Jordan Spieth is putting together the greatest Masters run ever

The Dogfight in the Dogwoods never materialized. At least not as anyone had hoped it would.

Jordan Spieth vs. Rory McIlroy, paired together for the first time in a weekend round of a major, was billed (by me) as a dream matchup here at the Masters. Spieth 4-under, McIlroy 3-under, boatloads of popularity, even more promise.

Spieth did his part on a blustery day, firing a 1-over 73. McIlroy didn't, blowing up with a 5-over 77.

In his defense, he wasn't the only one. The wind was blowing hard at Augusta National on Saturday, gusting upwards of 25 mph. Even Spieth struggled. He had it to 6-under through 16, but a bogey, double-bogey finish pushed him over par for the day, shrinking his lead from four shots to one.

"I played better than I scored today," Spieth said. "Tough finish to hold a four-shot lead to now it's anyone's game. So it's tough to swallow.

"If you told me [before the tournament] I'd be leading after 54 holes I'd be pleased, so there's mixed feelings."

Only five players in all were under par for the day. That included Smylie Kaufman.

Smylie Kaufman?

Yeah, after firing a 3-under 69, best round of the day, he's in Sunday's final pairing with Spieth, who's at 3-under for the tournament, one shot ahead of Kaufman.

A little bit about Smylie: Let's start with the name because, well, where else would you want to start? It comes from an old relative, his grandmother's cousin Smylie Gebhart, who played football at Georgia Tech.

Smylie Kaufman played his college ball at LSU, though he did it with a white dimpled ball.

This is his first major. Sunday he'll be paired with the defending champ, who he faced a few times in college.

"He's probably a thousand and zero [against me]," the 24-year-old Kaufman joked.

So is pretty much everyone else at Augusta, so Smylie's got that going for him, which is nice.

After going wire-to-wire last year, this marks the seventh straight round at the Masters that Spieth has led outright. That's unprecedented in the history of this tournament, now in its 80th edition. Arnold Palmer led six straight rounds in 1960-61, but not outright, and he didn't win in '61.

"I'm just going to play my golf, hit to my spots and try to make some putts. I'm not going to put extra pressure on myself to catch him," Kaufman said of trailing Spieth by one. "That's when you get in trouble out here, when you force stuff."

It's also a good way to finish second, because in 11 rounds at Augusta, Spieth has finished over par twice, and those came Friday when just four players in the entire field were under par and Saturday when five were.

Only four players in total are under par for the tournament: Spieth, Kaufman, 58-year-old Bernhard Langer and Hideki Matsuyama. Another three are even, a group that includes No. 1 in the world Jason Day and No. 8 Dustin Johnson.

It's a stacked leaderboard, with everyone looking up at Spieth, who is now 18 holes away from what unarguably would be the greatest two-year run in Masters history. Win and he's a legend forever … at 22 and just getting started.