The Masters 2019 leaderboard: Tiger Woods just two back as Francesco Molinari takes lead into final day

The Open champion continued his methodical progress with a stunning six-under-par 66 to take an outright lead

After the rain, came sunshine and stillness at Augusta that a young field made early tears through, leering at course records, attacking the softened greens, and inundating the scoreboard in a haze of dawn red on the third day of the Masters.

But again, in golf’s most romantic setting, it was the sport’s oldest ember who burned long into the evening. He started with a flicker but ended in fireworks and the klaxons are still ringing around the golf course, not due to the threat of thunderstorms that will see the field start in the early hours, but because Tiger Woods heads into the final day at the Masters just two shots back of Francesco Molinari after a calculated, stalking display that defied his own sighs of weariness and saw him briefly take charge of the leaderboard.

It is Woods who relinquished his divine rule over this golfing world, and it’s a homage to him that almost every man who prospered in his absence lies in contention. But, make no mistake, it is he who has the chance to re-inherit it and recast a spell of iconic dominance under the most magical of circumstances. After four spinal fusion surgeries and all matter of squalid and self-inflicted strife away from the sport, it is a return to the very pinnacle that would leave him dwelling amongst the Gods.

Yet it was without any hint of irony that Moving Day began as though the younger, fresher legs may well outsprint Woods’ 43-year-old frame. Tony Finau blistered to a seven-under-par 65 to take an early clubhouse lead, while his Ryder Cup teammate, Webb Simpson, emerged from the doldrums to better the score by one and leave himself on nine-under-par.

But after a laboured start featuring four pars and a bogey, Woods arose in defiant pursuit. A streak of three birdies followed, which would be matched by another hat-trick on the back-nine, each hole played with a deliberate calculated poise that didn’t for a glimpse veer its course.

Only after a homing drive down the oesophagus of the 18th did he, and the crowd scurrying to match his every step, let out a collective breath of delight and relief. It is hard to imagine, as he heads out in the final group on Sunday, second only to Molinari by two shots, that Woods will ever have a better opportunity to end a drought that’s cast such frustration and wane. A thought even he dare not deny has plagued and been embedded in his mind.

But for metronomic Molinari, the birdie pedestrian, unflappable and almost mundane in such success this week, it was another day to bask in the silence that followed Woods’ shadow as he produced a stunning, blemish-free six-under-par 66, despite all weight of pressure upon him.

It’s almost hilarious that it is one of the nicest, quietest men in the sport who will essentially play villain to the crowd’s desires as he did when piercing any air of invincibility and swatting Woods aside without so much as a sideways glance to claim victory at The Open.

Woods is just two shots back heading into the final day (Getty)

It is simply astonishing that after 54 holes around this golf course, and an incredible par save from the bunker on the very last of those, that the methodical Italian has made just a single bogey. After overcoming an early monotony of pars, he birdied five of the next nine, and remained statuesquely unflustered during Woods’ steeplechase ahead. In fact, he would gallop in the slipstream, adding a fourth-in-a-row at the 15th to cement his lead come Sunday.

But it is not only Molinari whose apathetic resilience will evoke Woods’ most immediate concerns. Brooks Koepka, whose ire could only carry him so far at the beginning of a faltering third round, muscled a magnificent eagle on the par-5 15th to burst back into within touching distance and will draw on the icy undertones which has seen him win three majors in the last two years. If Woods was engineered for a Sunday shootout, it is as though Koepka survives off their frenetic nature. A type of nourishing competitor’s IV drip that sees him stun in majors and sink into hibernation in the interim.

Molinari seizes an outright lead (Getty)

It was quite truly “just Tiger and me” for Ian Poulter – as the Englishman infamously claimed during his rise on the Tour. Paired with Woods, he rallied late to close out a four-under-par 68 to lie three shots back at -9, where he is joined by former World No 1s and major champions Dustin Johnson and Jason Day.

But as Woods left the course, smiling and high-fiving the baying patrons, eyes glinting warmly against his pink turtleneck, the storybook beckons to one man. Come tomorrow, the shirt will be red and he will attempt to ride with history into the dusk on what promises to be one of the greatest final days in history on the hallowed grass at Augusta.