Charles Howell III logs Saturday 74, notes changing speeds of Masters' greens

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Charles Howell III, shown here during play Thursday, only made one birdie on Saturday during the third round of the Masters Tournament. [Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle]

After breaking par his first two rounds of the 2020 Masters Tournament, Charles Howell III fell down the leaderboard Saturday with a third-round 74.

The Augusta native began the third round on No. 10 and was even-par through five holes. A 34-yard chip on No. 15 put him 9 feet from the hole, a putt he would drain for his lone birdie of the round. From there, he bogeyed Nos. 16, 18 and 1.

He hit 12 of 18 greens in regulation and had just one three-putt on the afternoon. Coming in after finishing his second-round 70, he knew the greens would speed up as the day went on.

Round 3 Photos

“They're going to get faster, and I'm quite sure by the end of the day, so it's almost kind of readjusting and getting your eye used to seeing bigger breaks and the speeds that we're used to,” he said.

Readjusting reads on the fly can add to Augusta National’s already difficult greens and take a few misreads to get it right, Howell noted.

“You're used to seeing a putt that breaks three or four feet, now it's only breaking a foot and a half because they're slower. It's a speed read and you're marrying that all the time,” he said. “I think that's why you've seen quite a lot of guys miss putts high the first couple days because you're so used to taking the high lines and watching these balls break.”