Impressed to see Reed back up his play yet again today. Not a huge fan, but will always applaud excellent golf, and he most certainly did play an excellent third round. Whether he can maintain the control, precision and composure Sunday afternoon, who knows. But for three days, nobody has played better. All of the pressure however will be on him tomorrow. Players with much more impressive competitive resumes than his have proven incapable of closing the deal on Sunday despite already having one arm inside the coveted Green Jacket when they tee off on the opening hole of the final round. There's still a lot of work ahead of him.
Gotta admit though that I'm personally rooting for Rory. I just think that him prevailing tomorrow makes a much more compelling story, having achieved the career grand slam. Yet he's proven to be just as fallible in this tournament as anyone else over the years. He'll be chasing, but he's still got some pressure on him as well to keep playing well to exorcise some demons tomorrow, regardless of whatever Reed does. There's just as much pressure on Rory as there is Reed. And that could bode well for Rickie, providing he can do something he historically hasn't been able to do, which is not shit the bed on Sunday in a major. He's not in the worst position.
And then we have roughly a handful of other scenarios that could play out, depending on how Reed and Rory do. Rahm, Stenson, Fleetwood, Leishman and Watson basically round out the rest of the potential scenarios, but they need some help, in addition to helping themselves.
As much as we would enjoy a 2016 Ryder Cup Redux tomorrow between Rory and Reed when they went head-to-head that week, that's most likely not gonna materialize tomorrow.
This tournament has taught us throughout history that the back-nine is where the tournament is won or lost. I think it'll hold true again tomorrow. Anything can happen. Ask Jordan Spieth and Danny Willett.
Should be a good show, as always. 🙂