US Masters blog: The Mocker Merchant

What ever you do, don't let him follow you on the course. It seemed that wherever Alex Narey turned during Saturday's third round of the US Masters, trouble was never far away...

A funny old day, really – that’s the only way I cam sum it up. With the fairways aligned with decent crowds, the sun shining again and the ambience more than healthy, Saturday at Augusta has been somewhat low key.

Now I know what you’re going to say. How can you complain? You don’t know how lucky you are? And you’d be right. Thing is, it seemed that wherever I went today, I put the wood on whoever I was watching.

It all started on the seventh hole. Eager to follow the path of Sergio Garcia after yesterday’s heroics, the silky Spaniard greeted me with a naff approach into a steep greenside trap. Inevitably, he couldn’t get up and down to save par and, inevitably, the shoulders began to sag…

Sensing his mood, I opted to swap fairways and cut across to the 10th to see another of my pre-tournament picks, Phil Mickelson. Lefty bogeyed the 10th, then the 11th.

Switching my focus back to Garcia, he slapped it in the drink on 11 and bogeyed, then bunkered on the 12th (good up-and-down to save par) before making a hash of a birdie opportunity on 13 to take only a par.

Even when I ran across to the 14th to check on Stephen Ames and Nick Watney, both made avearge approaches. Moving down to 16 to catch up with Mickelson again after he birdied the 15th (I wasn’t there), a weak chip and a lip out resulted in another bogey.

All was rounded off with possibly the worst tee shot the 18th has witnessed all week, with Mickelson shoving it short and right into the trees. That I didn’t witnesse what must have been a great piece of recovery play to save his par was because I had taken my place on the clubhouse lawn by now, with a cool beer in hand.

At least someone is showing some consistency.

From Augusta

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Alex Narey
Content Editor

Alex began his journalism career in regional newspapers in 2001 and moved to the Press Association four years later. He spent three years working at Dennis Publishing before first joining Golf Monthly, where he was on the staff from 2008 to 2015 as the brand's managing editor, overseeing the day-to-day running of our award-winning magazine while also contributing across various digital platforms. A specialist in news and feature content, he has interviewed many of the world's top golfers and returns to Golf Monthly after a three-year stint working on the Daily Telegraph's sports desk. His current role is diverse as he undertakes a number of duties, from managing creative solutions campaigns in both digital and print to writing long-form features for the magazine. Alex has enjoyed a life-long passion for golf and currently plays to a handicap of 13 at Tylney Park Golf Club in Hampshire.