Matt Kuchar in contention once more

Matt Kuchar keeps hanging around the lead in the Masters Tournament.

One of these days, the Georgia Tech graduate and St. Simons Island, Ga., resident might kick one in.

There might be no time like the present. Kuchar fired 68 on Saturday, matching his low round at Augusta National Golf Club. At 4-under-par 212, he’s tied for third with Jonas Blixt (71) of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., one shot behind co-leaders Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth.

“I’m excited to have another crack at it,” Kuchar said after a six-birdie, two-bogey round moved him up 14 spots on the leaderboard.

“This is the position all of us hope to be in when we show up on Monday or Tuesday. You hope that you play good golf on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and you’ve got a chance in one of the last groups on Sunday. It’s one of those special places and awfully exciting to be in this position.”

Kuchar has been striking the ball well all week. He hit every fairway in the third round and is fourth in the field in driving accuracy (36-of-42). He’s 11th in greens in regulation and tied for ninth in average putts (Kuchar needed only 25 in the third round).

He also has one three-putt in 54 holes.

“The past couple weeks, it’s been going that way,” Kuchar said. “I’m pretty pleased with this trend right now.”

Kuchar has finished tied for eighth and tied for third in his past two starts at Augusta. In 2012, he finished two shots out of the Bubba Watson-Louis Oosthuizen playoff. He eagled the par-5 15th hole in the final round that year (narrowly missing double eagle) to get a piece of the lead but lost it on the next hole with a bogey.

During Saturday’s third round, Kuchar birdied No. 15, his third in a row, and at 5-under tied for the lead until Watson birdied No. 10 a few minutes later to go to 6-under.

Following up-and-down pars at Nos. 16 and 17 (Kuchar was short of the green at the 16th and over the green on the 17th), he said he was caught between a 7-iron and an 8-iron for his second shot at No. 18. He selected the 7-iron and knocked the ball over the green.

Opting to putt off the sticky back fringe, Kuchar slid past the hole and caught the slippery downslope. The ball didn’t stop until it was 40 feet away on the other side.

Kuchar hit his par-putt attempt too hard but was fortunate that the hole got in the way. The ball hopped in the air and landed on the outside edge of the cup.

“I never thought it would go that far over,” he said. “I actually hit a beautiful putt from where I was over the green, and I watched it roll out forever. Had it [the par attempt] not hit the back of the hole, it would have gone 10 or 12 feet by.”

Kuchar’s game has been going in a good direction. He lost to Matt Jones in a playoff at the Shell Houston Open last week (Jones made a long birdie putt at No. 18 to tie Kuchar, and chipped in for birdie in the playoff to win) and in his previous start, he tied for fourth at the Valero Texas Open. He has shot under par in seven of his past 11 rounds.

Kuchar has six top-10 finishes this season, tied with Harris English for most on the PGA Tour, and has missed only one cut. Kuchar, a six-time PGA Tour winner and the 2011 Players champion, leads the tour with 43 top-10s since the start of the 2010 season.