AUGUSTA, Ga. – There are so many cameras at the Masters this week that practice rounds are beginning to resemble kids’ birthday parties back in the day.

Barred from bringing their cell phones on the course, fans adapted by going back to the future, dusting off pocket-sized digital cameras or their old 35mm bodies and lenses and re-learning how to use them.

But a quick refresher course is all they’re allowed. When play begins Thursday, fans will have to put them back on the shelves.

“Actually, the last time I had this out was Easter,” Wayne Watson said about the large black Nikon hanging around his neck.

And the time before that?

“No idea,” he said. “Probably the Easter before.”

More than a few of the fans lugging around similar equipment were, like Watson – who made the two-hour drive from Macon – experiencing Augusta National in person for the first time.

Most just planned to mosey around until something caught their fancy. Some had general targets in mind – a favorite player or two, the trio of back-nine holes reverentially dubbed “Amen Corner,” or the gigantic manual scoreboard alongside the first fairway.

Then there was the occasional experienced big-game hunter, decked out with camera bags and an array of lenses.

“I’m after Phil Mickelson,” said Kim McNeeley of nearby Aiken, South Carolina. “I got a great shot of him the last time I was here – 18 years ago.

“But there are plenty of guys more serious than I am,” she added. “I had to borrow this from a friend who just had a baby. A few minutes ago, I saw a guy actually loading film into his camera. Film. Now that’s old school.”

Stepping back in time produced more than a few comical moments.

Parked in lawn chairs behind the first tee, two pals leaned in close as one tried to figure out how to take a “selfie” with a point-and-shoot camera – never mind that the term hadn’t even been coined when the camera was originally manufactured. Behind the seventh tee, Kevin Davis of Gibson City, Illinois, recounted the preparations he went through to make sure his 4-year-old digital camera was ready to roll.

First, he had to find it – “It took me awhile to remember where I left it,” he said, finally remembering it was in a desk drawer – and then make sure it was charged.

“I’ve got a big camera, but I didn’t want to lug that around,” Davis added. “That’s usually for family events.”

But he might have had second thoughts when his twin 5-year-olds saw the camera and realized it wasn’t a phone.

“They were scratching their heads,” he recalled. “They said, `Daddy, why is it so big?'”

The fact that so many wound up opting for the big camera likely had to do with the number of serious hobbyists. While many planned to share their photos with friends on social media, a few planned to commemorate the trip with a photo album – talk about old-school – and in the case of Wes Rackley, make quality 8×10 framed prints and give them as presents.

Few people, though, seemed as comfortable carrying around all the serious gear as Brett Pavel of Atlanta. He was at Augusta National for the 20th time – “I think that’s right,” he said, “because I’ve got at least 18 shirts – and said he has a camera around his neck at least once a week.

“My wife calls it my `pacifier,'” he laughed, “because our youngest son plays competitive soccer and she says taking pictures is the only thing that keeps me from cussing and yelling at the refs and everybody else.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Phil Mickelson wants another green jacket, just not for the obvious reasons.

The prestige, cold cash and silver trophy that accompany a Masters championship – the three-time winner has all that already. The reason Lefty likely wants this latest one is that, whenever the mood struck him, he could prank every playing partner in his foursome.

“I would put it in my golf bag and if it was chilly in the morning, I would pull it out. … I wouldn’t carry three around with me, but I would say, I’ve got two more if you’re cold,” he said to laughter. “But that’s just being rude.

“You’ve got to be careful who you say that stuff to,” Mickelson added quickly. “Some people can take it, some people can’t.”

Mickelson arrived here on the five-year anniversary of his last Masters win, but Augusta National was also the scene of his breakthrough in the majors. His 2004 victory ended an 0-for-42 streak in the game’s biggest tournaments, sparking wins in the PGA Championship and British Open to go along with those Masters triumphs.

“Winning this tournament, being a part of this championship, coming here every year to compete and try to add to that, is the greatest thing,” Mickelson said. “It’s what you think about in the off season when you’re putting in the work in the gym at 5:30 in the morning. You don’t want to be there; you think about the Masters and what you’re doing it for.

“This,” he said, “is what gives us the motivation.”

Mickelson will need plenty to turn around what’s been a rough patch – relatively speaking – in his resume. In seven events this season, he’s missed two cuts and his best showing is a tie for 17th, a result he managed for the second time at last week’s Houston Open. Save a runner-up finish at last year’s PGA Championship, his 2014 results – including a missed cut here – weren’t much better.

Mickelson acknowledged some of those troubles were the result of a letdown following his stirring 2013 British Open win.

“I could say maybe I got a little lethargic,” he said. “When I started last year, I was a little hurt and my speed wasn’t where it needed to be and my back was aching and consequently it led to a terrible year.

“This year in the offseason, I had a great offseason, and I’m in the best shape that I’ve been in. I’m able to swing the club fast again and practice without any discomfort, pain. So I feel like I’ve been able to put in the work and the time to get my game back. It’s come around a little bit slower than I thought it would. I really thought I would start the year out on fire and it couldn’t have been further from that.

“But I’m excited with what’s going to happen the rest of the year. I’m excited with where I see my game going. …It’s kind of like, you have got to take baby steps.”

Mickelson said the first step along that path was to play aggressively again, “getting my focus back to make birdies, and that mental intensity that’s needed to be able to get at pins and play holes properly and make birdies.”

That attitude was on display last week in Houston, where Mickelson led the field in birdies. But he cancelled those out with a number of loose shots that led to bogeys and worse. Lefty said the premium Augusta National places on the short game – arguably his greatest strength – should enable him to save enough pars to vault him into contention this week.

“I don’t feel like (my game) needs a lot of work like it did last year. Last year I felt like there wasn’t enough time to get ready. … This time, I feel like I’ve done the work,” he added, “and just need a little bit of fine tuning the next day and a half to get ready.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – He’s the No. 1 player in the world, winner of the last two majors and star of a poignant new Nike commercial he admits to having watched – but only once.

If this was any other Masters, Rory McIlroy would be the talk of golf and the biggest story of the week. That he’s not – at least right now – is only because a guy named Tiger Woods decided to embark on his latest comeback on the undulating greens of Augusta National.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing as McIlroy prepares for the seventh Masters of his young career. For all his success, the biggest hole in his resume is that he has yet to win a green jacket.

“Does it give people something else to talk about? Yes,” McIlroy said. “But I’m not necessarily listening to anything that anyone is saying, so doesn’t really make a difference to me.’

That McIlroy is coming into the Masters with blinders on is little surprise. He’s got a chance to become only the sixth player to win a career Grand Slam with a win here, and he’s prepared meticulously for his attempt to conquer a course that seems made for his game but has consistently given him fits.

He did it mostly out of the tournament spotlight, working on his game the last few weeks near his Florida home.

“I just really felt like spending a couple of weeks away from this, I guess,” McIlroy said. “Just preparing at home and in private and not really having everything critiqued and analyzed and overanalyzed. So I just wanted to get away from it all, and I feel like it’s been a good thing.”

McIlroy offered a few different theories Tuesday on why the Masters is the one major he has yet to win, including trying too hard to make eagles on the reachable par-5s on Augusta National. Last year he had 9-iron in hand for his second shot on both Nos. 13 and 15 in the final round, only to come away with bogeys on his way to a tie for eighth

There were also times, though, that McIlroy thought not being aggressive enough cost him strokes because he didn’t commit totally on shots to safe parts of the green.

What’s especially frustrating to McIlroy – aside from shooting 80 in the final round in 2011 to blow a four-shot lead – is that his game seems ideally suited for both the course and conditions here.

“It’s the one that should set up the best for me just with my ball flight and being comfortable off the tee here, especially being able to turn the ball over from right to left and all that,” he said. “If I can play the way I know I can around here and just have a good week on the greens, then there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have a good chance.”

No reason indeed, even if a win in Dubai is the only time he has hoisted a trophy this year. McIlroy has played only five times so far this year, clearly pointing his game toward the Masters instead of trying to collect more hardware along the way.

“Just trying to keep my game where it is and do some quality work, not overdo it,” he said. “Just do the right amount so that when I got here yesterday for the first time, again, I was ready to play and just needed to go see the golf course. Wasn’t working on anything in my game, my swing. Wasn’t thinking about technique at all. Just all about hitting the shots I need to and thinking about how to manage my game and get it around here for the next four days.”

The preparation this year isn’t the only thing different for McIlroy. Last year he had tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, his former girlfriend, carrying his bag in the par-3 contest, while Niall Horan from the boy band One Direction will do the honors this year.

And then there’s the commercial, which uses a young actor to trace McIlroy’s beginnings in golf. He is shown with a poster of Woods in his room and chipping balls into a clothes dryer after watching Woods win a major on TV.

“I did have posters of him on my wall and I did idolize him, really,” McIlroy said. “I think if you ask a lot of golfers that are my generation, he was the benchmark. He was the inspiration for us to go out and try to be the best that we could be.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jason Day set two goals for his career. He wanted to get to No. 1 in the world, and he wanted to win the Masters.

But if he could only reach one goal, which does he choose?

For the only time during his engaging news conference Monday, the 27-year-old Australian looked uncomfortable.

He loves the Masters, his favourite major. He was runner-up in 2011. He had a share of the lead late on Sunday in 2013 until he missed out on the playoff between Adam Scott and Angel Cabrera, with Scott becoming the first Aussie in a green jacket.

But there’s an appeal to be No. 1 in the world, too. And four members of Augusta National in their green jackets were in the room.

“It’s tough,” Day said, leaning back and shaking his head. “This is the tournament that got me into golf. And being No. 1 has always been a lifelong goal of mine. Just to be able to say you’re No. 1, you are the best golfer on the planet, just for one day, would be the best thing ever. Knowing that you were the best in the world would be pretty neat.”

So the answer is to be No. 1 in the world? Hang on.

“But to be able to slip on a green jacket … I don’t know,” he said. “That’s a difficult one, mate. I’m dancing around the question.”

Here’s the easy solution for Day. He can’t reach No. 1 in the world this week if he were to win. But at No. 5 in the world, and healthy and determined as ever, he is among the favourites to win the Masters this week.

Old School:

Day has decided to take the 1-iron out of the bag for the Masters and use the 2-iron.

That led to one question: Who uses a 1-iron anymore?

“I was just talking to (Nick) Faldo the other day … and he was looking at my 1-iron and I said, ‘It’s not like the old days where you had a butter knife. These things are big, old thick things that you can get up in the air.’ It’s modern-day technology. It certainly has changed a lot.”

Day did not know of any other players who carried a 1-iron. Some have driving irons, but it’s not the same.

“Not with the old ‘1’ on the head,” he said. “I’ve never see another guy have that.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods arrived later than usual Monday for a Masters that is different from all the others he has played.

No one was sure what to expect from him.

Woods offered a quick glimpse that it could be just about anything. He hooked his tee shot so far left that it nearly went into the ninth fairway. And then he hit a shot to about 6 feet and rolled in the putt for birdie.

More relevant than any of his shots – including his chipping, which looked fine – was the atmosphere.

The first official day of practice at Augusta National was filled with warmth and optimism for the first major of the year. Rory McIlroy, No. 1 in the world and going for a career Grand Slam, played 18 holes with British Amateur champion Bradley Neil. Steve Stricker is playing for the first time all year. Jason Day took four hours on the back nine alone, letting groups through so he could chip and putt, the key to winning a green jacket.

And then Woods arrived.

Fans ran to the side of the practice area when his cart pulled up, with one man holding a digital camera high above his head for a picture. Fittingly, Woods headed straight for the chipping area and went through two bags of balls before heading to the first tee with Mark O’Meara.

Woods is playing for the first time since Feb. 5. He was off nearly five months when he returned at the Masters in 2010 following the scandal in his personal life, but he was No. 1 in the world back then. His last competition was a victory in the Australian Masters.

Now he is No. 111. In his last tournament this year, he walked off the course at Torrey Pines after 11 holes. Before that, he shot 82 and missed the cut in the Phoenix Open. In both events, he played 47 holes and hit chips that either didn’t reach the green from 5 yards away or went some 25 yards over the green.

That’s when he stepped away, saying his game was not acceptable and he would not return until it was.

The real test comes Thursday, when the shots count. What he showed Monday certainly looked acceptable, and it was a treat for the fans who normally would be headed home after a long day at Augusta. The first hole was packed when Woods and O’Meara teed off at 4:20 p.m., and more than 2,000 kept following him. Dozens of fans raced over from the second fairway to the fourth tee to get a good spot.

Remember, you’re not supposed run at Augusta National.

“I hope he’s happy. I hope he’s fine,” U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer said. “I hope he will play well this week. But what would bother me a lot is all the speculation. You don’t have a choice. You will read about it somewhere. You will hear about it because you socialize with people. So mentally, it must be quite exhausting, and we know how important the mental part is in golf.”

“So it’s difficult, and some things I don’t find very fair,” he said. “You should just let him be. Let him play golf, what he likes to do.”

The last image of Woods was the best player of his generation at his worst, especially with the chipping. That led to rampant speculation – some coaches, including former swing coach Hank Haney, said he had the yips. He was said to be practicing hard at home in Florida. When he showed up at Augusta National last week to practice, one report said he shot 74. Another said he was playing better than ever at home.

The fans who stuck around the Masters got to see for themselves, at least in practice. The real show starts Thursday, and everyone is curious.

“We’re all waiting with baited breath what Tiger is bringing,” three-time champion Nick Faldo said. “He’s got to believe he’s got a bit more game than that. This is not the place. These are the toughest chipping areas, but off perfect lies, anywhere in the world. … It’s all nerve. That’s what the Masters is. It’s nerve. It’s the most nerve-wracking golf course.”

Most of the cheers late in the afternoon came from the par-3 16th, where players were skipping shots across the water and onto the green. The other cheers followed Woods, especially that shot over the pine trees and at the flag for his birdie. Woods then tossed a few balls short of the green to chip.

“Fore!” one fan jokingly said from behind the green.

He hit two at a time to where caddie Joe LaCava was standing. Woods moved around various sides of the green and chipped to different pin positions. Most of them were reasonable. Some were good.

Woods reached the par-5 second hole with ease on his second shot. He smashed a drive down the short par-4 third and hit a flip wedge that trickled a few inches by the hole.

“Golf internationally needs Tiger Woods. He does make a difference,” three-time Masters champion Gary Player said. “People say – I hear this all the time – `Well, they won’t miss Tiger Woods. There’s so many young guys that will take his place.’ There is nobody in the world today that can play like Tiger Woods at his best. Nobody yet. I’m not saying in time to come, a Rory, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day.

“As of today, there’s nobody playing like Tiger at his best.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Adam Scott showed up at Augusta National on Sunday with a familiar friend – his long putter.

Scott said the Masters is too important for him to keep experimenting with the short putter that he used during the Florida swing with mixed results. The anchored stroke used for the long putter will be outlawed starting in 2016, and the Australian appeared to be getting an early start in making the change.

But just not for this week. And probably not in June, July or August for the other majors.

“It just seemed like the sensible thing to do,” Scott said. “I’m not here to just see what happens. I’m here to get the job done, and the odds are more in my favour of doing that with the longer putter considering I’ve used it the last four years.”

Scott tied for fourth on the fast greens of Doral. He then missed a series of short putts at Innisbrook and missed the cut for the first time in nearly three years on the PGA Tour. His putting was suspect a week later at Bay Hill when a good start turned into a tie for 35th.

Going back to the long putter was hardly a problem, and Scott smiled when asked if it was similar to going back to an old girlfriend.

“Depends on the girlfriend,” said Scott, who got married right after the Masters last year. He didn’t start playing this year until his wife gave birth to their first child in February.

His putts – two of them actually – are part of the lore at Masters. Scott made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in 2013 that ultimately got him into a playoff with Angel Cabrera. He then sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to become the first Australian in a green jacket.

He went to No. 1 in the world a year later.

Scott first went to the long putter in 2011, though what gets overlooked is that his overall game improved. He ranked among the top 30 in total driving (distance and accuracy) from 2011 through 2014, compared with only one year in the top 30 dating to 2003.

The putter became a big part of his identity, however, especially winning the first major. That will have to change in 2016, and Scott appeared to be working toward the change at the start of this year. Scott, however, is at a stage in his career where he is trying to add majors. There are only four a year, starting at Augusta.

“I certainly think I’ll be putting with the longer putter later on this year,” he said. “It’s a process. I’ve got time up my sleeve to change. If you call the last few weeks a bit of an experiment, it’s good to know that I learned things about what I was doing and what I think about and what my principles are in the putting.”

Scott was wearing his green jacket on Sunday to help present trophies to the winners of the Drive, Chip and Putt contest in its second year.

Sunday at Augusta National is unlike any other going into a major. Matt Every and Miguel Angel Jimenez shared the putting green with a group of kids ready to take part in the putting competition on the 18th green. Defending champion Bubba Watson presented trophies to one age group, and then headed out to play a practice round with his wife. Such are the privileges of a Masters champ.

“Hopefully, she doesn’t beat me or I might have to withdraw,” Watson said.

Augusta National members also can play the golf course, which included former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Lynn Swann.

Two of the headliners at this Masters – Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy – were not seen. Woods played practice rounds on Tuesday and Friday before deciding he would play for the first time in seven weeks. McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, needs a Masters victory to complete the career Grand Slam.

Watson doesn’t mind that he isn’t mentioned as much, even with a chance to become only the fourth back-to-back winner at the Masters.

“We’ve all got to make putts,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the headlines say.”

Scott couldn’t agree more, which is why he’s going back to a familiar putter.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods stood on the seventh green at Augusta National, legs crossed and propped up on his putter, as a V-shaped line of mowers headed back down the fairway like a flock of geese.

He seemed intrigued by this routine bit of maintenance, staring at those whirring machines for the longest time.

Then again, Woods is rarely on the course at this time of day for a practice round, with the sun setting and many of the patrons already headed for home.

Yep, these are unusual times for the four-time Masters champion.

Even so, one thing hasn’t changed. Sure, Rory McIlroy is going for a career Grand Slam, Bubba Watson hopes to claim the green jacket for the third time in four years, and Jordan Spieth seems on the verge of a breakthrough victory, but Woods remains the most compelling figure at the first major of the year.

“The game is better when Tiger Woods is around,” said old pal Mark O’Meara, who joined Woods to play nine holes late Monday afternoon.

Woods normally practices early in the morning at Augusta, but his surprise appearance showed just how much has changed – and hasn’t changed – since he stepped away from the game in early February after some dismal performances, saying he wouldn’t return until he was ready to contend again.

This was the first chance for the public to check out the state of his game, and it was hard to get a read on whether he can actually making a run at his 15th major championship.

There were some brilliant shots. There were some ugly shots. Sometimes, they came one after the other, like the dicey downhill putt from the fringe at No. 9 that rolled 40 feet past the cup. Of course, he knocked the comebacker right in the hole for would have been a brilliant par save if they had actually been keeping score.

They won’t start doing that until Thursday.

In the meantime, Woods was encouraged.

“It’s been a process,” he said, “but I’m on the good side now.”

Woods insisted that his decision to play at Augusta, announced late last week and without so much as a warm-up tournament, is not a sign that he’s downright desperate to break a nearly seven-year drought since his last major win, that at age 39 he realizes he’s running out of chances to catch Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 championships.

“It’s just progression,” Woods said. “I felt like I had to get my game into a spot where I felt I could compete to win a golf tournament, and it’s finally there.”

That remains to be seen. O’Meara, a big fan but a bit more of an unbiased observer, said there’s still work to do for Woods to regain his place as the game’s most dominant player. Much of it is mental, and no one – not even Woods – knows how he’ll react when he’s actually writing a score on his card.

“Confidence is a crazy thing in the game of golf,” O’Meara said. “It can take years and year and years to gain confidence. Then, you make one, two or three bad shots, and that confidence is gone.”

Despite his struggles, Woods still casts a one-of-a-kind aura over the home of the Masters. While many fans had already left by the time he arrived at the course, word quickly spread among those who remained. In short order, there were several thousand patrons trailing Woods and O’Meara around the front nine.

“Come on, Tiger!” one of them shouted after a dead-on approach shot into No. 7. “You can win this thing!”

Woods and O’Meara used to be regular practice partners, but they grew apart when the 58-year-old O’Meara transitioned onto the senior tour. Perhaps hoping that a rekindled friendship might help turn around his game, Woods sent a text Monday morning asking if O’Meara wanted to play in the afternoon.

He jumped at the chance.

“I care about him,” O’Meara said. “I wish we could spend more time together. We don’t see each other that much anymore.”

It was like they’d never been apart. There were plenty of smiles, a few more serious discussions about swings and such, and O’Meara’s subtle attempts to boost Woods’ mental state.

After finishing up at No. 9, they embraced in a warm hug behind the green.

“His confidence is coming back,” O’Meara said, “but it’s not going to come back overnight.”

When Woods tees it up Thursday, he’ll face the inevitable comparisons to the Tiger of old.

Some things never change.

“There will be a lot of pressure,” O’Meara said. “All eyes will be on him. I hope for Tiger, and the game of golf, that he plays well.”

HOUSTON – J.B. Holmes used a strong start Sunday for a Houston Open victory in a three-way playoff against Jordan Spieth and Johnson Wagner.

The 32-year-old Holmes birdied the first five holes and nine of the first 12 after starting the day six shots back of Jordan Spieth.

He had a 64, the day’s low round, and won on the second playoff hole for his fourth PGA Tour victory and the $1,188,000 check. Although Holmes’ missed birdie putt had given Wagner another chance, his short putt for par lipped out.

“I knew I had to play a really low round and I started out great,” Holmes said. “It worked out for me.”

Spieth, the hottest player on the Tour heading into the Masters, was trying to win his second playoff in three weeks, sandwiched around a runner-up finish in the Texas Open last Sunday. But he bowed out on the first playoff hole after his approach shot landed in a bunker and, lying two, he couldn’t get anywhere close to the cup on his chip.

Wagner, who got into the field only through a sponsor’s exemption, admitted being “pretty bummed” by falling short but said he was hopeful his career is pointed in the right direction again. He was trying to become only the second player to get into the Masters on the weekend before, having done it previously by winning Houston in 2008.

Holmes’ final-day rally was the biggest on the Tour since Matt Jones also came from six down to beat Matt Kuchar in a playoff last April. The Houston Open has featured more playoffs than any tournament on the circuit.

Wagner and Holmes hit perfect drives on the first playoff hole – both were on No. 18 – while Spieth almost landed in the water, then wound up buried in the sand.

“I’m not sure what happened,” he said. “I heard something or maybe it was just me. It’s not an excuse. I got down in the sand and caught it fat and didn’t give myself a chance to continue in the playoff. But it was a great Easter Sunday.”

Earlier, Spieth had seemingly shot himself out of contention with a poor approach on No. 18, the hardest hole on the course. He wound up with a steep downhill lie and a bunker to clear. However, he chipped within 11 1/2 feet, then calmly made the putt.

Spieth was trying to become the second-youngest player after Tiger Woods to win a third PGA Tour event before his 22nd birthday. He also could have passed Jimmy Walker, who pulled out of the tournament before it began citing illness, for the current season’s points-standing lead.

Still, Spieth thinks he’s well positioned to contend this week in the Masters. He finished second to Bubba Watson last year.

“I felt very comfortable with more and more pressure going into Augusta, which has the most pressure anywhere,” he said.

Spieth earned his first PGA victory before he turned 20, but he’s still pursuing a breakthrough in one of the majors.

Beginning the final round with a single-stroke lead over three players, Spieth didn’t make a lot of noise early. Meanwhile, Holmes was shuffling the leaderboard deck, negating a birdie on the third hole with a bogey on the sixth, then stringing together six pars together.

But he reclaimed a piece of first place with birdies on 13 and 14, giving his fans, including his parents who had come down from Dallas on Sunday, a jolt of energy.

Holmes began the day as an after-thought, tied for 18. But he turned the corner having shot a 29, tying the tournament course record for the front nine. His birdie on No. 8 pulled him even with Spieth and another on No. 9, coupled with a Spieth bogey back on six, gave him a lead he wouldn’t relinquish before he left the course to await his fate.

“I’ve been working on taking it one shot at a time,” Holmes said. “I did a pretty good job of that today.”

When he got to 9 under through only 12 holes, speculation began as to whether he might have a 59 in him. He didn’t. A bogey on the par-3 16th hole also cost him a shot at breaking the 18-hole course record of 63.

Of the three players tied for second through 54 holes, only Wagner contended Sunday.

Scott Piercy, who had tied the tournament course record with a 63 Thursday for the first-round lead, faded gradually and wound up five shots back. Austin Cook, one of four qualifiers to earn spots in the field, got to 15 under through eight holes but struggled with bogeys the rest of the way – including the last three holes – to finish six behind in 11th place in just his second PGA Tour event.

Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson was only a shot off the lead through 36 holes. But he began the day, like Holmes, six strokes back, having shot 75 Saturday with three consecutive closing birdies. Although he birdied the first hole, the tournament’s 2011 winner never made a serious move and posted a 71 to wind up in a 17th-place tie, seven shots behind Holmes.

Eight spots back in a tie for 25th were Canada’s David Hearn and Adam Hadwin. The duo finished at 8-under 280.

HOUSTON – Jordan Spieth’s pre-Masters run of extraordinary golf continued Saturday as the 21-year-old Texas native shot a 5-under-par 67 to take a one-shot lead over three players through 54 holes of the Houston Open.

A victory Sunday would be Spieth’s third on the PGA Tour and make him the second youngest after Tiger Woods with three titles since 1940. It would also allow him to wrest the lead in the point standings away from Jimmy Walker and further boost his confidence ahead of the season’s first major championship in Augusta, Georgia, next week. Spieth was the runner-up to Bubba Watson there last spring.

Spieth sank a 41-foot birdie putt from just off the green on the par-3 16, to get to 14 under par, where he finished.

His last two previous starts – winning a playoff in Tampa over Patrick Reed and placing second to Walker in San Antonio – lifted him to a career-best No. 4 in the World Golf Rankings.

“Today was as comfortable as I’ve ever been with the lead on a weekend,” Spieth said. “I wanted to get into contention as much as I could prior to the Masters, to have as much experience as I could to limit those nerves. This feels really good. (Sunday) I’ll certainly have nerves, but hopefully I’ll give myself a chance to win. Then I’ll take even more confidence into next week.

“Anytime you can close out a tournament it’s going to be good for you the next time you tee up,” he said.

Austin Cook, who gained entry into the field through the Monday qualifier, is tied for second at 203 with first-round leader Scott Piercy and Johnson Wagner, the Houston Open’s 2008 champion.

Cook, who’s only 24 and still seeking his PGA Tour card, finished Friday’s second round with four consecutive birdies to catch Phil Mickelson for second place, then briefly claimed the lead with a birdie on the eighth hole Saturday.

Cook had an up-and-down back nine, suffering a double bogey on the par-5 15th before reclaiming a stroke with a birdie on 17. He sank a short putt on 18 to stay within a swing of Spieth as he tries to become only the third qualifier since 1986 to claim a Tour championship.

Piercy had tied the tournament-course record with an opening 63 but skied to 74 on Friday, only to bounce back strongly with a third-round 66. Wagner posted a 67 to fight his way into contention.

Andrew Putnam, the 36-hole leader, struggled to a 75 and fell five shots off the surging Spieth’s pace.

Mickelson, the 2011 Houston Open champion, had left the course as the leader Friday before Putnam overtook him. He birdied his first hole Saturday before slowly coming apart – a double-bogey on the par-4 fifth hole and bogeys on the last three holes for a 75, now 6 strokes back.

“I didn’t play very well today,” the 44-year-old Mickelson said, admitting he would have “been in striking distance” if not for his dreadful finish. “The last three bogeys hurt. I fought hard all day without really playing well to keep it an even par, but the last three (holes) got me.”

Spieth has had four top-10 finishes in five starts since missing the cut at Torrey Pines in early February but said he didn’t think he was on “a run.”

“Honestly, I look at this as the way I should be playing,” he said. “If I look at it as a run, it means the normal me is something less. I can’t think of myself that way.”

Spieth won his first tour title in the John Deere Classic in July 2013, before he turned 20, and was the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year that season.

Canada’s Graham DeLaet started the day in a tied for 4th, but carded a 75 to drop into a tie for 26th at 7-under 209.