As darkness enveloped Augusta National golf club after the third round of the Masters, so arose the feeling that the fourth round at the altar of golf in the US might be one of the great ones in golf. It will certainly be unusual and it could be historic. because three of the four men ahead of Tiger Woods, the world number one, are younger than he.

At Augusta this week we have been given a glimpse of how it is going to be in the future when Woods is challenged by men who were born after he was instead of Woods challenging or being challenged by those who are older. There has been a shifting of golf's tectonic plates, a slight one admittedly but a shifting nonetheless.

The 72nd Masters has been the young man's Masters. The leader is Trevor Immelman, a young South African aged 28 with the most perfect golf swing since Ben Hogan according to Gary Player. He has led since the first round and is 11 under par.

Then comes Brandt Snedeker, who is 27, and two strokes behind Immelman. Snedeker, rookie of the year in the US in 2007, has an engaging way of playing golf while keeping a smile on his face. He has the most winsome manner since the amateur Matt Kuchar in 1998.

Four strokes behind Immelman and two behind Snedeker is Paul Casey, an Englishman who lives most of the year in Scottsdale, Arizona. Casey, who was born in Cheltenham, is 30. He has the biggest forearms since Popeye and, partly as a result, power to spare. He is bright, articulate, modest and highly talented.

The ages of these three men is significant because it is rare for a major championship to be won by a player younger than Woods. Geoff Ogilvie at the 2006 US Open and Ben Curtis at the 2003 Open are two recent ones but they are the exception rather than the rule.

On the eve of this championship I said in The Times there was a feeling in this part of Georgia that Woods would not win this Masters, would not win his 14th major championship and would not thus be able to set off in pursuit of a clean sweep in the major championships.

I could be wrong but Woods has to make history to prove me so. He has to play the round of his life to win. He has won 13 major championship but in every one he lead either individually or jointly after 54 holes. Here he trails Immelman by six, which is a lot of strokes to make up. He is capable of it and if he does it then hats off to him. In his favour is the fact that not one of the men ahead of him has won a major championship and few have been in this position before.

I have seen Immelman win two of his six tournament victories on three continents. I watched him win the Deutsche Bank SAP Open TPC of Europe in Germany in midsummer 2004, having watched him win the South African Airways Open outside Cape Town the previous January. He is a champion in the making with a firm swing and a rare deteremination burning in his eyes. It is his tournament to lose now and it is Woods's to win. The weather forecast predicts winds of 20 miles per hour. Could be a stormy day for the world number one.