Gary Player is the only South African to win the Masters, the last of his three victories coming 30 years ago.

Immelman’s lone mistake came on the par-3 fourth, but he was solid the rest of the afternoon and surged ahead with two spectacular shots and one incredible break.

He hit a low pitch across Rae’s Creek that hopped once and skidded to a stop 2 feet behind the cup for birdie on the par-3 13th for the outright lead. Then he went two shots ahead with an 8-foot birdie on the 14th.

It all looked as though it might wash away on the par-5 15th. Immelman hit a sand wedge for his third shot that came in low and spun back quickly, all the way off the green and down the hill.

“I knew there was a chance it was going to go in the water,” Immelman said. “I must say, I couldn’t quite believe it when it stayed up.”

Snedeker, playing his first Masters as a pro, nearly let his big chance get away with an errant tee shot on the 11th, a tee shot that sailed over the 12th green and an approach into Rae’s Creek that led to bogey on the 13th.

But he followed with consecutive bogeys inside 10 feet, and another one on the 18th to get into the final group.

“I’m going out there to play good golf and see what I’ve got,” Snedeker said. “This is the ultimate test for us.”

It could be a test in other ways. Behind the clouds was a front expected to send temperatures into the low 60s and bring 20 mph winds, the scariest conditions on a course where even a breeze can play tricks.

That might be what Woods needs to keep alive his fading hopes of a calendar Grand Slam.

“I’m sure he’s going to be a factor,” Snedeker said. “His name is going to be on the leaderboard somewhere tomorrow. It’s going to be there on the back nine. You have to realize that Trevor and all of us in front of him, if we go out there and play a good round of golf, he’s going to have to play an extremely great round of golf to beat us.”

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