AUGUSTA, Georgia (Kyodo) -- Asian amateur champion Hideki Matsuyama climbed up the Masters Tournament leaderboard Saturday with a 4-under 68 in the third round, but fellow 19-year-old Japanese Ryo Ishikawa stumbled to three bogeys on the back nine for a 73.
Matsuyama moved into a tie for 18th at 3-under 213 from a share of 43rd, which was just enough for him to qualify for the weekend rounds.
He played like a pro all day, collecting five birdies against a lone bogey and matching the day's second-lowest round.
On the par-3 16th hole, Matsuyama, who attends college in the quake-hit city of Sendai, narrowly missed a hole-in-one and tapped in for his fifth birdie of the round.
He then parred the next two holes, where he had consecutive bogeys the previous two days.
"It was the best round of my career," Matsuyama said. "I played pretty solid with my irons. It feels good to move up the leaderboard. I'll try to finish in the top 16."
The top 16 finishers will be guaranteed spots in the 2012 Masters.
Ishikawa picked up two birdies on a bogey-free front nine but bogeyed the 12th, 15th and 17th holes, dropping him to 1 under for the tournament and a tie for 30th at the end of the day.
Ishikawa four-putted on the par-5 15th after reaching the green in two strokes.
"I blew a chance to chase the leaders," said the nine-time winner on the Japanese tour. "I couldn't improve my score because I left both of my eagle putts on 13 and 15 way short. As for tomorrow, I'll just try to grind out a good finish."
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland extended his lead to four strokes after a 70 took him to 12 under.
Angel Cabrera (67), K.J. Choi (71), Jason Day (72) and Charl Schwartzel (68) were tied for second.
Tiger Woods struggled on the greens on his way to a 74 and fell seven shots off the pace in a tie for ninth.
(Mainichi Japan) April 10, 2011
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