If someone were just following the leader board at the Augusta National this week, they could have been forgiven for thinking this was some carnival merry-go-round. At the end of a day when the lead changed hands between eight players, it finally rested in the hands of Peter Hanson, who practices much of his game on the European Tour. Hanson went round the course with a seven under 65 to finish at 207 overall and a one stroke lead over the immensely popular Phil Mickelson. Leftie brought his short game to bear on the iconic course to card a 66 that took him to 8 under at the end of an eventful third round of the Augusta Masters tournament in Georgia.

Hanson put together a round built around workmanlike precision, compared to his final round partner, who was busy wowing the pliable crowd around Augusta with some magic. The Swede started the day with a bogey on the brutal first hole, but made birdies on 2, 7, 8 and 12 as he made the turn at five under. He emerged front and centre with back to back birdies on 14 and 15th, before finishing with a flourish on the 17th and 18th as the crowd rose to applaud his day's work.

The Augusta National in Georgia is an archaic institution where everything past is offered a treasured life in the present. No wonder then that Fred Couples, the American golfer of yore, chose the course to wind the clock back with an impeccable 67 that took him to the halfway lead at five under 139. Couples took a share of the lead with his younger compatriot Jason Dufner at the end of an eventful day at the 76th Augusta Masters tournament.

As Couples walked the course that he first played in 1983, the unmistakable whiff of romance that hung in the air brought back memories of the time when he won the Green Jacket twenty years ago. Applauded every step of the way, the Californian awoke the sedentary Pines that overlook the course with a round of golf that came out of the blue to hold back a legion of men that bunched together within five shots of each other. Standing on par at the end of six holes, Couples found some elixir within that saw him birdie seven of the next twelve holes.

The 76th Masters got off to an undulating start at the Augusta National in Georgia. The course, softened by recent wet weather, still had enough in its belly to rein back the pretenders. But Lee Westwood showed he had nothing pretentious about his campaign - producing an imperious round of Golf to emerge in front with an impressive 5 under 67. Tiger Woods needed to unearth some resilience, to survive a difficult day without too much damage – eventually reaching the clubhouse with a 72 that contained three birdies and an equal amount of bogies. Rory McIlroy had a slightly better round, birdies on 17 and 18 leaving him four strokes off the leader.

It was a day that belonged to the affable Englishman – who took into the night his career's first 18-hole lead at a major. Westwood built his round around four straight birdies on the front nine, neutralising bogeys on the fourth and tenth with seven birdies to end the day with a one stroke lead over former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Swede Peter Hanson.

Twenty five year old American rookie Keegan Bradley, making his US PGA Championship debut, has rewritten the record books by winning his first Major title beating Jason Dufner in a three hole playoff at the Atlanta Athletic Club after both men ended tied at 8-under after 72 holes.

Keegan, whose aunt Pat Bradley won 6 Major titles on the LPGA Tour including 3 in 1986, became only the third golfer in the history of the sport to a win a Major on debut, following in the footsteps of the legendary Francis Ouimet (remember the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played) and another American Ben Curtis.