AUGUSTA, Ga. – He plays a sexy game of golf, owns two green jackets and – in what constitutes a show of major respect in these parts -Bubba Watson made rabid Georgia Bulldog fans take a break from spring football to watch some golf this weekend.

Asked which of those last two was the bigger accomplishment, Watson didn’t hesitate.

“Well, obviously,” he smiled, “you always say, `Go Dawgs!'”

As he was fighting for the lead at Augusta National on Saturday, the giant screen at Sanford Stadium cut to a shot of Watson, and the local fans went wild. Watson left Georgia a year early to turn pro, but made sure to credit everyone there who prepped him for life out on tour.

“I’ve done quite well since then,” he said. “We can share it.”

Watson might seem like the guy to carry golf’s flag in the coming months, especially with the two most popular players of this era nearing the end of their careers. Tiger Woods, 38, is on the disabled list until late this summer and Phil Mickelson, 42, missed the cut here and has already curtailed his schedule to focus on the biggest events.

The absence of both over the weekend sliced a third off the Masters’ traditionally hefty television ratings, and left center stage wide open.

In stepped Watson, who taught himself how to play, hits the ball a long way and likes to take risks.

“No one plays the way he does,” said Rickie Fowler. “Hitting it as far is a big challenge, I can’t shape it the way he does and his attitude is something else. He’s always out there enjoying himself.”

Watson is just as quirky off the golf course. He owns a hovercraft customized to look like a golf cart, he’s a member of the first – and thankfully, only – rap group on the PGA Tour, and between his tweets and the memes he’s inspired, he’s built out a nice little online space.

But will he ever be more than a local hero?

The short answer: Maybe.

Watson sealed his 2012 win with one of the most dramatic shots in the history of the tournament, a high, hooking wedge from out of the trees on the right of the 10th fairway. Instead of cashing in on every opportunity, Watson laid relatively low. He and wife Angie had just adopted a baby boy, Caleb, and he acknowledged being a new father and a celebrity was tougher than expected.

“Golf was the farthest thing from my mind,” Watson recalled. “So I took off some tournaments. Trying to be a good husband, a good dad at that moment was the most important thing.”

Like more than a few major winners, Watson suffered a “championship hangover.” He went 22 months without a victory and fell to 50th place on the money-winning list.

“Last year was rough with the pressure of trying to prove yourself,” said Ted Scott, Watson’s caddie. “But that’s one of the neat things about him; at the end of every year he sits down and evaluates how he can get better.”

Perhaps more important, Watson plans to hang onto the hunger that drove “a small town guy named Bubba” to collect two green jackets.

“We’re trying to make the Ryder Cup team. We’re trying to win the next tournament, the next tournament we play in, trying to make the next cut,” he said. “So it’s a lot different situation now than it was back then.”

But Watson is already 35, and he’s won just six times since turning pro in 2003. He’s always been pegged as a “courses-for-horses” player, someone who needs a venue that fits his long, erratic ball-striking style to come out on top.

Jordan Spieth, the 20-year-old Masters rookie who was paired with Watson for the final round, might be the next guy to step up. Watson pulled away from the youngster down the stretch at Augusta, exposing some flaws in Spieth’s game along the way.

“It stings right now, and the only thing I’m thinking about is when am I getting back next year,” Spieth said afterward.

Spieth said he accomplished one of his goals, to contend in a major, and, “there’s still three more this year.”

But if Watson is serious about extending this run, Spieth may have to go through him again.

A day earlier, when Spieth came into the interview room as co-leader and said he planned to call Watson “Mr. Watson” when they went out Sunday in the final group, Bubba broke into a wide grin.

“That’s fine,” Watson said, “when I’m hitting it past him.”

He did when it mattered most.

When Jim Clark began volunteering for Golf Canada over 25 years ago he never expected it would lead him to being the tournament chair of the RBC Canadian Open seven times.

While he may not be the longest standing volunteer for Golf Canada, Clark’s dedication and passion for volunteering is truly evident.

“I was about 25 years old the first year I volunteered and I thought this is cool – I just kept going back and haven’t missed since,” Clark said. “It’s such a wonderful touchpoint and conversation starter. It makes me light up when I talk about it and it gives me energy.”

Clark’s volunteer history started out in the 1980’s at Glen Abbey Golf Club when he signed up as a volunteer and picked up his blue shirt.

“I found that I got hooked and it was so much different than my real job,” said Clark who’s made his career in computer software sales. “The tournament came to life for one week with 1,500 volunteers and 24 committees; it was like a division of a corporation that has life for a week.”

After his inaugural experience he’s never looked back, serving on numerous committees and chairing Canada’s National Open Championship seven times – something he never expected he’d do.

Clark has fond memories of being in the mix at the championship with Golf Canada’s CEO Scott Simmons, whom he’s known since they were both in their 20s.

“Volunteering has given me opportunity to meet people who work in the golf industry that make their living in it, fascinating people that I’ve known for 25 years,” Clark said.

“I remember one time Scott Simmons and I were in an elevator at the Canadian Open and he said to me ‘when are you going to be the chairman of this thing?’ and I responded ‘oh I’ll never be the chairman of the Canadian Open’ and now by geez, I’ve been the chairman of it seven times,” he said with a laugh.

Every volunteer’s story is different but what makes the experience unique at Canada’s National Open Championships is that together volunteers have one goal in mind.

“We come together and work together to deliver the best event we can,” he said. “Whether it’s walking scoring, corporate hospitality or course maintenance and sanitation, everyone works together with a common goal and it’s a really happy place to be.”

Having come full circle from his first blue volunteer shirt, Clark was most recently the co-tournament chairman for the 2013 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club. In addition, he is currently serving as the chairman for golf’s organizing committee at the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games and can’t stress the importance of saying thank you to volunteers enough.

“Make sure to thank the volunteers all the time at every turn and appreciate them because they are giving up their time,” he said. “Volunteers are driving in traffic, burning gas and leaving their families because they want to and we always need to appreciate them for all that they do.”

Interested in becoming a volunteer? Canada’s National Open Championships need your help.

The RBC Canadian Open and Canadian Pacific Women’s Open are seeking volunteers to assist with running their championships.

The 2014 RBC Canadian Open takes place July 21-27 at The Royal Montreal Golf Club just outside Montreal, while the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open runs August 18-24 at London Hunt & Country Club in London, Ont.

Click here for info on volunteering for the 2014 RBC Canadian Open.
Click here for info on volunteering for the 2014 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – No cellphones. No video screens. No electronic scoreboards.

Outside the ropes that line the fairways and tees, the Masters is a throwback to a different golf era.

And few people seem to mind.

Unlike the other three majors, or any other tournament for that matter, the Masters forces patrons to leave technology behind for hours upon hours every day. They can’t take advantage of high-tech phone applications. They don’t get to see any replays or action that’s not going on in front of their eyes. And they have to decipher large scoreboards, some of which don’t even show who’s leading the tournament.

It’s been that way forever at Augusta National.

And no one expects it to change, either.

“You’ve really got to dig out the information,” John Winkelman, of Irvine, Calif., said Sunday as he stared at the huge scoreboard next to the first fairway. “But I like not having my phone here. I don’t think any of the tournaments should do it. It’s too potentially distracting.”

The Masters strictly prohibits cellphones, PDAs (hand-held devices), beepers, electronic devices, cameras, radios, televisions, tape recorders and walkie-talkies. Violators are warned they will be subject to ejection and forfeiture of their tickets, and the policy is closely enforced by security and the endless sea of workers around the course.

“I love it,” said Ashley Kamrath of Austin, Texas. “Our lives today are inundated with technology. It’s refreshing to be out here without it for a while, to have real conversations, real interaction. It reminds me of yesteryear.”

Augusta is steeped in tradition, from the green jacket presented to winners, to the champions dinner where the menu is chosen by last year’s winner, to the picturesque entrance at Magnolia Lane, to attendants in washrooms, to caddies still wearing white coveralls.

Food and drinks are sold at prices close to those seen decades ago.

Patrons revere Augusta’s traditions and respect the rules.

So walking around without the use of technology barely bothers the masses.

“It’s a neat part of the tournament,” patron James Williamson said. “You have to listen to the roars to know what’s going on out here.”

There are a few huge scoreboards and leaderboards around the course, most of them located at popular viewing spots like the 18th green and famed Amen Corner. They have volunteers putting up scores by hand, the old-fashioned way.

But in a social media-hungry world and with state-of-the-art technology expanding every year, it’s easy to think the Masters would eventually relent and start allowing it on course.

After all, after years of discrimination, the exclusive club now has black and female members.

But until that time comes, patrons contently adjust to the rules.

“This place forces you to figure everything out,” Winkelman said.

That includes getting separated from your friends.

“We try not to let that happen,” said Winkelman, who arrived at the course a little after 7 a.m. to set up folding chairs behind the 18th green. “You just have to have a plan. For us, we’d just meet back at the chairs.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. –Oliver Goss is the first Australian to finish as the low amateur at the Masters.

Goss, who turned 20 on Saturday, will be awarded with the Silver Cup. The low amateur must make the 36-hole cut to be eligible for the award, which began in 1952.

“I can’t believe it,” Goss said after a 3-over 75 that left him plus 10 for the tournament. “To be the first (Australian) is really quite unbelievable. … I’ve just got to step back now and have a look at the entire week and just learn as much as I can from the whole week.”

Goss plans to play the U.S. Open as an amateur in June and then decide whether to turn pro.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Bubba Watson’s second Masters title was nothing like the green jacket he won two years ago.

The only daring shot Watson hit was one he really didn’t need. The wild swing in momentum came on the front nine, not the back nine of Augusta National. And the sweetest difference of all Sunday was seeing his 2-year-old son walk toward him on the edge of the 18th green after his three-shot victory over Jordan Spieth.

Watson turned in another masterpiece and joined an elusive group as the 17th player to win the Masters more than once.

He turned a two-shot deficit into a two-shot lead on the final two holes of the front nine, then kept Spieth, 20, and everyone else at safe distance the rest of the way. Watson closed with a 3-under 69 to beat a pair of Masters rookies in Spieth and Jonas Blixt of Sweden.

Two years ago, when he hit that wild hook out of the trees on the 10th hole to win in a playoff, his wife and newly adopted son were watching at home in Florida. This time, young Caleb was decked out in a green-and-white striped Masters shirt and green tennis shoes as he waddled over to his father.

“This one’s a lot different,” Watson said. “The first one, for me, it was almost like I lucked into it.”

After high-fiving the crowd on his way to sign his card, Watson returned to Butler Cabin to take back that green jacket he slipped on Adam Scott a year ago.

“After giving it away last year, I wanted it back,” Watson said. “I told Adam we could just swap it back and forth every year.”

Spieth, trying to become the youngest Masters champion, could only watch from the side of the green.

He dazzled the massive crowd early by holing out for birdie from the front bunker on No. 4, and making back-to-back birdies to build a two-shot lead through seven holes. Bidding to become the first player in 35 years to win a green jacket in his first try, Spieth looked to be well on his way.

But he three-putted for bogey on No. 8 – the first 6 on his card all week – as Watson got up-and-down for birdie to tie for the lead. Spieth then made a rookie mistake, leaving his approach below the flagstick on No. 9 and watching it roll back into the fairway, setting up another bogey and two-shot swing.

Whatever prayer he had might have ended at Amen Corner.

His tee shot on No. 12 found Rae’s Creek. He missed a short birdie attempt on the 13th.

Watson was too powerful, too experienced, too tough to beat. Spieth closed with six pars for a 72 and tied for second with Blixt, who never went away but never really threatened. Blixt shot a 71.

“That was fun, but at the same time, it hurts right now,” Spieth said. “I wanted to get in contention on the back nine Sunday, but didn’t come out on top.”

Watson finished at 8-under 280 and goes to a career-best No. 4 in the world.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 50-year-old wonder from Spain, shot 71 and finished alone in fourth. Matt Kuchar lost a share of the lead with a four-putt double bogey on the fourth hole and never challenged again. He closed with a 74 and tied for fifth with Rickie Fowler (73).

This was nine holes of theater everyone expected out of Sunday at Augusta National – except it was the front nine.

Nine players were separated by three shots at the start of the final round only for this to turn into a two-man show.

After trading pars on the opening hole, either Watson or Spieth – sometimes both – made birdie or bogey over the next nine holes.

They matched birdies on the par-3 fourth hole when Spieth holed out from the front bunker and Watson hit his tee shot into 4 feet. Spieth led by as many as two shots for most of the front nine, and his spectacular overshadowed a steady hand from Watson.

Two holes to close out the back nine changed everything. Amen Corner swung the Masters in Watson’s favor for good.

About the only excitement came on the par-5 15th hole, when Watson had a three-shot lead. He hit his tee shot well left, blocked by a few pine trees. Instead of laying up safely in front of the water, he hit through the trees with a shot that just cleared the false front of the green and went just over the back.

All he got was a par. Over the final hour, that’s all he really needed.

It was his second win this year, and the victory puts Watson at the top of the Ryder Cup standings. He was guided all week by a simple game plan of hitting fairways and greens, and he was calmed by knowing that regardless of how it turned out, he still had a green jacket.

Now he has two of them.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The kid talks to himself on the course. And not just a little.

Jordan Spieth has already been tabbed as golf’s next big thing, and he did nothing to diminish that prospect Saturday with a second straight 70 at the Masters. When he goes off as co-leader with Bubba Watson in the final group of the final round, he’ll be the first Masters rookie to do so since Brian Henninger nearly 20 years ago.

Yet every so often, Spieth does something that reminds you that he’s still only 20. After a bad tee shot at No. 13, he twirled his driver over his left shoulder before losing interest and letting it drop like a bored majorette. A hole earlier, Spieth watched his short iron shot buffeted by the swirling winds at Amen Corner, dropped to the ground and began praying a gust would hold it up just enough to find the green.

“When it landed, I started laughing and looked back at Michael (Greller, his caddie) and said, `Don’t give me any crap for that, because I wanted that one really bad,'” Spieth said.

Not a problem. Greller has been with Spieth long enough to know when to hold his tongue.

“Lot of monologue. Lot of dialogue,” is how the caddie described their tour across Augusta National. “He can be pretty hard on himself.”

“Doesn’t it bother you?” someone asked.

“No,” Greller laughed. “I was a sixth-grade teacher for 10 years. I know how to be patient.”

Spieth’s rise has been anything but patient. He skipped steps including his final three years at the University of Texas and golf’s minor circuits. Within a year, he had won a tournament and made the U.S. Presidents Cup team. His team says the success is a byproduct of plenty of careful preparation.

After leading the Longhorns to an NCAA championship, Spieth and his father drew up a spreadsheet, plotting the quickest route to the PGA Tour. A win at the John Deere last July rendered that plan obsolete.

Spieth shot 62 playing alongside Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank tournament last September. Before Mickelson even left the course, the five-time major winner texted Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples and told him to put the youngster on the team.

In January, playing with Tiger Woods for the first time, Spieth beat Woods 71-72 in the first round and then drummed him 63-71 the next day.

Spieth downloads knowledge from everyone and anyone and then generously hands back the credit. Not long after his first tour win punched his ticket to the Masters, he began lining up mentors.

He gave pride of place to Carl Jackson, the legendary Augusta caddie for two-time winner Ben Crenshaw.

“I told Michael I was going to buy a T-shirt for him that says, `Carl says’ because he keeps saying that to me out there,” Spieth said.

“Mr. Crenshaw was very helpful,” he added. “I had a little talk with Mr. Nicklaus, and he helped me out, too – this was Wednesday evening at a dinner here. So those guys, which I think are pretty good guys to learn something about the golf course from, you know, have really helped.”

The one thing none of them could prepare Spieth for was speed of the greens, especially after three days of sunshine and soft breezes sucked most of the moisture out of them.

“There are front pins that you really couldn’t stay below, so you’re going to be putting downhill, downgrain, and it’s almost like you’re putting on rolling gravel.

“It was crazy, crazy fast out there,” Spieth said, nodding his head for emphasis. “I’ve never putted on greens like this before.”

If Spieth is as quick a study as his brief career suggests, he’ll find a way to navigate them one more time and offset Watson’s edge in experience. A win would make him the first rookie champion since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Spieth already treads the line between confident and cocky with a poise that belies his years. After hearing him repeatedly refer to “Mr. Crenshaw” and “Mr. Nicklaus,” someone asked, “What’s your age cutoff for calling anybody mister?”

“Anybody older than me,” he replied.

“So you’ll call Bubba mister?”

“Yeah, Mr. Watson, for sure,” Spieth said with a mischievous smile. “Just because it’ll mess with him.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Bubba Watson would’ve preferred to play better, of course.

He’s not complaining too much, though. Not when he has a share of the lead heading to the final round of the Masters.

Watson struggled to a 2-over 74 Saturday after two straight rounds in the 60s, his card marred by four bogeys on the front side and some ugly three-putts.

On moving day, he headed in the wrong direction, renewing the hopes of his closest challengers. But Watson played just good enough to keep his spot in the final group with 20-year-old Jason Spieth, the two of them tied at 5-under 211 after a warm, sunny afternoon at Augusta National.

To Watson, that was especially important in his pursuit of a second green jacket.

“That’s where you want to be,” he said. “You want to know what everybody is doing. When you come down 18, you know what all the scores are. That’s where everybody wants to be on Sunday.”

Watson, who won the Masters two years ago, had the patrons roaring early on when his approach at the par-5 second rolled down to about 5 feet from the cup. That set up an eagle, taking his score to 8 under.

But, for the most part, there weren’t a whole lot of highlights on a day when the breeze picked up for the late starters and the greens were as firm as Watson has ever seen.

“It was a difficult round,” he said. “But if somebody told me Monday I’d shoot a 74 and still be tied for the lead, I’d have taken it all day long.”

He’s looking forward to his pairing with Spieth, who is playing in the Masters for the first time and hoping to become golf’s youngest major champion since 1922. The two have become good friends on the PGA Tour, attending Bible study together and rooting for each other to do well. If Watson isn’t the one donning the green jacket, he hopes it goes to the youngster.

“I love the kid,” Watson said. “He’s a great player. A guy like that has no fear. His game just gets better and better.”

For some reason, Watson struggled to judge the distance on his shots. Some flew over the green. Some came up short. His sense of direction was fine but he couldn’t seem to find any consistency with the yardage.

There were some shaky moments with the putter, as well. As the par-5 13th, he put his approach shot right in the middle of the green, giving him a look at eagle. Three putts later, he walked off with a disappointing par.

At the other par-5 on the back side, Watson flew the second shot over the green and wound up with another par, failing to take advantage of two prime chances to go lower.

But, at the final two holes, he knocked down a pair of testy par putts, keeping him right he wanted to be going to Sunday.

In the lead.

“Look where I’m at,” he said. “If you get down on yourself when you’re still winning, you have issues. I do have issues, but …”

His voice trailed off, the room filling with laughter.

There’s definitely a sense that Watson is comfortable with his place in life, no matter what happens in the final round.

“I’ve won one, so I’ve got that going for me,” he said. “If I play bad, I still have a green jacket.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Ben Crenshaw first showed up at the Masters as a 20-year-old amateur out of Texas. Next year will be his 44th consecutive appearance – and his last one.

Crenshaw told Golf Channel that he has decided 2015 will be his final year playing the Masters.

Crenshaw won his first Masters in 1984, memorable for that 60-foot putt he made on the 10th hole. Even more special was 1995, when he won the Masters after starting the week as a pallbearer at the funeral of longtime coach Harvey Penick.

“I’ve thought about it for a long time,” Crenshaw said about retiring from Masters competition. “A lot of times I thought that I could have stepped down earlier. It is hard – very hard. But I have been so fortunate. I have to look at the good things that have happened. I have to pull over and watch.”

Crenshaw last made the cut at Augusta in 2007.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – In a Masters longing for star power, 20-year-old Jordan Spieth put himself atop the leaderboard and 18 holes away from replacing Tiger Woods as the youngest player with a green jacket.

Spieth kept his poise on a lightning-quick Augusta National on Saturday with a 2-under 70 that gave him a share of the lead with error-prone Bubba Watson going into a final round loaded with possibilities.

Watson started the third round with a three-shot lead. After a chaotic day in which five players had at least a share of the lead at some point, this Masters is as wide open as when it started.

All eyes now turn to Spieth, a 20-year-old Texan who already has shown he can deliver big moments. He talked to himself constantly on the golf course, fell to his knees when he thought his tee shot was in trouble on the par-3 12th and lightly pumped his fist when even the short par putts dropped in the cup.

“Today was moving day,” Spieth said. “And tomorrow is about seeing how I can control my game and emotions out on the golf course against guys that have even won here recently. So they have been in the position I haven’t. Doesn’t necessarily mean – I don’t think – that they have an advantage in any way. I think that I’m very confident in the way things are going. And really looking forward to tomorrow.”

Woods was 21 when he won his first Masters in 1997. Spieth would be the youngest major champion since Tom Creavy, who was a few months younger than Spieth when he won the 1931 PGA Championship.

But there’s a lot of traffic on the road to a green jacket. Nine players were separated by three shots, and that includes Watson, who won the Masters two years ago and might have the advantage of getting his bad round out of the way Saturday.

After a 7-iron within 6 feet for an eagle on the second hole gave him a five-shot lead, Watson threw it in reverse. He left shots short and long, and his putting became weak and tentative. Despite some struggles on the front nine, Watson still was in position to build a cushion until blowing birdie chances on the rest of the par 5s.

From just over the back of the eighth green, he couldn’t get up-and-down. He three-putted the par-5 13th for a par. And after a massive drive on the par-5 15th hole left him only a 9-iron to the green, he went long and failed to convert that birdie chance.

Watson’s jaw tightened as opportunities slipped away, and he was lucky to convert two pars at the end for a 74 and a share of the lead at 5-under 211.

“If somebody told me I would have shot 2 over and still be tied for the lead, I would have taken it in a heartbeat,” Watson said. “So I got a shot on Sunday.”

So do so many others.

Matt Kuchar, who squandered chances to win in each of the last two weeks, hit a pitch from well behind the 15th green that had to be perfect and was, setting up the best of his six birdies in a round of 68. Kuchar, a favorite in these parts from his days at Georgia Tech, was one shot behind along with Masters rookie Jonas Blixt, who fell out of the lead with a bogey on the 17th and shot 71.

A Masters rookie has not won a green jacket since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, who finished his round about the time the leaders teed off, had a tournament-best 66 and was two shots behind with Rickie Fowler, who had a 67. Lee Westwood (70), Jim Furyk (72) and Thomas Bjorn (73) were at 2-under 214.

“Bubba at this point is keeping me in it,” U.S. Open champion Justin Rose said after his 69, leaving him only four shots behind. “There’s a lot of players with a chance tomorrow. Anybody under par going into tomorrow has a good shot.”

That would not include defending champion Adam Scott, who might have thrown away his hopes with a 40 on the front nine that led to a 76. He was six shots behind.

Spieth fell in love with Augusta National the first time he saw it last October, during a two-day golfing trip that started at Pine Valley. He has leaned on two-time champion and fellow Texas Longhorn Ben Crenshaw in practice rounds, and he met with six-time champion Jack Nicklaus on Wednesday to learn as much as he could.

The kid is a quick study.

He didn’t even have a PGA Tour card at this time last year. Since then, he won the John Deere Classic, became the youngest American to play in the Presidents Cup when Fred Couples made him a captain’s pick, and had a chance in the final hour to win the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize.

Phil Mickelson might have seen this coming. He was paired with Spieth the last day of the Deutsche Bank Championship in September, when the kid shot 62. Mickelson called Couples and said, “Dude, you’ve got to pick this guy.”

Now, the young Texan has a good shot to join them and Canada’s Mike Weir in the champions’ locker room.

Weir, on the other hand, stumbled Saturday. The 2003 Masters champion shot a 6-over 42 on the front. His back-nine was much better – a 1-over 37 – which saw him finish with a 7-over-par 79.

The Brights Grove, Ont. native, who is the first left-hander to win the Masters, is at 8-over 224 – 13 shots off the lead.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Miguel Angel Jimenez gave himself a belated 50th birthday gift: one of the best rounds ever for a senior golfer at Augusta National.

The Spaniard known as “The Mechanic” carved up the course on a picturesque Saturday at the Masters, shooting a 6-under 66 for the best round of the tournament thus far.

Jimenez finished up with a par at the 18th about the time leader Bubba Watson was teeing off at the adjacent first hole, having sliced a 10-shot deficit to just four by taking advantage of a warm day with barely a hint of the swirling breezes that can make Augusta so treacherous.

“I played very solid all day long,” Jimenez said. “A beautiful day here.”

Jimenez turned 50 in January and will make his debut on the Champions Tour at an event in suburban Atlanta next weekend.

In the meantime, he claimed a spot in the Masters record book, matching the lowest score ever by a player 50 and older. Ben Hogan was 54 when he shot 66 during the third round of the 1967 tournament, and Fred Couples matched it at age 50 during the opening round in 2010.

“Just because you are 50 does not mean you cannot play golf,” said Jimenez, one of six 50-and-older golfers to make the Masters cut. “I’m still flexible. I hit the ball longer than ever.”

Jimenez has never won a major championship but he’s been a perennial contender in the biggest events, capturing a new generation of fans with his unique stretching routine before each round and his fondness for cigars and wine.

If he can put together another stellar round on Sunday, he sees no reason why he can’t become the oldest major champion in golf history.

“The main thing is probably that I like what I am doing in my life,” Jimenez said. “I enjoy competing.”