Defending champion Scottie Scheffler fails to make a move, trails by 7 shots in Masters

The door was open all day for Scottie Scheffler.

The defending Masters champion failed to take advantage time and time again, leaving him seven shots behind leader Rory McIlroy with a round left in his bid to join Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three green jackets in a four-year span.

Scheffler wasn’t particularly sharp Saturday and failed to give himself many birdie opportunities. In fact, he spent the vast majority of the day scrambling to save par and the reality is his even-par 72 could have been much worse.

He was at 5-under 211 for the tournament.

“At times I felt good, at times I felt bad,” Scheffler said. “I just couldn’t really get anything going. I had to scramble a lot today, actually. I got off to a good start (with a birdie on No. 2), but after that I didn’t really feel like I gave myself enough opportunities, and the opportunities that I did have, I didn’t really quite take advantage of.”

A Scheffler comeback isn’t impossible.

Anything can happen on Sunday at the Masters.

In 1956, Jack Burke Jr., a 33-year-old pro who hadn’t won a tournament since 1953, trailed leader Ken Venturi by eight strokes entering the final round and rallied to win after shooting 71. Venturi, then a rookie, collapsed with an 80.

Scheffler, who is tied for seventh, would need a huge day — probably even better than his personal-best round of 66 at Augusta National — and several others to collapse, including McIlroy, who seems intently focused on snapping his decade-long majors drought and joining an elite group of players who have won golf’s career grand slam.

McIlroy started the day with six straight 3s and surged to the lead and shot 66.

While he knows a comeback is a long shot, Scheffler insisted that won’t change his game plan entering the final 18 holes.

“There is a school of thought when it comes to that, but when I think about last year, I had two big comebacks, one at The Players Championship and one at the Olympics,” Scheffler said. “Did I press or force things? Did I play more aggressive? Not really. I just gave myself the most amount of opportunities and I hit a lot of good shots and was able to hole some putts.”

And with that, the 28-year-old headed to the practice range.

“I’m going to go hit a few balls tonight, see if I can get a good feel going into tomorrow — and then you never know,” Scheffler said.

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AP Masters coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/the-masters