Fascinating finale set for final day of Open
IN: News | European PGA | British Open (2006) | Round Three | by Bruce Young | 23 Jul 2006
Fascintaing finale set final day of Open
Tiger Woods entered day three of the Open Championship, a resounding favourite to control this tournament through its final thirty six holes. If only someone had told many of his fellow competitors.
As Tiger Woods finally arrived on the first tee he was being challenged from many angles. Sergio Garcia, who had started his round 95 minutes before the leaders, was en route to a front nine of 29 courtesy of a holed approach for eagle at the second and three birdies to complete an extraordinary early challenge to those behind. He then stood at nine under but, as Woods and Els played the first, the Spaniard was not alone in throwing down the gauntlet.
Jim Furyk was playing with Garcia and as he made the turn he had moved within two. It was clear Tiger was not going to have things his own way and this would be no 'walk in the park'.
This became even more the case when from a difficult lie in the light rough at the second, Tiger chunked his second and finished in the trap some forty yards short of the par four's green. The best he could do from there was a bogey and all of a sudden five players, Woods, Els, Garcia, DiMarco and Furyk were tied at eleven under. Woods two putted the fifth hole from 25 feet for birdie to move ahead on his own and added a cushion when he hit a brilliant tee shot to four feet at the 6th to move to 13 under.
At the 7th, Woods took bogey after his tee shot found the fairway trap and he could not salvage par. He then had just a one shot lead over Garcia while Els had dropped back to ten under when he drove it into the gorse on that very same hole. Furyk and DiMarco had dropped back at that stage only to produce strong late bursts in their rounds as did Angel Cabrera.
Cabrera started his round at four under and with a dropped shot at the first he looked a spent force. He played the next 13 holes in seven under and when he holed a fifteen foot putt at the 16th for eagle he was right there staring the leaders in the face. After pulling his tee shot and his approach left at the par five last he was unable to make the birdie that would, as it turned out, move him within one of the third round leader at the completion of play but he is still right there to perhaps even better his previous best British Open performance when fourth in 1999.
Garcia remained quiet after early heroics but a birdie at the last, after finishing just short and right of the green, had him at 12 under and at that point he was sharing the lead with Woods.
Woods moved ahead again, when after three putting the 10th for par, he birdied the 11th from 25 feet and the outright lead was his once again.
Ahead, DiMarco was recovering from a struggling start with four birdies late in his round which swept him to 12 under and that is where he would finish.
Els took bogey at the 13th and fell back to ten under but birdies at the closing two par fives had him within one of the lead of Woods who himself had birdies each of the two par five to close but who had also added two late bogeys to give his chasers a real smell of opportunity for day four.
At the end of an intriguing day, in what has already been an intriguing week, Woods leads by one over Garcia, Els and DiMarco, with Furyk and Cabrera also very much in the mix just one back. Given the challenges that came from a long way back on day three, there are still many others within just one hot round of the Claret Jug.
Several of those are Australians. Adam Scott is on track for perhaps his best ever finish in a major and certainly his best in an Open Championship. After a shaky start in round three he fought his way back to be at nine under, within four of Woods and the leading Australian at this stage. At eight under and within five of the lead and still with a sniff of victory are Peter Lonard and Robert Allenby. Thirty hours earlier Peter Lonard was staring a missed cut in the face when he was at two over through twenty seven holes of the tournament. He is now well placed to improve on his previous best finish in a major, that being when 11th at the 2002 US Open and perhaps much better.
Allenby started with two bogeys on holes one and two in round three but he fought his way back to get to eight under.
Based on the events of day three, the final day of the 2006 Open Championship could prove to be one of the more fascinating in recent years. At the top of the tree at this point is Tiger Woods. He survived numerous challenges to his lead and emerged as still the man to beat. He might well have gotten his bad round out of the way in round three and could well go on and win by many. As was the case in round three, however, there will be many not yet prepared to resign themselves to that fact.
Photo - WireImage.com
