THE MASTERS; THIRD ROUND; The Big Chill Factor; Appleby Leads the Battered and Bowed Bogeymen

Apr 08, 02:11 PM

Current Headlines: By GARY D'AMATO

Augusta, Ga. - Just call it Bloody Saturday at the Masters.

Players bundled in layers to ward off a stiff northwest wind and temperatures barely reaching 50 staggered around the Augusta National Golf Club like zombies.

Or, more appropriately, bogeymen.

In 70 previous Masters there had never been anything like this. One disaster after another befell the best players in the world until Australian Stuart Appleby stood alone atop the pile of body bags at 2-over-par 218.

His total is the highest score by a third-round leader in Masters history, two strokes higher than the even-par 216 total by co- leaders Jack Nicklaus and Tommy Jacobs in 1966.

The field averaged 77.350 strokes and made three times as many bogeys (320) as birdies (107). Only one golfer broke par - Retief Goosen with a 70 - and just two others matched par 72: Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood.

No one escaped unscathed.

-- Appleby had a two-stroke lead and was 1-under par until he made a triple-bogey on the 17th.

-- Woods bogeyed the final two holes for the second time in the tournament.

-- Jerry Kelly of Madison, Wis., was in second place alone at one point but shot a 42 on the back nine and slipped to a tie for eighth.

-- U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy pulled within four strokes of the lead but then hit two balls in the water on No. 15, made a quadruple-bogey 9 and finished bogey-bogey-bogey for an 81.

-- Second-round co-leaders Tim Clark and Brett Wetterich shot 80 and 83, not-so-respectively.

"It's like walking in a field of land mines," said Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion who had the dubious distinction of five- putting on the par-3 16th for a triple-bogey 6. "You're just trying not to step on mines."

Appleby stepped on just one, snap-hooking his tee shot on No. 17 into the bunker next to the seventh green. His second shot caught the lip of the bunker, his third went into a greenside bunker - at least this one was on the correct hole - and he blasted out and three-putted.

Still, he shot a 73 and managed to grab a tenuous one-stroke lead over Woods. The 35-year-old Appleby is trying to become the first Australian to win the Masters, but he knows he's going to have to figure out a way to beat Woods, who doesn't let go of these things once he sinks his teeth into them.

Woods, 31, will be trying to win his third consecutive major championship and his fifth Masters title today.

"Look, Tiger has always got an advantage," Appleby said. "It's quite obvious. You don't have to say, 'Wow, look, that writer stepped out on a limb and said Tiger has an advantage.' Yeah, he has more experience than what's left of this field put together."

"His shot supremacy is certainly there. Emotionally and mentally, he's a tough competitor. He knows how to tackle the golf course. He's not worried about what everybody else is doing."

Asked about his record going head-to-head against Woods, Appleby said, "What would you like me to say, that I cleaned him up all the time? That I can beat him? That I can hit it past him? No, no and no."

So he's got that going for him.

If Woods does happen to stumble, Appleby still will have to contend with an Augusta National course that promises to play every bit as difficult today as it did Saturday, when it was raked by 20 mph winds and the greens were rock-hard and NASCAR-fast.

"It was like trying to land a golf ball on your driveway, but your driveway has mounds on it and they stick the pin near the mounds," said Rich Beem. "Sometimes, you just have to giggle about it."

This Masters is anything but a two-horse race. England's Justin Rose was tied for second with Woods at 219. Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson and Augusta native Vaughn Taylor were just two strokes back at 220, and Masters rookie Bradley Dredge of Wales was alone at 221.

The group at 222, four strokes back and very much in the tournament, included Goosen, Phil Mickelson, Rory Sabbatini, David Toms and Luke Donald.

Asked if he was disappointed with his 73, Mickelson, the defending champion said, "I played great today. Are you kidding me? I thought I played terrific."

In past years, Saturday was moving day at the Masters. The leaders usually duked it out with birdies and eagles on the back nine, the gallery's roars rising from Amen Corner and echoing through the Georgia pines.

On Saturday, there were exactly two eagles and 47 birdies on the back nine, hardly anything to get excited about. Most of the spectators had their hands jammed into their jackets, anyway.

Appleby is girding for battle but not feeling great about his body armor.

"It's going to be a very interesting day for me," he said. "It's going to be really, really tough for me. It will be tough for everybody."

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