The Live Report: Arnold Palmer Invitational, Round 3
| Live Report essentials | ||
|
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
WRAPPING UP ROUND 3 (6:08 p.m.): Who would have thought that less than four months into the season Ernie Els would have one win and be in position for another?
That's exactly what the big man will be going for on Sunday, though, as he takes a one-shot lead to the final round at Bay Hill, where he is the only player in double digits at 10 under. Ben Curtis was as well, until bogeying two of his final three holes.
Els, the only player to shoot three rounds in the 60s here, had just one bogey on an increasingly difficult day for scoring. He took 30 putts for a second straight day, but was spot on with his irons, hitting 14 of 18 greens in regulation for a second day in a row.
After winning once from 2005-2009, Els will have a chance to win twice in his last two starts come Sunday and for the second time in his career at Bay Hill. Clearly, his re-dedication to practice, some tweaks in his game and a reduced international schedule are paying big dividends for the Big Easy.
And just a reminder that with the threat of thunderstorms, Sunday's tee times have been moved up. Players will be sent off Nos. 1 and 10 in threesomes from 8:30-10:30 a.m. with an expected finish time of 3:30 p.m. ET. -- Brian Wacker
DIFFERENT DAY (6:05 p.m.): Phil Mickelson had his Dr. Jekyll -- or was it Mr. Hyde -- hat on Saturday during the third round.
Unlike in the second round when he shot 67, Mickelson's putter simply refused to cooperate. He needed 33 putts -- 10 more than the previous day -- and ended up with a 75.
Mickelson, who started the round one stroke off the lead, opened with a pair of bogeys and things didn't get much better. He was 4 over when he made his first birdie at the 16th hole. He followed with another birdie at No. 17 but bogeyed the last.
"I had a rough round today in that the ball just didn't seem to want to go in the hole," Mickelson said. "I didn't feel bad with the putter. My speed was off a little bit early. I was a little tentative with my feet.
"As I started to hit some good putts, they just weren't quite going in. Quite a difference from yesterday where they were all dropping, but it doesn't feel too different. It doesn't feel like I'm far off and it didn't feel dramatically different. When I looked up, the ball was online, which was important." -- Helen Ross
LUCKY BREAK (6:02 p.m.): He called it a "fortuitous" bounce. Three of them, to be exact.
Chris Couch's approach at the par-4 18th hole strayed a tad right and landed on the rocks rising out of the lake on the bank in front of the green. Three bounces later, the ball found the short grass -- instead of the water -- and settled 30 feet from the pin.
"I kept thinking, 'Please, please, bounce on the green, baby, bounce on the green,'" Couch recalled. "I thinned the shot just a touch and that made it cut a little bit more into the wind and I think that's why it came up a little short. I had not really hit a very unsolid shot all day and that was one of my first ones.
"I got a little aggressive with that shot, maybe shouldn't have. I'll think about it a little bit more tomorrow, maybe play a little safer. But got away with it today."
Couch went on to two-putt for par and a 69 that left him in sole possession of third. He's 7 under and three shots off the lead held by Ernie Els.
"I've never considered myself a very lucky person on the golf course, but you know, that was a great break at the right time here," Couch said. "Most of the time that will happen when you're like 4-over par, it doesn't even matter.
"But I was in a good position there and didn't need to take worse than a par on that hole, especially making double or worse if that goes in the water. So great break." -- Helen Ross
DOUBLE DIP (5:55 p.m.): Sunday could be a big day for the Molinari family as the two brothers try to win on different continents. Ironically, both are chasing South Africans. Edoardo is tied for fourth at Bay Hill, four strokes off the lead held by Ernie Els. Francesco is tied for eighth at the Open de Andalucia, five strokes behind Louis Oosthuizen. -- Helen Ross
BOGEY-FREE STREAK ENDS (5:40 p.m.): Ben Curtis' 31-hole bogey-free streak came to an end on the par-5 16th. Curtis laid up to 60 yards after finding the right fairway bunker off the tee, then sailed his wedge well over the flagstick, leaving a 66-foot two-putt for par. Like most everyone else who has putted from the back of that green, Curtis' first putt came up well short and he missed a 13-footer that would have saved par. Curtis is now tied with Ernie Els, who birdied No. 16, at 10 under as the third round winds down. -- Brian Wacker
CURTIS EXTENDS LEAD (5:21 p.m.): The only player in the field without a bogey on his scorecard today, Ben Curtis just added his fourth birdie of the day, rolling in a 6-foot, 7-inch putt on No. 15 to get to 11 under. That puts him two shots ahead of Ernie Els for the time being. -- Brian Wacker
GOING SOUTH, QUICKLY (4:59 p.m.): Jim Furyk moved up 54 spots on the leaderboard thanks to his morning 66. Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson? They've done the opposite, tumbling 57 and 17 spots, respectively.
Mickelson has been birdie-free here in Round 3, making four bogeys along the way while taking 28 putts through 15 holes.
Stricker's round has been more troubling. Stricker started the day tied for eighth, but is now tied for 65th after a birdie-free round of his own that's included four bogeys and two double bogeys through 15 holes. Normally a good ball-striker, Stricker has hit just six greens all day and he's taken 27 putts. -- Brian Wacker
SAM SAUNDERS UPDATE (4:50 p.m.): Arnold Palmer's grandson, otherwise known as Sam Saunders, made the cut here at Bay Hill, where he's a two-time club champion. Unfortunately for Saunders, though, moving day didn't go nearly as well as his first two rounds. Saunders shot a 5-over 77 Saturday with eight bogeys and three birdies. Saunders hit just half his fairways, but the bigger problem was with the putter. He took 31 putts and he made just one putt (out of 11) from outside 10 feet. -- Brian Wacker
CURTIS MOVES AHEAD (4:40 p.m.): It's been a bogey-free 28 holes now for Ben Curtis, who just became the first player to reach double digits under par today at Bay Hill with his third birdie of the day.
Curtis has been hitting it well all day -- he's missed just two greens through 12 holes. He's also putted well, taking a very-respectable 19 putts, which includes a perfect 9-for-9 effort from inside 10 feet and 3-for-7 from 10-25 feet. -- Brian Wacker
SCORING SLOWDOWN (4:14 p.m.): Even before Ernie Els' bogey on No. 11, where he just rammed a short par putt past the hole, the scoring hasn't been great here at Bay Hill, at least not in the afternoon.
Jim Furyk went low in the morning, but the scoring average is the highest it's been all week at 73.207. And in case you were wondering the par-4 18th is playing as the most difficult hole on the golf course right now with a stroke average of 4.353. There have been just three birdies there all day. See below for a round-by-round comparison. -- Brian Wacker
| Scoring Averages | |||||||||||||||
|
COUCH STILL CRUISING (3:59 p.m.): Calling Chris Couch's career up and down would be an understatement. He turned pro in 1995, has 128 starts on the PGA TOUR, 162 on the Nationwide Tour, one TOUR victory and five Nationwide Tour victories. Last year, he played on a Major Medical and made the cut three times in eight starts. The year before, he didn't play on TOUR at all because he was still recovering from shoulder surgery.
Here's Couch this week, though, a month removed from a tie for fourth at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, contending at Bay Hill. He's 3 under through 13 holes today and 7 under for the week. He has 21 events to earn just under $800,000 to keep his Major Medical through the rest of the year. So far, so good. In seven events, he's earned $313,677.
A win here at Bay Hill would take care of everything, but a top-5 finish would go a long way, too. Right now, Couch is a little over one good round away from that. -- Brian Wacker
CURTIS CRUISING (3:35 p.m.): The bogey-free streak continues for Ben Curtis, who has now gone 23 holes without a black number on the card. More importantly, the former British Open champ has made nine birdies over that stretch, including two here in the third round on Nos. 5 and 6. As such, Curtis is tied for the lead with Ernie Els at 9 under. -- Brian Wacker
HOW TO KNOCK YOURSELF FROM CONTENTION (3:10 p.m.): Dustin Johnson was one of the many players near the top of the leaderboard here in Round 3, and he still has a chance, but it's going to be a lot harder now. That's because Johnson just made a triple bogey on the par-4 11th hole. After hitting into a fairway bunker from the tee, Johnson's next shot sailed long and left and out of bounds. His next shot landed in a greenside bunker and he failed to get up-and-down, missing a 5 1/2-footer before tapping in for 7. That drops Johnson to 4 under and five back of the lead. -- Brian Wacker
MOVING ON UP (2:59 p.m.): Jim Furyk teed off in Saturday's second group with Henrik Stenson at 8:21 a.m. on Saturday. By the time he signed his scorecard just before noon, though, Furyk had moved into contention with a round of 66.
Furyk, who made the cut on the number, will enter the final round at 5 under for the tournament, and he's just three strokes off the current lead. He took advantage of the more generous conditions on the front nine, shooting an outward 31 and playing Nos. 4-10 in 6 under.
"We had a onesome in front of us (Martin Laird); so he was gone," Furyk said. "It was smooth sailing. We played very quickly today and I got off to a fast start. I think it was pretty calm and smooth sailing early, but once I got it 5 or 6 under, things tightened up a little bit more and I got a little more serious."
Furyk, who won last week's Transitions Championship, started the spurt with an 8-footer for birdie on the par-5 fourth hole, then rolled in a 6-footer at No. 5 and a 33-footer for eagle at the sixth. He made a 5-footer at No. 8 and a 15-footer from the fringe at the 10th to cap the run.
"This morning, conditions were pretty benign," Furyk said. "There was a light breeze. The greens had moisture in them and were holding and receptive and not quite as quick. Things started to dry out and the wind picked up.
"I thought some of the pin placements on the back nine were quite tricky. There were some very difficult pin placements. The back nine is probably going to play a little tougher today anyway but the wind picked up for us, the greens started getting a little firmer and a little faster, and it was a little bit more difficult." -- Helen Ross
SHAKEUP AT THE TOP (2:50 p.m.): At the start of the day, there were six former major winners hovering at or near the top of the leaderboard here at Bay Hill. Now? A few of them are still there, but Chris Couch, Dustin Johnson, Kevin Streelman and Edoardo Molinari have joined the growing list of contenders.
Ernie Els, meanwhile, has taken the lead by one thanks to birdies on each of his last two holes. Els got up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 fourth, then stuck his approach to inside 5 feet on the par-4 fifth to set up an easy birdie. -- Brian Wacker
WILD WEEK CONTINUES FOR LOVE (2:30 p.m.): Davis Love III has played three holes here in the third round and -- surprise! -- he still hasn't made a par. Unfortunately for Love, he has two bogeys and one birdie, dropping him two back of the lead. Love began the day with a four-way share of the lead at 7 under -- and with more birdies than pars. Now, he's closing in on more bogeys than pars, too. -- Brian Wacker
MICKELSON UPDATE (2:10 p.m.): Inconsistency has been the story of Phil Mickelson's season and this week hasn't been any different. Coming off a 5-under 67 in Friday's second round, Mickelson appeared to have his game headed in the right direction. Then he went out and bogeyed the first two holes Saturday.
On the par-4 first, Mickelson was unable to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker, missing a putt from just inside 8 feet. On the par-3 second, Mickelson missed the green right, then missed another putt from just inside 8 feet.
Mickelson is now 4 under for the week and four shots back of the lead of Chris Couch, who just made another birdie. Click here to follow Mickelson live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
FAST START (1:53 p.m.): With spectacular weather and the course continuing to play a little soft, Bay Hill is yielding some pretty low scores early in the third round. Case in point: Chris Couch has joined the gaggle of leaders at 7 under with three birdies in his first five holes. Only one of those birdies came from outside 3 feet and he's hit four of five greens in regulation so far. -- Brian Wacker
EASY DOES IT (1:40 p.m.): For his second tournament in a row, Ernie Els finds himself in contention. A big reason why? He's dominating the par-5s the way he used to. Entering this week, Els played 60 par 5s on the PGA TOUR. Of those 60 holes, he's made birdie or better 39 times, which ranks best on TOUR. This week, he's made birdie or better on five of the eight par 5s he's played so far. -- Brian Wacker
| Ernie Els - This Week vs. Field vs. 2010 Season | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (1:19 p.m.): It's been a wild week for Davis Love III -- 14 birdies, 12 pars, nine bogeys and one eagle to be exact. A closer look reveals even more bizarre numbers (see below). If Love is going to break free from the four-way tie atop the leaderboard, though, he's going to have to do it with fewer smoke and mirrors. He can't keep this up after all, can he? -- Brian Wacker
| Davis Love III: Most hole-outs in an event (ShotLink Era - since 2003) | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Feet of Putts Made vs. Feet of Hole Outs | ||||
|
| Davis Love III: Hole-outs in 2010 | ||||||||||||
|
GOING LOW (1:03 p.m.): The leaders won't tee off for nearly another hour, but they'll have even more company close behind them when they do. Jim Furyk matched the low round of the week this morning with a 6-under 66. Kevin Streelman, meanwhile, is 4 under through his first 10 holes.
Furyk, who is now just two shots back and coming off his first win in nearly two years, wasn't exactly great with his ball-striking Saturday -- he hit just 10 greens in regulation. But it doesn't matter when you scramble the way Furyk did. He made five birdies, one eagle, just one bogey and took only 23 putts.
If Furyk keeps playing like that, his second win in as many weeks might not be far behind. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Furyk's scorecard from Saturday. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.
EARLY FINISH SUNDAY? (12:50 p.m.): The threat of thunderstorms Sunday afternoon and more rain on Monday has prompted tournament officials to move up the tee times for the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Players will be sent off Nos. 1 and 10 in threesomes from 8:30-10:30 a.m. with an expected finish time of 3:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday should be fine, though, with highs in the upper 70s and winds in the 10-20 mph range. Warmer and more humid air will move through the area on Sunday bringing instability to the atmosphere and rain in the afternoon. -- Helen Ross
MODEST GAINS (12:35 p.m.): Ernie Els wasn't exactly a happy camper when he came to the sixth tee on Friday. He had just three-putted No. 5, making his second bogey of the day, and faced a tough shot to the sixth fairway around a kidney-shaped lake.
Els' drive hit into the bank and rolled back into shallow water. He took his shoes off and hit the ball back into the fairway, then hit his third shot on the par 5 just to the right of the green and got up and down for par.
The affable South African, who went on to shoot 69 and tie for the lead at 7 under, would later say that the par was big. So was the fact that the ball was playable in the water.
"(I was) one slip away from going snorkeling," Els said.
But he made it clear that all he removed were his shoes. Els wasn't going to follow in the footsteps of Henrik Stenson, who removed most of his clothes to hit a shot from the water at the 2009 World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
"I didn't get in my boxers," Els said, grinning. "I'll never do that." -- Helen Ross
TWO FOR ONE (12:20 p.m.): Ernie Els is using two caddies this year -- his long-time looper, Ricci Roberts, and Dan Quinn, a former NHL player who lives in South Florida like the transplanted South African and has become a good friend.
Each will caddie in 13 events, and the majors are split evenly between them, as well. Quinn will tote the bag at the Masters and PGA Championship while Roberts has dibs on the U.S. Open and British Open.
Roberts was on the bag at TPC Blue Monster at Doral two weeks ago when Els won the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
Els, who was second in the Masters in 2000 and '04, isn't worried about bringing an untested caddie with him to the season's first major. The two are headed to Augusta National on Monday.
"I think it's going to be a great change," Els said. "Can you imagine Dan -- it will be a dream come true for him. Can you imagine how excited he's going to be? Not that Ricci's not going to be, but I think it's a great change for us. ...
"(Dan's) such a great guy. I need support more than somebody telling me where to hit it and where to hit the putts, because I've been there so many times. I just need a strong guy next to me, and he is and he's got a good character and he's a good friend.
"So we'll team up well together." -- Helen Ross
HALF FULL (12 p.m.): Davis Love III has is trying not to try so hard this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. He's gotten in his own way too many times this year, so he wants simply to let things happen at Bay Hill.
He's had quite a roller coaster ride so far. Love has made 14 birdies and an eagle in his first 36 holes to hold at least a share of the lead after each round. Friday's round was particularly unusual as he played the back nine without making a single par -- and he only made five all day.
Still Love, who shot 71 on Friday, starts the third round tied for the lead at 7 under with Ernie Els, Ben Curtis and D.J. Trahan. His mental guru, Dr. Bob Rotella, would be proud of the way he's handling himself.
"I always look at the positive," Love said. "If you would have said Wednesday night at 7:45, whenever I was leaving the course, and said you'll be 7 under after two days and right at the top of the leaderboard, I'd have taken it. It's right where you want to be. You want to be in the hunt.
" ... I'm good at seeing the glass half- to three-quarters full. You know, when Trevor Immelman goes and says something about my round today, he's not going to say, well, he buried it in the bunker and he hit it fat on 7. He's going to say, man, he is chipping and putting good, and he's driving it long.
"That's the way I've got to look at it. I've got to look at it like I'm where a lot of guys want to be and I'm hitting a lot of good shots and just go build on that." -- Helen Ross
| Groups We're Watching | ||||||||||||
|
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FANTASY
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner Sports Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 