Within striking distance

Of all the contenders Saturday, perhaps not coincidentally, Singh and Phil Mickelson were the only ones who weren't at least two under for the round. Singh was one under through 10, Mickelson was one under through 11. The two had a locker-room disagreement about the spikes on Mickelson's shoes, which Singh believed were abnormally marking up the greens. The embarrassing flap may have put both players on the defensive.

This is a field entry of two Aussies playing in their first Masters. They're both accomplished and underrated players, and at the moment, nine shots behind DiMarco. No Aussie has ever won the Masters. While their play thus far has been stellar, it's unlikely you'll see either of them in a green jacket before Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby or Craig Parry

The defending champ can go deep on the back. He shot 31 last year when he won. The thing is, he needs to do it again Sunday morning, and possibly again Sunday afternoon.

Ten shots back with 27 holes isn't insurmountable. Lefty has finished seventh or better in eight of the last 10 Masters. He'll be in the top seven again this time, but it's going to be tough for him to get close enough to the lead unless the leaders meet with disasters ... which has been known to happen on the back nine.

Here's your dark horse. He's not a long hitter and his 2003 Masters win, while universally applauded, was universally surprising. His game just didn't fit the Masters champions' regular profile -- long bomber, good putter.

He's 10 shots back but his big problem is, he's running out of holes. He is already through 15 holes in the third round, which means he's already played the birdie holes, the 13th and 15th. Quite simply, he's too far back.