Tiger Woods shoots a career worst in 3rd round of the Masters

Tiger Woods, who used to dominate the Masters Tournament, shot a career worst in the third round of this year's competition on Saturday. Tournament leader Scottie Scheffler stayed ahead of the pack.

Woods, a five-time Masters champion, ended Saturday with a 6-over 78 — his worst performance in his 93 career rounds at the prestigious tournament.

Woods is paired with Kevin Kisner, a South Carolina native, at the competition in Augusta, Ga. Kisner is ranked 27th in the world among male golfers and is a University of Georgia graduate.

Both Woods and Kisner made birdie at the second hole. But later, Woods four-putted the fifth hole — a rare move in Woods' history at the Masters.

By hole nine, Woods was 12 shots behind Scheffler, a 25-year-old graduate of the University of Texas, who is ranked as the world's top male golfer.

As of Saturday morning, Woods was tied in the 19th spot with Kisner and Patrick Cantlay. By the end of the third round, Woods dropped to 41st and Kisner to 26th. Cantlay, who is in his sixth appearance at the Masters, dropped to 45th.

Scheffler, meanwhile, didn't let a drive into the woods on hole 18 knock him from the top of the leaderboard.

After 17 months without participating in high-stakes golf, Woods says he's thankful to be competing at all.

In the second round, Woods played alongside Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Joaquín Niemann of Chile. Niemann finished Thursday's round at three under par, landing him among the leaderboard's top spots.

Just last year, Woods watched the tournament from a hospital bed after sustaining multiple injuries to his right left in a high-speed car crash. Earlier this week, the 46-year-old golfer told reporters he believes he has a shot at another Masters victory.

"I love competing, and I feel like if I can still compete at the highest level, I'm going to, and if I feel like I can still win, I'm going to play," Woods said. "But if I feel like I can't, then you won't see me out here. You guys know me better than that."

Woods will be looking to turn his luck around for the final round on Sunday.

"As many putts as I had, you'd think I'd have figured it out somewhere along the line, but it just didn't happen," he said after Saturday's round, according to the Associated Press. "Each and every day presents its own different challenges for all of us. I wake up and start the fight all over again."

You can tune in to the competition on the Masters' website, CBS or ESPN.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.