Associated Press
 Saturday, April 7
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Rocco Mediate earned a chance to play among the leaders Sunday.

 
  Mediate

Teeing off early in the third round, Mediate shot a 66, the low round of the day, to finish at 8-under, four strokes behind Tiger Woods. It was Mediate's best score in 15 rounds in The Masters, his lowest in 93 rounds at the majors, and gave him the afternoon tee time he's never had on the final day of a major.

He tees off at 2:25 p.m. with Angel Cabrera.

"I've never really been close in any major," Mediate said. "It was fun today. It felt good today. Tomorrow, if I shoot a 65 or 66, who knows?"

Streak snapped
Defending Masters champion Vijay Singh's streak of 34 rounds of par or better, the best on tour, ended Saturday when he shot a 1-over 73 in the third round.

 
  Singh

That seemed the least of his worries after a round that left him at 3-under for the tournament, nine strokes off the lead and virtually out of range for a repeat.

"My caddie mentioned that to me," Singh said of the streak. "I'll just have to start another one tomorrow."

Singh missed a number of putts from the 6- to 8-foot range. He called that "the downfall of my round."

So, instead of spending the night dreaming of wearing the green jacket, he'll think about making the trip to the practice green to place it on somebody else Sunday afternoon.

"I thought 6-under was very much out there," Singh said. "It just didn't happen."

Singh's last round above par came on the closing day of the Tour Championship in November. Now that his streak is over, Woods holds the longest current streak with 21 straight rounds under par.

Happy marker
John Harris of Minneapolis has a standing tee time at The Masters -- and he's not even competing.

 
  May

For the second straight year, Harris played as a non-competing marker because there were an odd number of players in the field. He played with PGA runner-up Bob May in the first twosome of the day, and the two breezed through their round in about 3½ hours.

Lest anybody think Harris is just a weekend golfer, he has a heck of a resume. He's the 1993 U.S. Amateur champion, a former Walker Cup participant and, of course, a member of Augusta National.

"He's a very, very good player," May said. "We had a nice time."

Bad bounce
David Duval hit his drive on No. 14, reached down to snap his tee out of the ground and looked toward the middle of the fairway, where he expected his ball to land.

 
  Duval

He got a nasty surprise.

"It looked like a tree reached out and grabbed it," Duval said. "I know baseball season has started, but c'mon."

He made bogey, part of a round of 70 that left him at 9-under, three strokes behind Woods and in range for victory once again.

Duval has been in the running the last three years, only to finish second, sixth and third.

"I want to have a chance ...," he said, then interrupted himself quickly. "Actually, I don't want to have a chance. Heck, I want to win it."

Langham lingers
Playing in the second twosome of the day, Franklin Langham and Jonathan Kaye fell behind at No. 5 and were put on the clock for slow play the rest of the day.

 
  Langham

"It left a sour taste in our mouths," Langham said. "It cost me at least two or three shots. What can you do?"

In their defense, Langham and Kaye were playing behind May and Harris, the non-competing marker. They raced through their round in about 3½ hours. Langham and Kaye played in 3 hours, 46 minutes, but after losing their position, they were on the clock the rest of the round.

"You just can't keep up to one guy and a marker who can pick up" his ball, Langham said.

Langham, who grew up near Augusta and worked as a scoreboard operator at No. 16 as a teen, shot 75. Kaye shot 74.

Divots
  • The Masters added $1 million to its total purse this year, bringing it to $5.6 million. The winner will earn $1,008,000, compared to the $828,000 Singh won in 2000.

  • If Phil Mickelson breaks 70 on Sunday, he'll become the first player in Masters history to have four rounds in the 60s.

  • Bernhard Langer, the 1985 and 1993 champion, shot 68 to move to 6-under.

  • The pairing of Mark Calcavecchia and Chris DiMarco for Sunday's final round will unite a pair of former University of Florida players, which could make for some good times and a few Gator chomps. "He's a Gator, I'm a Gator. We'll be clawing it together all day," DiMarco said.




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