Cink in the lead, Tiger nowhere in sight
PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) -- Stewart Cink's fortunes turned quickly in a vicious wind that never went away Saturday, running off three straight birdies for a 2-under 68 in the PODS Championship that likely puts him in the final group for the third time this year.
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Even better, Tiger Woods has the week off.
Cink went from a four-shot deficit to a two-shot lead in a span of five holes, and despite 30 mph wind and temperatures that plunged into the 50s, he didn't make a bogey until his final hole in near darkness when he came up short of the 18th green.
Even so, he was at 5-under 208 and was two shots clear of former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, who also had a 69.
Cink played in the final group in the Buick Invitational, albeit eight shots behind Woods. The four-time PGA TOUR winner also reached the final match of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, where Woods beat him 8 and 7.
Cink doesn't have the 54-hole lead quite yet.
Brandt Snedeker, who birdied his last hole in the morning to finish the second round with a one-shot lead, stretched that margin to four shots with a birdie on the seventh hole, and he had a 12-foot birdie putt on the eighth.
But he three-putted for bogey, and his momentum was gone. He dropped three more shots over the next five holes. Snedeker was 3 under and in the 16th fairway when the third round was suspended by darkness.
Billy Mayfair also was 3 under and on the 16th hole. Four other players failed to finish the third round and will return Sunday morning, hopeful the wind isn't bending 50-foot pines the way it did throughout Saturday, perhaps the toughest day of golf this year.
Sean O'Hair and Tom Pernice Jr. each shot 71 and were at 2-under 211. Only nine players were under par, which included defending champion Mark Calcavecchia, who was 1 under with two holes to play.
Snedeker was happy to at least have a chance.
"I'm disappointed with two three-putts on the par 3s. They were both stupid, boneheaded mistakes, but those are going to happen," Snedeker said. "You've got to be patient. I'm still right there."
Cink had to play 28 holes Saturday, none of them easy.
The wind was raging at dawn and never let until the final minutes of daylight, so strong that players who were hitting a 9-iron into the 18th green in the opening round were pulling 3-iron or more on Saturday.
The average score for the second round was 74.5. Once the cut was made -- the first cut, anyway -- the field average for the third round was headed for about 74.
Seventy-nine players made the cut, activating the week-old amendment to the PGA TOUR's cut policy. Because more than 78 players made the cut, a second cut to the top 70 and ties was to be made after third round.
That knocked out eight players, who will receive official, last-place money. And some might be glad to be leaving. Kevin Streelman made only seven pars in his round of 84. Jason Gore and Charles Warren each shot 81.
"It played hard -- I played hard," Kevin Sutherland said after a hard-earned 70 left him in a tie for seventh, only four shots behind.
Steve Flesch finished his second round Friday around lunch at 3 over and figured he was gone in a tie for 106th. By the end of Friday, he was up to a tie for 88th, and when he turned on his computer Saturday morning, he already was up to a tie for 78th.
The cut was at 3-over 145, the highest ever at Innisbrook.
The highest 54-hole lead until this week was 9-under 204, a mark that will be shattered.
Ogilvy was asked to go over his birdies, bogeys and any good par saves he made. That brought a wry smile to the Australian.
"Every hole you make par is a great save," he said.
Wind this strong exposes the slightest mistake, and it was hard to find anything wrong with Snedeker. When he returned Saturday morning to complete the second round, he hit six straight greens to move up the leaderboard, and when he finally missed the ninth green to the left, he chipped in for birdie and a 68 to take the lead.
Then, he was even better as the wind blew harder in the afternoon.
As just about everyone else was dropping shots around him, Snedeker birdied the par-5 fifth from 6 feet, then holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the seventh to build a four-shot lead. The margin looked as though it might get even larger on the next hole, the par-3 eighth, when he hit his tee shot into 12 feet.
Three putts later, everything changed.
"Two bad bogeys in a row, and I started to lose momentum," he said.
Cink, meanwhile, opened with nine straight pars when he took off. From the trees left of the 10th fairway, he managed to find the green and holed a 30-foot birdie. Then came a two-putt birdie on the 11th, and a third straight birdie from across the green on the 12th.
In five holes, Cink went from a four-shot deficit to a two-shot lead, as Snedeker continued to leak shots with a poor bunker shot on the 11th that denied him birdie, and a bogey on the 12th.
Ogilvy took a while to shake off rust from staying home after the Jan. 7 birth of his son, but he is finding his groove. He birdie putts inside 10 feet on four straight holes, making two of them, and wound up with a great chance Sunday.
"You know the rust is coming off when it's tough and you play," he said.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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