Wagner leads, Scott withdraws in Houston
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 Shell Houston Open | Round Three | 06 Apr 2008
Despite his one shot lead over Chad Campbell, Johnson Wagner faces a big task in tomorrow’s final round of the Shell Houston Open. Not only is his first victory on the PGA Tour at stake but the winner tomorrow will also get a start at Augusta next week. It could be the biggest day of his golfing career.
“It’s hard not to think about it but, you know, I’m not too worried about it,” said Wagner after his round. “I want to play tomorrow’s round. If I were to win here, then obviously that would be just an incredible bonus. But I didn’t think about it once on the golf course, and I’m not going to think about it tomorrow, hopefully.”
Wagner was in the mix in this event last year also as a rookie on the PGA Tour but a last round of 73 saw him slip from 2nd to 9th. Wagner seems to have a love for the Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club having recorded five of seven rounds in the 60’s, three of those 66 or better.
Wagner is in his second season on the PGA Tour after four years and two victories on the Nationwide Tour. Originally from Texas, he will play with another Texan in Chad Campbell in tomorrow’s final round as they look to hold off the challenges that are likely to come from the nine players as far back as 8 under and seven shots behind.
Campbell is another looking for a win to get him to Augusta. His form over the past 18 months or so has seen him slip outside the qualifying criteria and for the man who finished 3rd there in 2006, a return visit while in the form he has found recently is a juicy prospect.
“Last year I worked on my game really hard the whole year, and I think just at the end it started paying off,” said Campbell. “Now I’m still kind of seeing a little bit from that hard work. Golf is a weird game. Lot of times you don’t get results as quick as you want them. You tend to get a little bit impatient. I think at the end of the year I stayed patient and, you know, good things happen.”
Two shots further back are another Redstone Golf Club course specialist, Bob Estes, and Charley Hoffman who are three from Wagner’s lead. Estes has been runner up and 9th in his two times at the Tournament Course.
Geoff Ogilvy continued his build up to Augusta with a round of 66 and is at ten under par and five shots from the lead while Mathew Goggin is one shot further back at 9 under and not without a chance of a big week.
The biggest disappointment from an Australian perspective has been the withdrawal of defending champion Adam Scott, who followed his opening round of 63 with a 76 on Friday and withdrew with an illness he had been suffering for a few days.
