be rare, thus making it mean much more than it did this Saturday. Henley and Cantlay made a nice move up the board, but so did everyone. Oversaturating the course leads to an oversaturation of red figures.<\/p>\n
Former Masters winner Adam Scott shot a two-under 70 on Saturday morning. As someone who is playing in his 25th consecutive Masters this week, he knows the course as well as anybody in the field not named Couples or Singh. He detected a noticeable difference in the putting surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did play early, so this may be irrelevant when guys come in later in the day, but the greens are still very, very friendly,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
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Adam Glanzman<\/p>\n
Scheffler, a two-time champ, called the greens on Friday \u201csoft\u201d in his spicy post-round presser. That was still the case on his first nine Saturday, when he went out in 31.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday there was a little bit of opportunity early. You saw my front nine,\u201d said Scheffler. \u201cThere was definitely some opportunity going out. Not much wind. Softer greens, but they firmed up a little quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the sun beat down in the afternoon, the greens did get a touch browner, but the damage had long been done. Max Homa, who is playing in his seventh straight Masters, was frustrated with his third-round one-under 71. Why? Because of how gettable the golf course was.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty easy,\u201d Homa said when asked how Augusta played Saturday. \u201cThere\u2019s random greens that are really firm. 17 is significantly firmer than any other green. 18 is starting to get baked out too. The front nine is pretty\u2014I mean, very gettable. I didn\u2019t feel like it was too fast, too firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe back you just have certain holes play tricky, but I think it\u2019s very gettable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason Day, who teed off at 1:55 p.m. alongside 54-hole co-leader Young, was asked if the greens had an Australia Sand Belt quality to them in the third round. Quite the opposite, actually.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if they were a little bit firmer and faster, yes,\u201d Day said. \u201cBut these greens, they were very receptive today. Yeah, they were very receptive today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could have\u2014it could have been a lot different. I expected to see it a little bit different than what I saw today. I mean, you were hitting shots in there that were spinning. Typically, sometimes you get to, you know, Saturday at Augusta and they\u2019re bouncing. It\u2019s really difficult to hold some shots. So I thought the green speeds were lovely. I thought the green firmness was great. It was very fair, and I think that\u2019s why you\u2019re seeing a lot of, like, decent scores out there, which brings in a lot of the crowd, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Day\u2019s point, it is great for the patrons on the grounds and casual fans at home who tune into golf once a year\u2014this week. Less so for the hardcore golf watcher who was told in the leadup to Thursday that an old school U.S. Open was about to break out at Augusta National. That\u2019s the part that hurts\u2014being promised one thing and getting delivered something entirely different. Like when a restaurant dish looks five-star in the picture and is more like fast food. Only in this case, there is no sending the meal back.<\/p>\n
To be clear, this will likely wind up being a phenomenal finish on Sunday. It almost always is. What was supposed to be a Rory runaway has now turned into a title fight between him and Young. It will be cinema. And, as Scheffler pointed out in his post-round presser, Augusta National will figure it out. On Friday and Saturday, however, they seemed to have lost the plot.<\/p>\n
Masters 101: Answering all your frequently asked questions<\/p>\n
How to watch the 2026 Masters<\/p>\n
The prize money payout for each golfer at the 2026 Masters<\/p>\n
50 defining Masters Moments, ranked<\/p>\n
The most memorable Rules issues in Masters history<\/p>\n
Has the Masters begun to lose a bit of its identity?<\/p>\n
Every course change ever made at Augusta National<\/p>\n
A brief history of Masters prize money payouts<\/p>\n
15 people who ended up in the Masters penalty box<\/p>\n
The Champions Dinner Tell-All, from those inside the room<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n