Matsuyama leads trio of Masters amateur

Today is the final round of Kelly Kraft’s first Masters Tournament. And that’s not the only milestone.

“Tomorrow is my last round of amateur golf,” Kraft said Saturday after completing his third round at Augusta National Golf Club. “Pretty cool, pretty cool. Still a lot of golf left.”

Kraft, 23, is one of three amateurs – Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama being the other two – to survive Friday’s cut. Kraft said playing four rounds here was a goal. Monday, the native of Denton, Texas, will turn professional.

He’s still contending for the Silver Cup as the low amateur, though at 10-over-par (74-75-77), he’s far behind last year’s top amateur, Matsuyama (1 over), and Cantlay (7 over).

“After today’s round, I might have shot myself out of it,” Kraft said before the others finished.

His goal Sunday is to shoot under par for the first time in the tournament.

“I don’t feel like my game is that far off,” said Kraft, the 2011 U.S. Amateur champion. “And, you know, just cover a lot of mistakes and I’ll be, hopefully, under par tomorrow.”

Cantlay, 20, has a similar goal.

“I’m going to go out and try to play as best I can and see how low I can go,” said Cantlay, the top-ranked amateur in the world.

As a sophomore at UCLA, he’s not turning pro anytime soon. But he’s already comfortable around the pros, having played regularly with touring pros John Merrick, John Cook, Peter Tomasulo and John Mallinger in California.

“I don’t feel out of my comfort zone at all,” Cantlay said. “I feel really comfortable out here playing with all these guys.”

Matsuyama, 20, also appears cool and relaxed. He posted birdies at Nos. 2 and 8 before bogeys at Nos. 13 and 15 brought him back to even par for the day and 1-over for the competition.

“It was a great first half and a really bad, a worse, second half,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter.

The student at Tohoku Fukushi University said he still has two years until graduation and isn’t thinking about pro golf yet. He was asked if he is as famous in Japan as countryman Ryo Ishikawa, who turned pro in 2008 and has four Masters under his belt.

Matsuyama said that’s for the galleries to decide, but if the number of media members following him is any indication, he’s catching up quickly.

In his first Masters last year, he became the first Asian player to win the Silver Cup. His tie for 27th overall was highlighted by a third-round 68.

Comparing his debut to his current experience at Augusta National, Matsuyama said, “I just did the same thing as I did last year.”