Third round: Local favorite Pettersson remains in lead
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- The pressure to follow a record round with an even better number got to Carl Pettersson. Just not enough to cost him the lead.
Pettersson topped the Sedgefield Country Club leaderboard for the second straight day, shooting a 4-under 66 on Saturday to follow his tournament-record 61 and take a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Wyndham Championship.
A local fan favorite who went to high school in Greensboro and is on the tournament's board of directors, Pettersson had a 19-under-191 total. The Swede is in position to claim his third career PGA TOUR victory -- and first since 2006 -- even if he admitted that he occasionally tried too hard to outdo his second-round performance.
"Unless you get off to a really hot start, you kind of feel like you're behind the 8-ball," Pettersson said. "Sometimes, you can start pressing too much, and in golf, pressing's not really good to do. You've got to let the birdies happen, let the putts go in. You can't really force them in. ... I think it's easy to get agitated the day after you made everything."
Scott McCarron was second. He holed a 45-yard sand shot on the 18th for a 64. Briny Baird (62), Garrett Willis (69) and Kevin Streelman (67) were six strokes back.
Leading after 54 holes in Greensboro usually leads to a victory. From 1999-2006, every champion of this tournament has held or shared the third-round lead, a string broken last year when eventual PGA TOUR rookie of the year Brandt Snedeker erased Jeff Overton's three-stroke advantage across town at Forest Oaks.
Then again, with low scores commonplace all weekend at the original Donald Ross-designed course, no lead is safe.
"Where we are, and where Carl is, even if Carl stumbles and falls back, it's still going to take a low number (Sunday) for somebody to win the tournament," Baird said. "The golf course is set up for low numbers."
This time, Pettersson had three birdies and an eagle, opening with four pars before his 3 on the 529-yard, par-5 fifth. He landed his approach 4 feet from the pin and sank that putt to eagle the hole for the second time in three days.
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| Saturday's Best |
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The par-5, 545-yard 15th hole had a 4.269 scoring average, making it 0.731 strokes under par.
The par-3, 223-yard 7th hole played 0.141 strokes over par on Saturday with a 3.141 average.
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Scott McCarron found his third shot on No. 18 in a greenside bunker, not exactly how he wanted to close out his round. But McCarron didn't let that faze him, chipping from the sand into the bottom of the cup. McCarron scored his sixth birdie, secured a 64 on his card and is just two shots behind leader Carl Pettersson. 
Briny Baird shot an 8-under 62 on Moving Day. He didn't let a bogey on the first hole steer him off course, as Baird birdied three holes before making a bogey at No. 9. Baird made the turn and that's when things really got going. He shot 28 on his back nine, complete with seven birdies, and is tied for third. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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MCCARRON'S GLAD TO BE BACK
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A year ago, Scott McCarron might have been working as a crossing guard at the school his children attend. Maybe he was coaching soccer or volunteering as a chaperone for a field trip.
He wasn't playing golf, though, after surgery to repair the tendon that runs from his right wrist to his right elbow. McCarron went under the knife in August 2006 and was sidelined all of last season.
"I drove my wife and kids crazy," he said.
McCarron could make up for lost time this week at the Wyndham Championship, though. The three-time PGA TOUR champ enters Sunday's final round trailing Carl Pettersson by two strokes after his second-straight 64 at Sedgefield Country Club.
The 43-year-old McCarron has only made one bogey over the first 54 holes of the final event of the PGA TOUR Regular Season. But he more than atoned for that blunder at the 18th hole of his second round when he holed a bunker shot for birdie on Saturday.
"I told my caddie if I made this, I would get in the bunker and do a snow angel," McCarron said. He chickened out, though, and instead celebrated by thrusting both arms into the air --followed by a sweeping fist pump -- much to the delight of the sellout crowd.
McCarron broke the 54-hole record at Sedgfield, which is hosting the Wyndham Championship for the first time since 1976, by six strokes. He still has work to do on Sunday, though, to overtake the red-hot Pettersson on the generous Donald Ross gem.
"We just had perfect conditions for us so far this week but breaking the scoring record and still being behind (is weird)," McCarron said. "Let's see if we can break the 72-hole record and be ahead."
McCarron, who is looking for his first win in seven years, has been extremely solid in all areas of the game this week. He's tied for second in putting, seventh in fairways hit and eighth in greens in regulation.
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PHELPS OR WOODS?
Briny Baird doesn't mean to take anything away from Michael Phelps. But when someone asked who's more dominant -- the swimmer who has won seven Olympic gold medals this week or Tiger Woods -- Baird didn't hesitate.
"Absolutely Tiger," he said. "Longevity. ... It's easy to say Michael Phelps because it's the in thing to say. Michael Phelps is a fantastic athlete but I've got to look at someone who has done it way longer than Michael Phelps has."
Both swimming and golf, which is making a bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, are individual sports. Baird, who shot 62 with a back-nine 28 on Saturday, thinks comparing the two is an apples-vs.-oranges pursuit, though.
"There's eight guys in the pool at one time," he said. "Tiger's playing against 156 guys at one time. It only takes one guy to play, to throw out some career four rounds and he beats Tiger. In the pool, (you've) just got to beat 7, 8 guys -- that's, again, not taking anything away from Michael Phelps."
INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Satellite Radio announcer Doug Bell offers these observations from Saturday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
From the greenside bunker on the par 4, 18th hole at Sedgefield CC, Scott McCarron looked at his caddie Brad Whittle and said, "If this goes in, I'm doing a snow angel in the bunker". In spectacular, crowd-pleasing fashion, McCarron holed out for his 6th birdie of the day to wrap up a bogey-free 64, putting him at 17-under par through 54 holes and in sole possession of second place.
McCarron didn't do the snow angel, maybe because he was giving a helpful hand to Whittle, who had slipped into the bunker during the post-birdie hysteria. McCarron, who continues to give swing coach Jim Hardy lots of praise for his comeback, uses a trick Hardy taught him before every shot. He tucks his shirt underneath his left arm, as a reminder to stay connected. With rounds of 65-64-64, McCarron looks to capture his first PGA TOUR victory in seven years.
Kevin Streelman is in position for his best finish on the PGA TOUR. The rookie looked at ease in posting a third-round 67, and gives credit to his caddie Mike Christenson, who is extremely involved in reading putts and giving advice on club selection. It's no surprise that Streelman puts plenty of trust in his former college roommate and teammate at Duke University. Christenson still has hopes of playing professionally himself one day but, for the time being, is helping his friend make a nice season-ending run on the PGA TOUR.
STATS AND SUCH
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Carl Pettersson has dominated play at the Wyndham Championship, making two eagles and a birdie at the par-5 fifth hole through the first three rounds. This is the first time in his career that he has played a single hole 5-under par through the first three rounds of a PGA TOUR event.
Only seven players have ever played a single hole 6-under par through the first three rounds in the last 25 years. The last player to accomplish this was Michael Putnam on the 16th hole at the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro.
• Briny Baird shot a 62 in the third round of the Wyndham Championship, tying the lowest round of his career in a PGA TOUR event. Briny Baird shot a 28 on the back nine at Sedgefield Country Club. This is his lowest score on either the back or front nine, breaking his previous best of 29 on the back nine in the fourth round of the 2005 Michelin Championship.
| 13 | Number of players who've earned their first PGA TOUR victory at the Wyndham Championship. |
| 7 | Number of players in the top 10 after three rounds who are searching for their first TOUR win. |
Baird made seven birdies from the 10th hole through the 18th hole, which ties the highest number of holes played under par through nine holes in his career. The last time he was able to birdie seven of nine holes was in the first round of the 2007 Viking Classic. In the third round in Greensboro, Baird was able to birdie seven holes from the 3rd to the 11th hole.
• Scott McCarron is in second place after three rounds at the Wyndham Championship and is only two strokes behind Carl Pettersson. He has played each round well and put up scores of 65, 64, 64. This is the first time in McCarron's career that he has played the first three rounds of a tournament at 65 or better.
This is only the fourth time in the last 50 years that a player has shot a 65 or better in the first three rounds of a tournament and has not held the lead going into the final round. The other times: Mathias Gronberg at the 2007 Valero Texas Open, Scott Verplank at the 2005 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee and Woody Austin at the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational.
SEDGEFIELD SUCCESS
Kent Jones is no stranger to success at Sedgefield Country Club.
While it's the first time the PGA TOUR has played at Sedgefield Country Club since 1976, Jones was on the Nationwide Tour when they came to Sedgefield for the Greensboro Open from 1998-2000. He shot 66-66-67-64 in 2000 to beat Charles Howell III (then an amateur) and Jay Hobby by three strokes for his second win that season.
On Saturday, Jones again found magic at Sedgefield when he posted a 5-under 65 and vaulted into the top 10.
While Jones' score was low, it wasn't one of the best this week. There have been five rounds of 63 or better fired at Sedgefield Country Club this week.
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THINGS TO WATCH ON SUNDAY
1. Rich Beem. He made the cut on the number thanks to an eagle at No. 15 and birdie at No. 16 on Friday. After Saturday's 7-under 63, he's tied for 13th. Here's the catch -- Beem really needs to move up on Sunday because he's currently 166th in FedExCup points. If he stays in his current position, he'll only move up to 152nd and will miss the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, which take only the top 144 players.
2. Lee Janzen. This could be closer than Michael Phelps' fingertip win in the 100-meter butterfly. Right now Janzen is 154th in the FedExCup standings and needs to improve by 10 spots. His projected ranking if he remains tied for 13th is 139th. Will he make The Barclays?
3. Scott McCarron. What a difference one tournament could make for McCarron. He could move from 139th in the FedExCup standings into 77th place if he finishes second. That would place him safely in the first two events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
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