Sawt Falasteen - Aberg closes strong at 'sneaky hard' Augusta National

"It was sneaky hard," Aberg said of the conditions at Augusta National. "There isn't a ton of wind, but it still swirls.

"There's a few greens that get a little crusty towards the end of the afternoon, and you really have to place your second shots if you're good off the tee.

"It makes it tricky when the wind kind of goes back in your face and then down."

Aberg was even through the first nine holes with one birdie and one bogey, but a birdie at the par-three 12th ignited his round.

He added birdies at the par-five 13th and par-five 15th, his birdie at the 18th putting him in a tie for second on 68, alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Canadian Corey Conners and three strokes behind Justin Rose.

Aberg said the 15th was a great example of the danger lurking around Augusta.

"It's tricky," he said. "The green is new so it gets a little bit firmer than some of the other ones. I was fortunate to get my drive pretty far down there so I could hit an iron in there.

"But obviously you're playing with fire when you're messing with that front, especially with a short pin."

Aberg had to withdraw from the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, and missed the cut in the Players Championship and the Texas Open in the final run-up to the Masters.

But he said his experience last year had helped him.

"This place, experience goes a long way, and I felt like we played a very disciplined round of golf today," he said. "When you execute the shots, it makes it a whole lot easier, obviously, but I felt like we managed sort of the shots where we were in between clubs in the right way and didn't try to force anything.

"(I'm) proud of the way that I finished and looking forward to (Friday)."

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST