In the be-careful-what-you-wish-for department, has Augusta National Golf Club become too easy? Are the train wrecks gone? Were the restored roars a bit of a bore?

"It seemed like I was one yard off, two yards off, or else missing it on the wrong side," Tiger Woods said of his round. (Chris Thelen/Staff)

Admittedly, this theory may border on the ludicrous. But after a careful review of Saturday's Masters Tournament script, it seems that nothing much really happened. The day came and went with mostly a modest reshuffling of the leaderboard (Angel Cabrera and Chad Campbell traded spots).

It was practically synchronized golf out there. Most of the leaderboard moved in unison. Everybody shot somewhere between 68 and 72. The cream never really rose to the top as expected. The presumed weak never crumbled.

On a day when 14 of the top 15 players in the World Golf Ranking were within striking distance of the lead on "moving day," nobody made much of a move. Saturday gave us 68s from Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Sean O'Hair and Ian Poulter, but the rest of the usual suspects did very little to distinguish themselves.

"Well, obviously I thought it could have been a much better day," said Phil Mickelson, who slipped from six to seven shots off the pace with a modest 71.

Tiger Woods started the day seven shots behind and ended it in the same place. The much anticipated head-to-head showdown between No. 1 Woods and No. 2 Mickelson will take place in the sixth-from-last group -- exactly one hour before the final twosome tees off.

"I would love to be in the same group as him and walk down together on Sunday," Mickelson said Tuesday. "I don't want to be third off."

It would be foolish to say Tiger and Phil are history this week, but it will certainly require history for them to add to their green jacket collections.

Only twice in 72 Masters has a champion emerged from seven or more shots back on Sunday -- Jackie Burke covering eight shots on Ken Venturi in 1956, and Gary Player erasing seven shots on Hubert Green in 1978. Maybe Woods will be inspired by sharing a champions locker with Burke.

Saturday, however, was hardly inspiring. The guys you expected to make the biggest moves didn't. Not Woods. Not Mickelson. Not Padraig Harrington. Not Geoff Ogilvy. Not Sergio Garcia. Not Vijay Singh. A few all but checked out early.

Harrington, trying to get in position to win a third straight major, posted a nine on the second hole, visiting trees and ditches and bunkers. He worked hard to shoot 73.

Phil Mickelson misses a birdie on No. 3. With a third-round 71, the two-time Masters champion slipped to seven shots behind leaders Cabrera and Perry. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff)

"Obviously, my chances went on the second hole," he said.

Woods, trying to win for the first time in four years at Augusta, looked exceptionally ordinary in taking double right out of the chute.

"Just put myself right behind the eight ball," he said.

Mickelson was piecing together a more conventional round until consecutive bogeys on 10 and 11 curtailed his progress.

Is it over for the pretournament favorites?

"I think at this golf course, funny things can happen," Mickelson said.

Some darn funny things will have to happen to let Phil or Tiger back in the Butler Cabin. Hysterical funny. George Carlin funny. Monty Python's Flying Circus funny.

The good thing about that is that players actually believe that can happen again. A year ago when the leader was sitting on the exact same 11-under number through 54 holes, and some gales were forecast to blow in, nobody really thought a back-nine charge was possible.

Now, a concept that had been all but ruled out by many players before this week started has taken root again.

"There's a few birdies to be had on the back nine, but there's disasters to be had on the back nine as well," said Lee Westwood, also tied for 10th and seven back. "It's the specialness of the Masters, I suppose. Anything can happen."

Said Mickelson: "If you get momentum on your side and you're making some birdies, you can make a lot of them. But when it starts coming apart, it's hard to get it back and it's easy to tumble."

The Masters needs both elements. It needs the yin to its yang.

When the heat gets turned on today, hopefully somebody will catch fire while others get burned.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.