There comes a day, even for the proudest of sporting nations, that things go awry.

A little off the script, if you will.

For Australia, that day was Masters Saturday.

And the chief culprit was an inability to solve greens the world’s best variously described as "treacherous", "killer", "like glass" and "right on the edge of fairness".

But in his own inimitable manner, laidback Queenslander Steve Bowditch put it in terms Aussie golf fans could readily grasp.

"These greens are the real deal now, really moving fast," he said.

"It feels faster than 14 (on the stimpmeter), but the thing is there’s no flat spots to measure it.

"They’re probably (Melbourne) Sandbelt (speed) on a hot Sunday — but with elephants in them, and
that’s the big difference," he said in reference to the bumps and hollows of the greens.

Adam Scott was the highest-profile victim of the greens that were fried like southern-style chicken in the Georgia sun for the fifth consecutive day.

The defending champion tumbled from third to 16th courtesy of a front-nine 40 that, despite his post-round protest, all but ended his title defence as he slipped to one over and six shots out of the lead shared by American pair Jordan Spieth and Bubba Watson.

"I’m striking it well enough, but it was so difficult to get the ball close to the hole to give yourself realistic birdie putts and I didn’t take advantage of the par fives again and that might be the killer for me this week," Scott said.

"I just compounded my mistakes early with a couple of three putts and it got me off on the wrong foot.

"And with conditions being so hard when you’re on the back foot, this is a very hard course to pull shots in.

"There are a lot of people between me and the leaders, but if I can play a good front nine tomorrow, anything can happen on the back, and it would be fun to post a number and sit in the clubhouse and watch."

So the burden of "our best hope" swung to his fellow Queenslander John Senden who himself struggled on the green early, but hung tough with some classy birdies to be tied 10th and just four out of the lead.

"Even though my score was going in the wrong direction, I was still feeling pretty good about myself," the 42-year-old said.

"(To) still be four off the lead with the way I felt out there … I still believe that I’ve got a chance tomorrow."

And with Senden not prone to sweeping statements of his own game, the fact that he said he was hopeful of the "round of his life" on Masters Sunday said it all for his positive mindset.

Asked what that would entail, Senden smiled and said:

"I can’t tell you the exact score of my round, but it would be putting on the green jacket."
Ironically, the best of the Australians was the man who’d battled on the greens for two agonising rounds previously.

Jason Day putted for hours after his first round, then abandoned that thought after an equally poor second round on the greens.

But despite bogeys on the opening and closing holes today, he fired a two-under 70 to vault up the leaderboard at two over and in a tie for 18th, seven shots off the pace.

"I went to the gym and let some anger out (after round two) and came on to the course today a little sharper," Day said.

"The putter was a lot better today. It just felt like it was earlier this year, the way I’ve been putting.

"The hitting was obviously there over the last three days. But I definitely scrambled good, and the putting was much better."

Bowditch suffered through a double-bogey seven on the 13th, but was otherwise pleased to have played his best ball-striking round of his three at Augusta National.

His 74 took him out to four over, in a tie for 29th.

"The par-fives are where you make your scores around here and you just hang on across the rest, but unfortunately I just haven’t got the par-fives this week.

"It’s just when you go after them and miss them, you get severely penalised.

"I made a double(-bogey) down 13 today with five-iron in hand (for my second shot) – that’s just what happens here."

Bowditch said he’d be tempted to attack tomorrow to try to make a charge.

"You sort of want to, but you’ve got to pay so much respect to these greens and the hole locations will be tough, I suppose.

"You can get it going, but you have to pay respect or you bring in big numbers on every hole."

Oliver Goss didn’t play his finest round either, but on his 20th birthday, the Perth amateur had a unique experience he won’t soon forget.

Goss was moved when the gallery around the 18th broke into a spontaneous rendition of "Happy birthday" after the West Australian completed his round of 76 that dropped him to seven over.

A day after he became the first Australian to win the Silver Cup as low amateur at the Masters, Goss said he was stunned by how much he’d been taken to heart in his first appearance at Augusta National.

"Yeah, they really have. I’ve got some Tennessee Volunteer fans, a lot of them, actually. And a lot of Australian fans, too," he said.

"I feel a lot of the crowd is backing me and supporting me, which means a lot, too. The song was … really cool."