Johnson still lurking, but needs big final round at Masters

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Dustin Johnson leans back after missing a birdie attempt on the 16th green. “I’m going to have to go out and shoot a very good score, but it’s definitely doable,” he said. [ALLEN EYESTONE/FOR THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]

As always, most of the attention will belong to the final group, maybe the final two groups, entering the final round of the Masters. But not far behind, there is plenty of fire power.

That includes Dustin Johnson, whose Saturday 70 has him at 8-under par and tied for seventh with four other golfers, five shots off the 54-hole lead.

“The conditions are going to be tough,” Johnson said of the final 18 holes. “So if I can go out and put together a really good round, obviously you never know what can happen around here, and there’s a lot of holes where you can make an eagle or you can make a bogey.”

Johnson did his Saturday damage where you’d expect a bomber to do it – on the par 5s. But he birdied all of them without hitting any of the greens in two shots.

PHOTOS: Round 3 at The Masters

Johnson’s two bogeys came on the par-3 sixth, where he three-putted from the front fringe, and on the closing 18th, where he drove into the right-side trees and had to pitch out.

“I felt like I played solid,” he said. “I just never could get it going. It was a few putts here and there that burned the edges. Struck it well. Drove it pretty well. Just never got it going.”

Johnson has never been better than fifth after 54 holes at the Masters, and has never shot better than 69 on Sunday. Starting tied for seventh, he’ll almost certainly need something lower than 69 to have a chance at a second major championship to go along with his 2016 U.S. Open.

“I’m going to have to go out and shoot a very good score, but it’s definitely doable,” he said.