Appleby's chance for a place in history
IN: News | US PGA | US Masters (2007) | Round Three | by Bruce Young | 08 Apr 2007
What a day. After the carnage and bloodletting was over, Stuart Appleby stands atop the Masters leaderboard just one shot ahead of Tiger Woods and Justin Rose and two ahead of Padraig Harrington, Vaughn Taylor and Zach Johnson.
That opening paragraph only scratches the surface of what was one of the more intriguing days in the history of the event and a day where viewers might well have felt they were watching a US Open third round rather than one at Augusta National.
It was cold, Augusta National was buffeted by strong swirling winds and the already treacherous greens became even more so as a result.
Australian, Stuart Appleby, was the talk of the day for many reasons. Starting the day three behind Rose and Brett Wetterich, Appleby was out of the blocks so quickly that he had joined the lead after just four holes. He holed putts from 4, 15 and 12 feet on holes two, three and four to move to three under for the day and two under for the tournament.
He made a good up and down for bogey at the 7th and then made a very good par save at the par five 8th after a wild drive and a missed green. From that point on he did not drop another shot until the 17th where he stood with a three shot lead as he played his tee shot. He pulled his drive left and, after struggling to clear the trees, eventually found the bunker with his third and then three putted from 15 feet for a triple bogey. He had, at that point, slipped one behind Justin Rose who had just birdied the 15th. Although there had been damage done by his misadventure, Appleby was still very much in the mix and he needed to collect himself at the last to limit the damage.
That he was able to hit his approach to 9 feet spoke volumes about Appleby’s demeanour this week. He stated before his round today that he was determined to relax out there and not place too much pressure on himself and he seemed to be doing that for most of the day.
Appleby signed for a round of 73 but it was much better than that. Judging on his responses in post round interviews he knows that the accident on 17 was waiting to happen to him and anyone else in the field for that matter and appeared philosophical about it all. That he still retained the lead at the close of play despite his mishap no doubt eases the pain.
Even despite a less than Tiger Woods like performance over the first two days, the world number one always appeared likely to work his way back into winning contention over the weekend and today he did just that although he might have felt, as he walked from the last green today, that he had blown a good opportunity to be breathing down the leader’s neck heading into tomorrow. A bogey at the 17th after finding the left hand greenside bunker from the trees and then another at the last after an almost inexplicable approach from relatively short range cost him what would have been the outright lead but he will rest easier now that the leaders gave back some ground late in the day. Woods trails by one and it will take a Herculean task by Appleby and all others to keep him out tomorrow.
Like Woods, Rose dropped two shots very late in the round – a three putt at the 16th was followed by a pulled tee shot at the 17th. He hit a fine second there but it just rolled over the back and he was unable to save par. Rose will play in the second to last group tomorrow with Padraig Harrington who stayed in touch despite a round of 75. Harrington will look back at the par five 15th with disgust tonight having taken triple bogey there on Thursday and a double bogey today. Vaughn Taylor had his chance for glory when he birdied the 15th after a fine pitch to 9 feet but then proceeded to drop shots at the last three holes to be three back with Harrington and Zach Johnson who fought back late after struggling to stay in touch through the first twelve holes.
At five over is Welshman, Bradley Dredge, while included in those at six over and certainly still in with an outside chance are Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson whose three putt at the 15th for par and dropped shot from the bunker at 16 could yet prove very costly tomorrow.
Of the Australians, other than Appleby, the sad story of the day goes to Geoff Ogilvy who dropped out of contention early before an eagle from 10 feet behind the hole at the 13th saw him back to three over and knocking on the door. At the 15th he laid up with his second and then hit two in the water before eventually walking away with a quadruple bogey 9. Still in shock, Ogilvy bogeyed the last three holes to say goodbye to what had been a good opportunity an hour earlier.
Rod Pampling gutsed out a pretty solid round of 74, given the circumstances, to be at 10 over, Ogilvy is at 10 over, Aaron Baddeley is at 11 over and Adam Scott at 12 over.
Tomorrow shapes as one of the more gripping days in Australian golf. Stuart Appleby has the greatest chance to become the first Australia to win this most coveted title since Greg Norman in 1996 but to do so he will be faced with all sorts of challenges tomorrow, not only from his fellow competitors, but from within.
He has recorded more birdies (14) than any other player this week but tomorrow it might be a case of collecting pars on a golf course that promised to get even more difficult if that is possible.
Photo – WireImage.com
