The Starter, Round 3: The Barclays

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Aug. 27, 2010

The third round of The Barclays is set to begin Saturday. Here's a preview.

Groups We're Watching

Tee time	Players
12:30 p.m. ET, No. 1		Tiger Woods, Heath Slocum The World No. 1 and reigning Barclays champ are just four shots back and should be an exciting pair to follow Saturday afternoon.
1:20 p.m. ET No. 1		Webb Simpson, Adam Scott Simpson (72-65) had been slightly more extreme than Scott (66-71) up to this point, but both will need to avoid numbers in the 70s if they want to catch the leaders.
1:50 p.m. ET, No. 1		Jason Day, Kevin Streelman Day leads, but is safe for at least a week or two regardless of his finish. Streelman entered the event at No. 102 in FedExCup points and could make a huge move.

MORE ROUND 3: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course | Transcripts

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR NETWORK on-site correspondent Brett Wright previews Friday's action:

Saturday's forecast

Sunny
Temp: 84 high/65 low
Chance of precipitation 0 percent. Winds from NW around 10 mph.

The weather today for the third round is going to be 86 degrees and sunny, which will be the warmest day of the week so far. The golf course is drying out and the greens and fairways are starting to roll. I saw several shots that actually advance on the greens today from well struck irons. The players will face a much tougher test of golf today, as the conditions will require more precise shots and proper distance control. Hitting fairways is a must here at Ridgewood Country Club, because the rough is long, thick and penalizing.

Look for the difficult par-4 12th hole to grab many victims with the difficult second shot to a small green surrounded by bunkers and deep rough. Another hole to keep an eye on is the 412-yard par-4 14th which has one of the most difficult greens to putt that I have ever seen. The green has bumpy ridges throughout and slopes from back to front. Players will take two putts and move on with no regrets here.

Tim Petrovic went out in the first wave for Friday's second round and stumbled in with a bogey-bogey finish to post 5-under-par through two rounds. Petrovic was happy to be at 5 under; he thought that would still be in contention and he was right. Despite the poor finish, Petrovic knows that every hole on this golf course can claim a victim, there are just no easy breaks in the challenge of Ridgewood.

I am not bailing off the Tiger Woods bandwagon after the second round. I believe he will rebound today and shoot 3 under par or better. He hit the ball solid in the opening rounds and will be more patient in the third. Watch for Woods to start early today finish the round off.

INSTRUCTOR'S CORNER: Todd Jones, Head Instructor at THE TOUR ACADEMY at TPC Sawgrass, provides a few helpful hits while you watch the second round.. For more information about THE TOUR ACADEMY, click here.

In Rd. 2 of The Barclays, the players were able to take advantage of good scoring conditions. One such player was Jason Day, who posted his second consecutive 67 and now sits atop the leaderboard at 8 under par, one shot ahead of Kevin Streelman and Vaughn Taylor.

Rd. 3 should prove to be fun to watch as the leaderboard is bunched up at the top with a total of 12 players within three shots of the lead. Saturday on the PGA TOUR is known as "moving day" as it provides the players with the opportunity to move into contention with a good round of golf. However, this is harder than it sounds, even for the best players in the world. One of the most difficult things to do is to go low when you feel like you have to. The key to peak performance is to stay patient and in the present. How many times have we heard a player say that they got ahead of themselves, giving valuable shots away as their mind wondered onto "what could be"? We have all been there.

Remember that round when you were playing really well through 15 holes, and then you realized "I am on the verge of a career round". Now your mind started to race ahead -- If I par 16 (which is a hole that I always par) I can then bogey 17 and 18 and shoot my lowest score. Then all of a sudden you have to snap back to here and now to play the shot at hand. As you stand over the tee shot on 16 you can not help to start to think about what you don't want to do -- because that will lead to a big number. The result a quick swing and a tee shot out of play -- and there goes your round -- gone in one swing. You played 15 holes as good as you can play by staying in the present and then got ahead of yourself and threw away your round with one quick swing of the driver.

The key to finishing off the round is to stay in the present and focus on what you want to do with the shot at hand. It may be a cliche but the best players are the best at playing one shot at a time, and this is not by chance. They train this as much as they train any other part of their game. A great way to train this is to play 9 holes once a week by yourself without keeping score. Your goal is to focus 100% on the shot at hand -- there is no past, there is no future, there is only here and now. Look for the players that stay in the present to go low on moving day.

The Film Room

	PGA TOUR TODAY: August 28, 2010 Jason Day leads by one at 8-under par heading into Saturday at The Barclays. Casey Black previews what to expect this weekend. Watch it
	Second Round Highlights Jason Day makes a late charge with birdies on 3 of his last 5 holes and has a 1-shot lead at 8-under par during second round coverage of the 2010 Barclays. Watch it
	Shot of the Day: Justin Rose Justin Rose holes out for eagle in dramatic fashion at the par-5 17th during second round coverage of the 2010 Barclays. Watch it