Woods under fire but comes out on top
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 US PGA Championship | Round Three | 16 Aug 2009
Tiger Woods did not have it all his own way during the third round of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota but by the end of the day he leads by two over Y.E.Yang and Padraig Harrington and by four over Lucas Glover and Henrik Stenson.
The apparent ease of Woods’ progress through this championship defies the pressure and scrutiny he is constantly under. While challenged, he always appeared in control further highlighting just how good he is. His outstanding decision making and subsequent execution produced few mistakes and if and when there were such, his short game came to the rescue, more especially late in his round.
An early birdie from 3 feet at the second by Woods, after a brilliant approach, threatened to blow the tournament apart but a bogey at the 4th followed by a string of pars over the next nine holes allowed several players to creep closer and closer.
He was joined in the lead briefly today by Harrington when the Irishman birdied the reachable par four 14th and moved to 7 under. Woods, who was playing two groups behind Harrington would birdie the 14th himself 20 minutes later but in a rather different manner.
His tee shot shaped with a driver finished just off the back edge of the green but the ball lay in an awkward lie. His pitch across the green got away on him and finished 15 feet from the hole in the fringe grass on the other side. He then deliberately bladed a lob wedge from just off the green into the hole for birdie. That took him to 8 under and he was alone in the lead once again.
Woods’ short game again came to the rescue at the demanding par four 16th where he missed the green left and hit the most exquisite of pitch shots. He saved par there and then parred the final two holes to head into tomorrow’s final round two ahead. He had a great chance at the last, after a 7 iron finished 8 feet from the hole, to move three ahead but he misread the putt and settled for par.
When asked as to what tomorrow holds Woods said, “Well, that all depends on the weather, what we get tomorrow, how much rain we get overnight, and how soft the golf course is going to play. You know, I thought it was going to be playing a little bit more difficult today, but it wasn’t.”
“They gave us a lot of room on a lot of these pins, six and seven even from the side, so you can be fairly aggressive. I just felt that with my lead, I erred on the side of caution most of the time. If I did have a good look at it, a good number at it, I took aim right at it. Otherwise I was just dumping the ball on the green and 2-putting.”
Harrington bogeyed the 18th after hitting what appeared to be the wrong club and dropped out of outright second. He missed the chance to be paired with Tiger on Sunday for the second week in succession. He is however still very much in the thick of things and could potentially be the man to stop Woods’ attempt for his 15th major championship.
“I think I don’t have a choice, so it doesn’t really matter,” said Harrington when asked if he would prefer to play with or not play with Woods tomorrow.
“I know if you’re playing with him, it’s kind of a bit like match play and if you’re not playing with him you’ve got to play your own game. So I’m not going to be playing with him so I have to stick to my own game and see what happens there.”
Also at 6 under and two back is the South Korean Y.E. Yang who put together the best round of the day (67) to move from 9th to share second position. Yang, a prolific winner in Japan and elsewhere before joining the PGA Tour in 2008, lost his status there at the completion of his rookie season but in finishing 18th at the Tour School was back on the PGA Tour this season.
“There was a lot of wind actually today,” said Yang. “I was anticipating probably reducing one or two strokes would have been good but somehow I ended up getting about five strokes. So I was good and hopefully I’ll continue this pace tomorrow as well.”
Yang is a very experienced player and with a win at the Honda Classic earlier this season has proven his capacity to handle at close to this level. He has also challenged and beaten Tiger Woods previously, that victory coming at the HSBC event in China two years ago. At 110 in the world ranking he is the outsider amongst the elite players in or near the lead but he can’t be underrated.
Ernie Els and Soren Kjeldsen at 3 under and players as far back as 2 under and six behind Woods can still be considered chances although their prospects are very much dependant on Woods’ effort tomorrow. Rain which began to fall heavily at the completion of play will take the sting out of what was a firming golf course and might provide the chance for the chasers to put a score on the board early.
Brendan Jones is the leading Australasian and did well on a day where he described his A game was absent. “I did well to hang in there and am looking forward to tomorrow,” he said after his round. Jones is at 2 under and six behind the lead in a share of 8th position. Jones has played in only three major championships previously making the cut on one occasion and so this is an outstanding performance to date.
Robert Allenby’s second consecutive 75 saw him slip to 39th at 3 over, Richard Green and Geoff Ogilvy are 55th, David Smail and Nathan Green 65th and Michael Sim 70th.
