Any hopes Ernie Els and Retief Goosen had of climbing back into contention for The Masters Tournament slipped as they had a double bogey and triple bogey respectively early in their third rounds at Augusta National.
Goosen, one over par overnight, ran up a seven on the 445 yard opening hole and after coming back with a birdie on the long next the two-time US Open Championship winner then had three successive bogeys from the fourth.
At five over par for the day already he had slumped to joint 44th of the 48 players.
Fellow South African Els, meanwhile, followed five opening pars with a five on the 180 yard sixth and dropped ten adrift of English leaders Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.
Sergio Garcia was another quickly in trouble, carving his first drive into sand and with a double bogey six joined Els on two over par, while Italian Francesco Molinari double bogeyed the fifth and slipped to one over.
There were others moving in the right direction, though. Heath Slocum charged into ninth place with five birdies in the first eight holes, while fellow American Steve Marino had three in six to be one further back on three under.
As for 16 year old Matteo Manassero, he had a clear and obvious target when he continued his remarkable ride at The Masters Tournament.
The youngest player in the history of the tournament had survived the halfway cut with nothing to spare and as the only one of the six amateurs to do so, was certain to add the silver cup to the silver medal he collected at last year's Open Championship.
But, brilliant though his 13th-place finish was at Turnberry, Manassero needed top ten to earn a trip to St Andrews this July - and missed out by a shot. Now the Italian's goal was to climb from 40th into the top 16 and so guarantee himself a return visit to Augusta next April.
He made a good start, sinking a 40 footer on the fourth and then hitting his approach to within five feet of the ninth flag for an outward 34.
Going over the green at the dangerous short 12th cost him a stroke, however, and he did well to save par on the 510 yard next. His second shot went into Rae's Creek, but he was able to play it and two-putted for his five.
With four holes to play he was one under for the round, two over for the championship and in a tie for 35th.
Manassero makes his professional debut at the BMW Italian Open in Turin next month and is allowed seven invitations on The European Tour this season.
If he can earn enough - as Rory McIlroy did two years ago - or win like Garcia, Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell did, he will not then have to go through the Qualifying School at the end of the year.
There is also The Ryder Cup, of course. He becomes eligible for that the moment he joins The European Tour and Captain Colin Montgomerie will doubtless be watching his progress with interest.
Garcia made it five months after leaving the amateur ranks at the age of 19 and did not even need a wild card to become the youngest-ever cup player in 1999.
However, in the immediate future the teenager also has some school work to attend to on his return from this amazing adventure.
