Masters 2019: Live Updates for Leaderboard Scores on Sunday

With rain and thunderstorms scheduled to play havoc with the traditional Sunday afternoon tee times of their esteemed tournament, Masters officials moved up the start of the final round in an effort to avoid a long delay and a potential Monday finish to the first major of the year.

Tournament leader Francesco Molinari, Tiger Woods and Tony Finau teed off at 9:20 a.m. ET after all three had played brilliantly during moving day. Fellow contenders Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson and Ian Poulter started their round minutes earlier, while Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele and Justin Harding teed off just before that trio.

Other golfers certainly have chances to rally, but it seems likely that the winner of the green jacket will come from one of those threesomes.

It appeared that Molinari might give his competitors a bit of an opening on the first hole when his second shot went over the green and his third shot slid 10 feet past the hole. However, the steely competitor rolled the tricky putt into the hole, serving notice that he was prepared to take his first-place position and run with it.

Masters 4th-Round Leaderboard (as of 10:50 a.m. ET)

Golfer, Score, Most Recent Hole Completed

Francesco Molinari, -13, 5
Tony Finau, -10, 5
Tiger Woods, -10, 5
Brooks Koepka, -10, 6
Patrick Cantlay, -9, 7
Webb Simpson, -9, 5
Jason Day, -8, 8
Phil Mickelson, -8, 7
Louis Oosthuizen, -8, 6
Rickie Fowler, -8, 6
Xander Schauffele, -8, 6
Justin Harding, -8, 6
Ian Poulter, -8, 4

Here's a link to the full leaderboard.

Molinari had an opportunity to add to his lead on the second hole, but he missed a seven-foot birdie putt. Woods, in trouble after driving the ball into the pine straw on the par five, recovered and made par. Molinari's failure to make his birdie while Woods did not give up a stroke appeared significant.

Woods may have taken some momentum from that scenario, as he birdied the challenging par-four third hole, while Molinari settled for yet another par. However, Woods bogeyed the par-three fourth when he found the false front with his tee shot and was unable to can a 12-foot putt that would have saved par, and he later bogeyed the fifth.

The early start may allow the competitors to either finish the final round or at least get close to doing so. Isolated thunderstorms are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET, with heavier thunderstorms on track to begin an hour later, per Weather.com.

The early start meant a change in the golfers' final-round routines. Sunday at the Masters usually calls for a 3 p.m. tee time for the leaders and an opportunity gather thoughts and prepare for the round. In Woods' case, it meant getting up at 4 a.m. and hitting the gym an hour later to adequately follow his routine

The 43-year-old has had four bouts of knee and back surgery, so getting ready to play any round requires full preparation.

Koepka, the reigning U.S. Open and PGA champion, said that he welcomed the early start because he wouldn't have to wait several hours for his round to begin.

Winds were picking up at 10:40 ET, but rain had not become a factor as the drama of the final round began to heighten.