Sat Apr 12 17:30:41 2008

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Rain gives way to favorable conditions at Augusta

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Augusta, GA (Sports Network) - A steady drizzle gave way to thunderstorms Saturday afternoon at the Masters, causing a 40-minute weather delay in the third round and leaving behind the prospect of better scoring conditions.

Augusta National has a SubAir system beneath each of its greens to suck moisture away from the surface. A demonstration on the Golf Channel earlier Saturday showed one of the systems clearing a puddle in about 30 seconds.

Still, some puddles remained not long after the weather delay ended.

"I expect some decent numbers," said Zach Johnson, the defending champion and an early finisher Saturday. "If you're swinging well and seeing the lines you can fire at the pins a little more today because the greens are a little more receptive."

Johnson posted a four-under 68, the same number as Boo Weekley. They had the best scores among the players already finished.

The conditions were favorable for lower scores, Johnson said, and there were several other players on the course at four-under par.

Justin Rose, a co-leader after the first round, continued his precipitous fall with a 73 on Saturday, though he was among those touting the easier scoring conditions.

"I actually thought it was relatively, dare I say it, easy," said Rose. "Obviously the greens softened up a touch, [and] I thought the pins for Saturday were accessible. So I thought if you played well out there, I think there is a score."

Stuart Appleby, who shot a 72, didn't see much of a difference in the course.

"The greens are obviously softer, but they haven't been hard generally," he said. "But I think you could get comfortably into the 60s today if you are putting properly."

Fifteen of the top 20 players on the leaderboard at one point were under-par for the round. They were finding softer greens, yet also hitting into slicker fairways.

"Granted, the wind's now starting to pick up, which is fine by me," said Johnson, "but for whatever reason, the ball is starting to hydroplane on the fairway, so I got a little bit more roll than I anticipated probably due to the fact that it wasn't quite that soft yet and still kind of firm."