Bob Hope Classic, Round 3
| PGATOUR.COM Instant Access | ||
| Bob Hope Classic | ||
|
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
FOWLER-ING OUT (7:05 p.m.): A lot of players will be in contention in tomorrow's fourth round of the Bob Hope Classic. Rickie Fowler won't be. Apparently, he lost his swing somewhere over the Pacific on the way to or back from Hawaii.
"Terrible," Fowler said of his swing after rounds of 74-70-75. "My swing doesn't feel very good.
"I wish you could tell me [what's wrong]. It just doesn't feel right. So I'll go work on a few things, work on finding out how to straighten it out. It felt really good right before I went to Hawaii." -- Brian Wacker
FROM THE INTERVIEW ROOM (6:40 p.m.): "I thought Bubba could shoot 15-under on those two golf courses, and he still might. But the fact that he's not shooting 7- or 8-under at the Palmer Private helps the field." -- Joe Ogilvie on the scoring conditions today.
Ogilvie is right. The way Watson played yesterday, you had the feeling he could run away and hide today. He still might, but there are a lot of players in the fold going into the fourth round.
ROUND 3 WINDING DOWN (6:15 p.m.): Here's what we know as the third of five rounds starts to wind down at PGA West: Alex Prugh will be in the lead, which will prompt some people to say "Alex who?" The answer is a rookie on the PGA TOUR who got his card by finishing 16th on the Nationwide Tour money list after a win in New Zealand that was highlighted by a final-round 64. We also know we're headed for a Monday finish thanks to some pretty intense weather that's since blown through the area in what's now a perfect weekend for scoring. Lastly, we know, as Bubba Watson, who is just off the lead, said, that this tournament is very much up in the air with a dozen players within seven shots of the lead. -- Brian Wacker
WATSON SHOOTS 68 (5:50 p.m.): Halfway through his round, it looked like Bubba Watson might get lapped. He was even par and not playing anywhere near the way he did yesterday when he shot a 62. Then Watson closed in 32 with four birdies and no bogeys, shooting a 68 that has him in the lead -- for now -- at 20 under.
"This is what we've been waiting for," Watson told GOLF CHANNEL, referring to the good weather and all the birdies being made. But he was cautiously optomistic, too.
"[Yesterday] I had three rounds to go and it was up in the air. I have two rounds to go and it's still up in the air."
At least his wife, Angie, was able to play with him today, though. Angie, a former University of Georgia basketball player who went on to play in the WNBA and in Europe, is Bubba's pro-am partner this week. But the pro-am partners had to take a seat yesterday so the tournament could be finished by Monday. It turns out Angie's also a pretty good golfer, though, carrying a 4 handicap. -- Brian Wacker
CLARK'S UP-AND-DOWN DAY (5:25 p.m.): Tim Clark had just six pars in his third round. That looked like a good trend early, as he had four birdies in his first six holes. It looked disastrous midway through his round, when he made two bogeys and a double in a six-hole stretch. He got back on track with three birdies at Nos. 13, 16 and 17 at La Quinta for an untidy 67.
Clark is going to be in the top 10 heading into the final two days, as he seeks his first PGA TOUR win. -- Nick Zaccardi
LITTLE HAAS VS. BIG HAAS (4:50 p.m.): One of the the better rounds going today is that of Bill Haas. He's 5 under through 14 holes and 15 under for the week, four strokes off the lead.
Haas, who had a stellar amateur career at Wake Forest, is in his sixth season on the PGA TOUR but is still looking for win No. 1. His father, Jay, meanwhile, is playing in the season-opener on the Champions Tour this week. As prodigious as Bill's talent is, though, he obviously has a long way to go to catch dad as you'll see below. -- Brian Wacker
| Bill Haas vs. Jay Haas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CHECKING IN WITH THE CHAMP (4:30 p.m.): The last player to successfully defend at the Bob Hope Classic was Johnny Miller in 1976. Pat Perez has some work to do if he wants to become the next. Though he's 4 under through nine holes today and 11 under for the week, Perez is currently eight shots off the lead of Bubba Watson. Last year's victory here was the first of Perez's career. - Brian Wacker
MAKING A RUN, SORT OF (4:05 p.m.): The best rounds going so far: Kevin Streelman (7 under), Webb Simpson (6 under) and Sony Open champion Ryan Palmer (6 under). There is still plenty of golf left with two-plus rounds still to play, but they're going to need to continue to go low if they have any hopes of catching Bubba Watson -- Streelman is currently nine back, while Streelman and Simpson are eight back. -- Brian Wacker
BUBBA BIRDIE STREAK (3:40 p.m.): That's three straight birdies for Bubba Watson after he just rolled in a short birdie putt on the second hole at the Palmer Course. Watson, who started on the back nine, is tied for the lead at 18 under after briefly falling out of the top spot earlier today. All three of those birdies, by the way, came from within 7 feet. -- Brian Wacker
FINALLY, A BIRDIE (3:15 p.m.): It took a while, but Bubba Watson finally has a birdie. Actually, he has two of them after making back-to-back birdies on Nos. 18 and 1 on the Palmer Course, where he started on the back nine. That gets him back into a share of the lead at 17 under with Alex Prugh. Click here to follow the rest of Watson's round live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (2:50 p.m.): "How's Weir playing today?" -- @jeffspady
After back-to-back 67s to open the tournament, Weir is 2 under through five holes today. That sounds sort of mediocre at this tournament, until you look at Weir's scorecards. He has yet to make a bogey this week (to go with 12 birdies). Weir won this tournament in 2003, but he's going to have to make a lot more birdies if he wants to again. -- Brian Wacker
NEW LEADER (2:35 p.m.): What happens when you shoot even par at the Bob Hope Classic? You get passed, quickly. That is what has happened to Bubba Watson, who is even through his first seven holes today.
Meanwhile, Alex Prugh, who earned his PGA TOUR card by finishing 16th on the Nationwide Tour money list last year, has moved to the top of the leaderboard thanks to a 3-under start through his first four holes.
That's not the only bad news for Watson. The six other players surrounding him on the leaderboard right now are a combined 13 under. In other words, they're moving in. -- Brian Wacker
ROUND OF THE DAY AND KODAK CHALLENGE (2:10 p.m.): The best round going right now belongs to Kevin Streelman, who is 6 under through eight holes on the Nicklaus Course after an eagle on the par-5 eighth.
Streelman, who won last year's Kodak Challenge, has yet to miss a fairway or green today and has just 12 putts. As for the aforementioned Kodak Challenge, below is a look at how the par-3 17th on the Palmer Course has played through two rounds. -- Brian Wacker
| Round-by-round statistics on the par-3 17th at the Palmer Course | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CHECKING IN WITH BUBBA (1:55 p.m.): Since making seven birdies and an eagle in his first 12 holes yesterday, Bubba Watson has certainly cooled off. He had just two birdies and a bogey over his last six holes Friday and today has four straight pars to open his round on the easier Palmer Course.
The biggest reason Watson hasn't made any birdies today? His putter. Yesterday, he averaged 1.4 putts per green in regulation. Today, he's averaging a not-so-hot two putts per green. -- Brian Wacker
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES (1:30 p.m.): While Tim Clark continues his climb toward the lead -- he's now one back and 4 under through his first six holes -- Joe Ogilvie isn't far behind. Ogilvie, though, could (and should) be closer to the lead if not for some missed putts in the second round.
After an eagle on No. 8 Friday, he missed putts from 6, 9 and 6 feet on his next three holes. Then he missed a 14-footer for eagle on No. 13.
"I hit it close every single hole," Ogilvie said. "It was a fun round to play because it was a very, very easy 66."
Today, Ogilvie is 1 under through his first six holes at Silver Rock, where he's taken nine putts so far. -- Brian Wacker
CLARK CHARGING (1:15 p.m.): It didn't take long for someone to make a run up the leaderboard here in Round 3 and that someone is Tim Clark.
It's been well-documented, Clark's 196 starts on the PGA TOUR without a victory, but he keeps moving up the leaderboard here. Clark was a runner-up at the Bob Hope Classic in 2005 and shot a 63 Friday -- his best score since the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship -- to move up 58 spots on the leaderboard.
Today, Clark is 3 under through his first five holes with three birdies and no bogeys at La Quinta -- and he's taken just five putts. That has him within two of leader Bubba Watson for the moment. -- Brian Wacker
COURSE ADVANTAGE (1:05 p.m.): One big reason why Bubba Watson's two-day 18-under total is big: He did that playing the two toughest courses in the rotation. Now, he gets the two easiest (see below for more).
"My length is definitely going to play a part on that golf course because it's got wide fairways, I can rip it if I want to," Watson said of Silver Rock, where he shot 62 yesterday.
Not that he's getting ahead of himself. Watson was tied for third going into the final round last year, shot 75 in the wind and finished in a tie for 25th. "I got three days left," Watson said. "If it was the last day I would be a lot happier." -- Brian Wacker
|
THEY'RE ALL CHASING BUBBA (12:45 p.m.): The last -- and only -- time Bubba Watson led a PGA TOUR event by himself was at the 2007 Shell Houston Open. He led by three that week and shot a final-round 72 to finish in a tie for second. If he shoots that today, he'll be in trouble.
If Watson shoots anything near the 10-under 62 he had yesterday -- a course record that included a front-nine record of 29 at Silver Rock -- he may run away and hide, as much as anyone can at the Bob Hope Classic.
Though it's still chilly, conditions are good for scoring today in La Quinta and that should add up to a lot of low numbers, much the way we saw yesterday.
The 62 by Watson, by the way, also matched his career low and featured an eagle on the 335-yard, par-4 fifth, where he drove the green, and a chip-in par save at No. 16. -- Brian Wacker
| Players We're Watching | ||||||||||||
|
| Live Essentials | ||||
|
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner - SI Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 