SBS Championship, Round 3
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
BACK ON TOP (10:30 p.m.): What a wild ride for Lucas Glover on Saturday. He began the day with a three-shot lead, quickly lost it, was 2 over at one point with back-to-back bogeys late on the front nine and ended the day where he started it -- in the lead.
That lead is a lot smaller now at just one stroke with Geoff Ogilvy nipping at him, but Glover will have a chance to go wire-to-wire on Sunday thanks to three birdies over his last five holes. And while Kapalua looks nothing like a U.S. Open course, plenty of former Open champs are lurking. In addition to Glover and Ogilvy, Retief Goosen and Angel Cabrera are in the mix. So is a re-dedicated Ryan Moore, who began working on his swing with his old UNLV buddy Troy Denton late last year. The results for Moore have been real: three top-10s to end 2009 and a strong showing at Kapalua this week.
All this should add up to a super Sunday with nine players within four shots of Glover's lead. No one will end the week at 31 under -- something that looked entirely possible yesterday -- but there won't be any less drama. -- Brian Wacker
FINALLY, A BOGEY (9:50 p.m.): Geoff Ogilvy just made his first bogey in 34 holes after finding a fairway bunker off the tee on the par-4 16th, where he was forced to lay up short of the green and unable to get up-and-down. Before that, the last bogey he made was on the 17th hole of the opening round. Meanwhile, Matt Kuchar, who was the lone player in the field without a bogey coming into today, still doesn't have one -- he double-bogeyed the the par-3 11th. -- Brian Wacker
THIRD ROUND WINDING DOWN (9:30 p.m.): Lucas Glover is finally back to even par thanks to a birdie on No. 14 after spending most of the day over par, but he and everyone else still trail Geoff Ogilvy.
Among those trailing is John Rollins, who won't be happy about an inconsistent day of three birdies, two bogeys and nothing but pars on the back nine so far. He will be pleased about the Dallas Cowboys, though. They just took a 24-7 lead on the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Playoffs. Rollins is a Cowboys season-ticket holder and friends with Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, not a bad golfer in his own rite. -- Brian Wacker
OPEN CLASS (9:15 p.m.): What do the top four players on the leaderboard have in common? They're all U.S. Open champs. Lucas Glover, who began the day up three but is now two back, won last year, while Geoff Ogilvy won in 2006, Angel Cabrera in 2007 and Retief Goosen in 2001 and 2004. Right behind them? Former U.S. Amateur champion Ryan Moore. -- Brian Wacker
GOOSE IS CLOSE (8:50 p.m.): Retief Goosen even sneaks up on the lead quietly. While Geoff Ogily and Lucas Glover jostle atop the leaderboard, the soft-spoken South African has put together a very solid round with five birdies and no bogeys with just two holes left in his round. Goosen is a perfect 15-for-15 from inside 10 feet today and he has been solid with his ball-striking, hitting 12 of 16 greens in regulation. That has him at 12 under and just three off the lead (which, surprise, surprise, has just been taken by Geoff Ogilvy thanks to another birdie). -- Brian Wacker
GETTING ONE BACK (8:25 p.m.): The par-5 ninth couldn't have come at a better time for Lucas Glover. The easiest hole on the course all week just gave up another birdie with Glover rolling in a short birdie putt after reaching the green in two. That stopped the bleeding of back-to-back bogeys and gets him to 14 under and back into a tie for the lead -- for now. -- Brian Wacker
CHANGE AT THE TOP (8:12 p.m.): Thanks to his third birdie in his last four holes, and a sluggish start by Lucas Glover, defending champion Geoff Ogilvy has taken the lead by himself at 14 under. Glover, meanwhile, has been bitten by a balky putter. Despite hitting all eight of his greens in regulation, he's 2 over on the day with 18 putts through eight holes. -- Brian Wacker
SHOT OF THE DAY? (7:58 p.m.): Earlier, Ryan Moore drained a 40-foot putt for eagle. Shot of the day? You be the judge. The video is below. Right now, it's hard to argue otherwise given how difficult Kapalua is playing with the wind finally blowing. -- Brian Wacker
(SOMEWHAT) BIZARRE STAT OF THE DAY (7:45 p.m.): Kapalua isn't a place you want to miss the fairway. Nor is it easy to given how wide they are. Paul Casey, though, has only hit three of his first nine fairways today, yet he has four birdies and no bogeys through 12 holes. One reason he's scored so well: He's 11 of 12 on putts inside 10 feet. He's also 1-for-2 on putts over 25 feet. -- Brian Wacker
LOOKING AHEAD (7:30 p.m.): Of the 28 players in the SBS Championship on Maui, all but eight of them are going over to Oahu for the Sony Open next week, the first full-field tournament of the season.
Those headed home: Paul Casey, Ogilvy, Kenny Perry, Nick Watney, Heath Slocum, Michael Bradley, Ryan Moore and Martin Laird. Casey is the defending champion the following week at Abu Dhabi, which essentially is halfway around the world. Ogilvy also is playing in that European Tour event.
Perry, who also has Middle East plans, is skipping Sony after doing some homework.
"I've played in 20 times and my best is like 32nd," Perry said with a laugh.
Not quite, but he was close. Since his rookie season in 1987, Perry has played 14 times at Waialae and his best result was a tie for 16th in 1998. He was 16 under and finished 12 shots behind John Huston.
Among veterans who are coming over to Honolulu for one week are Els, Singh, David Toms, Davis Love III, Justin Rose and Luke Donald. -- Associated Press
BIRDIE ALERT (7:10 p.m.): Not everyone is struggling with the wind at Kapalua. Pat Perez just drained his third-straight birdie and fourth of the day (he also has an eagle) to get to 6 under through 11 holes in what is the best round of the day so far (Y.E. Yang is also 6 under today). Perez has yet to miss a green in regulation and has hit all but one fairway so far. More importantly, his approach shot distance to the pin average has been a stellar 20 feet, 3 inches. Add it all up and Perez is now in a tie for third -- with seven others at 11 under. -- Brian Wacker
MOORE MAKING A MOVE (7 p.m.): Prior to this week, Ryan Moore had played his last three tournaments in a combined 44-under par, which included a third-place finish at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions last month in China. He doesn't appear to be slowing down any this week, either. Moore is 2 under through his first five holes thanks to an eagle on the par-5 fifth, where he poured in a 40-footer. On the week, Moore has hit 29 of 34 fairways (second in the field) and 36 of 41 greens in regulation (eighth).
This is exactly why Moore will succeed in what is his fifth full season on the PGA TOUR. He drives it long and reasonably straight and though his short game can be finicky at times, he has a habit of being streaky good (last year, he had seven rounds of 65 or better). After a stellar amateur career and a rocky start to his pro career thanks to a hand injury, it looks like Moore is ready to realize the potential he showed as a top junior (click here to follow Moore's round live with Shot Tracker). -- Brian Wacker
SCORING SLOWING DOWN? (6:35 p.m.): Everyone is now on the golf course with the final pairing of Lucas Glover and John Rollins having teed off about 20 minutes ago. With more wind right now, scoring (and the pace of play) seems to have slowed. Seven players are currently over par on their rounds today, including Dustin Johnson, who has plummeted down the leaderboard at 5 over through his first six holes thanks to a double bogey on the first hole and bogeys on Nos. 2, 4 and 6. Other than Y.E. Yang, who is 5 under through his first 11 thanks to four birdies in five holes to close out his front nine, no one is more than 3 under. This is just a guess, but Ernie Els's record of 31 under at Kapalua seems pretty safe right about now. -- Brian Wacker
MEMORABLE PAIRING (6:20 p.m.): One of the more notable pairings today: Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera. Well, perhaps a little less memorable for Perry since he was on the short end of that playoff at the Masters. But that wasn't the only time the two played together in 2009. In all, Perry and Cabrera were paired together five times last season, including against one another at The Presidents Cup. Perry got the better of Cabrera twice -- in the Foursomes at The Presidents Cup and in the final round of the PGA Championship. Perry would obviously give those back, and a lot more, though, for a green jacket. Cabrera, by the way, is 1 under today and Perry 1 over. See below for more. -- Brian Wacker
| Perry/Cabrera pairings in 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FAST START (6:05 p.m.): Pat Perez has climbed the leaderboard thanks to a birdie and an eagle over his last two holes. The birdie came at the par-4 fourth, where he stuck a wedge to 5 feet before sinking the putt. One hole later, he reached the 527-yard par-5 fifth in two and rolled in a 27-footer. That brings Perez to 3 under today and 8 under for the week in his first trip to Kapalua after his first career win at last year's 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer. -- Brian Wacker
MATTER OF COURSE (6:00 p.m.): There are two incontrovertible truths about Kapalua. One, when the wind doesn't blow, it's defenseless. Two, the back nine is where players are really doing some damage.
The par-5 ninth might be the easiest hole on the golf course this week -- it's playing to a 4.25 stroke average with three eagles and 37 birdies to just 15 pars and one bogey -- but the final nine has played more than two strokes under par.
Only three holes -- the par-3 11th, par-4 16th and par-4 17th -- rank among the nine most difficult holes at Kapalua so far. Meanwhile, the par-3 eighth, par-3 second, par-4 first and par-4 fourth rank first, third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Overall, the front nine is playing nearly a full-stroke more difficult. -- Brian Wacker
THE LONG AND STRAIGHT OF IT (5:50 p.m.): At one point yesterday, 11 players in the 28-man field were tied for the lead. No one's made a significant move yet today -- a little less than half the field has yet to tee off -- but there are a half-dozen players within five shots of Lucas Glover's lead. And of those in the top 10 on the leaderboard right now, five players (Glover, Kenny Perry, John Rollins, Ryan Moore and Martin Laird) ranked in the top 20 on the PGA TOUR in total driving (distance plus accuracy) in 2009. In other words, at Kapula it's drive for dough and putt for dough. -- Brian Wacker
YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (5:30 p.m.): "How steep is that downslope on the first? Looks unreal on the t.v." -- @ElliottSalle
In short, pretty steep. However it looks on TV, multiply that by a few. The same is true at Augusta National. You don't realize just how severe some of the hills and slopes are until you see them in person. Even HDTV doesn't do these places justice.
Check out our Inside the Course on Kapalua. It's turning out to be pretty prophetic with the wind being down much of the week. -- Brian Wacker
NO BOGEYS, NO PROBLEM (5:20 p.m.): We'll see in about a half-hour if Matt Kuchar can keep his bogey-free run alive -- he's the only player in the field without one so far.
Not surprisingly, guys who have played bogey-free golf at Kapalua through the first two rounds have a pretty good track record (see chart below), though Jim Furyk is the only one of the group to have gone on to win.
One reason Kuchar has been able to avoid black numbers this week: He's missed just three fairways (first in the field) and hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation (tied for fourth). -- Brian Wacker
| Bogey-free through 36 holes at Kapalua (since 1999) | ||||||||||||||||||
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NEW YEAR, SAME STORY (5:10 p.m.): Through two rounds at Kapalua last year, Geoff Ogilvy was 11 under. Through two rounds this year, he's ... 11 under. As mentioned earlier, Ogilvy didn't always have success at Kapalua. Now, he's starting to play more like fellow Aussie Stuart Appleby when he won here three straight years in 2004-2006.
"My first year here they had just redone the greens. They were really firm. It was really windy, and we had some crazy rain squalls come in," Ogilvy said. "I wondered what anybody saw in this place. We had extreme weather, the greens were rock hard.
"The next year, I enjoyed it more and all of the stuff around you can do around the hotel. And the golf course, we've had benign issues the last year. Sun shining, no rain and just a normal wind last year. Now this is even less wind. The more you play here the more you learn. The more you learn a course, the better you do. The better you do, the more you enjoy it."
Just look at the numbers (see chart below) to back it up: more greens in regulation, closer approach shots, better scrambling. -- Brian Wacker
| Geoff Ogilvy's career stats at Kapalua | ||||||||||||||||||
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GONE WITH THE WIND (4:55 p.m.): Lest you think the wind only affects tee shots or approach shots: "You are very uncomfortable over two and three-footers," Kenny Perry said yesterday. "[Friday] it was like a normal round of golf in the states."
That's especially true at Kapalua, which has probably the biggest greens on the PGA TOUR and also some of the most undulating.
"I was told at breakfast and lunch that nobody has been to Hawaii and had it this calm," Lucas Glover added. "We get to be a little more aggressive and club selection is a lot easier."
Glover also said that he wouldn't mind seeing the wind come up.
"This course is designed for the wind," he said. "I'm not going to say I play great in the wind. I enjoy playing in it. It's a little wrinkle." -- Brian Wacker
OGILVY'S TURNAROUND (4:40 p.m.): Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy will begin Round 3 in a tie for third place, but the Aussie hasn't always had success here. Prior to last year's victory, Ogilvy tied for 19th in 2007 and tied for 13th in 2006 -- not exactly a great showing in the limited-field event. And prior to 2007, he'd missed four cuts in four trips to nearby Oahu for the Sony Open in Hawaii. Obviously Waialae is a much different course, but still.
Ogilvy's last six rounds in Maui, however, have been a dramatic improvement over his first eight rounds (see chart below). In particular, he's cut down on the mistakes, making just seven bogeys or worse in the last six rounds compared to 31 in his first eight rounds. -- Brian Wacker
| Geoff Ogilvy's career stats at Kapalua | |||||||||||||||||||||
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ROUND 3 UNDER WAY (4:30 p.m.): What can we expect in Round 3 at Kapaula? If the first two days are any indication, more low scores. Lucas Glover's 15-under total is the lowest 36-hole start here in the last five years. Matt Kuchar, who is three shots back, has yet to make a bogey this week. You get the idea.
Yesterday, the wind died down as the day went on and if that happens again, players will be able to attack Kapalua, which is largely defenseless without the wind. Right now, winds in the area are a meager 10 mph out of the Southwest. -- Brian Wacker
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