Final round will be just like Tiger likes it -- ultra-tough

Forget that he's never come from behind to win a major. And forget that the weather for Sunday's final round of the Masters will be as cold, probably more so, than it was on Saturday. All you need to know is that this major stage called Augusta National is set just like Tiger Woods likes it.

By Melanie Hauser, PGA TOUR.com Correspondent

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He's never come from behind to win a major.

Then again, he's never lost when playing in the last group here.

So flip a coin. Calculate the odds. Debate it long into the night.

Just know that by the time the sun sets on what will be an extremely chilly Easter Sunday, one of the above will no longer be true.

Tiger Woods doesn't give a flip about the above facts.

Just a bunch of words, if you must know. Details that fill out stories and telecasts. Little things he easily brushes aside while concentrating on the bigger picture -- playing this course. In whipping winds and bone-chilling -- for spring and people who live south of the Mason-Dixon line -- weather.

And if he's bothered by wind-chills in the 40s and cold that rattles your fingers when you hit a shot, well, we'll never know. He walked off the course four back and wondering why anyone wanted to talk to him. Yeah right.

Two hours later, he was one shot back and playing in the final pairing with Stuart Appleby, who had to laugh when someone asked if Tiger had an advantage.

"Tiger has always got an advantage," Appleby said. "It's obscene that he has an advantage. It's quite obvious. ... He has more experience than what's left of this field put together."

He's been there, done that so many times no one is giving Appleby, Justin Rose, Paddy Harrington or Ryder Cup teammates Zach Johnson and Vaughn Taylor a second thought. Ditto for defending champ Phil Mickelson and U.S. Open champs Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk.

A Masters for no other? That's the way it felt Saturday night.

Even when you remember this is, after all, the 10th anniversary of Larry Mize's chip-and-run -- better know as the first of many shots straight through Greg Norman's heart -- you can't get past the obvious.

This is still Tiger's to win. Not lose.

You can't help but think that. All afternoon those trainwrecks we're accustomed to come Sunday afternoon were stacking up at an alarming rate on the back nine Saturday. The hazards at 12, 13 and 15 were claiming so many balls the water lines were rising. The wind chill was hovering in the low 40s, par was nearing 77 and even Tiger was falling back.

Yet, there he was at the end of the day right where we expect him. With one arm in the jacket.

And we're not talking a Nike windbreaker to keep him warm.

"He's known how to tackle the golf course," Appleby said. "He's not worried about what everybody else is doing."

Heck, Appleby said. Tiger won't even know he's there.

That drew a laugh. So his answer to a rather roundabout question as to whether he had ever gotten the best of Tiger.

"Would you like me to say that I cleaned him up all the time, I'm great on the practice range?" Appleby countered. "I can beat him; I can hit it past him? No, no, and no."

And, he laughed, "No, I've never had my way with him."

Not many left in this field have.

Yes, Mickelson and Furyk and Vijay Singh are all within five shots of Appleby and four of Woods. And on any other given Sunday here, we'd be watching for someone to throw out a miracle.

But not this year. Not with this course running hard and fast. Not when the pin committee is searching for new placements -- not to challenge the players but rather not to embarrass them in these brutal conditions.

One by one we watched the leaders implode. Brett Wetterich. Tim Clark. Johnson. Taylor. Appleby. Harrington.

Taylor, who lives 10 minutes from the course, bogeyed the last three holes. Appleby, who gave away the Shell Houston Open with an approach into the water at the 72nd hole last week, took a triple at 17. Harrington doubled 15.

And Tiger? He bogeyed the last two holes. And, yes, his approach at 18 got caught in a gust of wind.

The last time a third round was this brutal, Jackie Burke slipped on the jacket. The year was 1956 and, well, no one on this leaderboard was even born. And, no, there was no Tiger or Jack around.

And now? We know Tiger lives for tough. It plays right into his hands.

He's not thinking about the wind chill or the gusts that will knock down the best of shots. Or about some fact from the past.

He's just thinking what he has to do to win -- from in front, from behind. Or from the final group.