Tiger on track at Bay Hill for first title of the year<\/p>\n
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters): The title drought may be about to
\nend for Tiger Woods. Woods, winless in six tournaments this year,
\ntook a big step toward ending his malaise when he carded a six-
\nunder-par 66 in the third round at the Bay Hill Invitational to
\njump to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The world number one and winner of three of last year's four
\nmajor championships, matched the day's best round in ideal
\nconditions on the Bay Hill course to stand at 12-under 204 with
\n18 holes to play.<\/p>\n
Woods heads into Sunday leading by one stroke over Spaniard
\nSergio Garcia, who carded a 68, while Chris Perry was two shots
\nbehind after a 69.<\/p>\n
Scott McCarron was only one stroke from the lead until he
\ntriple-bogeyed the final hole to plummet four strokes off the
\npace.<\/p>\n
Woods made his move early, picking up five birdies in a
\nsizzling six-hole stretch on the front nine. He added two more
\nbirdies coming home, along with his lone bogey of the day at the
\npar-five 16th, where his second shot found the pond in front of
\nthe green.<\/p>\n
"I made a couple of putts early in the round, which got me
\nstarted, and from there I just kept plugging away," said Woods,
\nwho has won 23 of 27 times when taking a lead into the final
\nround of a professional tournament.<\/p>\n
One of those four failures to hang on came just two weeks ago
\nat the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic, where he was
\novertaken by Thomas Bjorn at the final hole.<\/p>\n
Woods, who last year became just the fifth player to complete
\nthe modern Grand Slam, gears his career toward those four majors
\nand The Masters is only three weeks away.<\/p>\n
"(The Masters is) on the back of everyone's mind, but right
\nnow we are all out there trying to play well and get ourselves in
\nthere with a chance to win," he said.<\/p>\n
Garcia, three shots behind with three holes left, birdied the
\n16th before picking up another shot at the last, where he drilled
\na nine-iron to five feet to close within one.<\/p>\n
"I'd love to be in front, but one behind is a good place to
\nbe," said the popular 21-year-old Spaniard, who two years ago
\nsuccumbed by one stroke to Woods at the PGA Championship.<\/p>\n
"Tiger's a great player and it looks like he's playing better.
\nMore than going head-to-head with Tiger, I'm really happy to have
\na chance of winning," Garcia said.<\/p>\n
"If I beat Tiger, I still might not win the tournament. I'm
\nhappy I'm playing well. Even if I don't win, I don't really care
\nmuch, because just to play well is a great feeling."<\/p>\n
Florioli leads<\/p>\n
In Madeira, Portugal, little-known Massimo Florioli produced
\nseven birdies in nine holes on Saturday at Santo da Serra to take
\na two-stroke lead in the Madeira Island Open.<\/p>\n
Florioli's seven-under-par 65 took him to a 15-under-par total
\nof 201, ahead of two Britons, John Bickerton and David Lynn, with
\nSweden's overnight leader Niclas Fasth battling back from a poor
\nstart to join a quartet three strokes adrift.<\/p>\n
The Italian leader, who lost his tour card last season, is
\naiming to follow in the footsteps of fellow countryman Costantino
\nRocca and he certainly played in the same vein as his hero as he
\ngave himself birdie chances at every hole.<\/p>\n
He took nine of them from the third and would have been one
\nbetter if he had not left his six-foot chance on the last an inch
\nshort.<\/p>\n
It is a golden chance for the 29-year-old from Mantova, now
\nliving in Monaco, to make his breakthrough at last.<\/p>\n
Florioli has twice finished runner-up on the European Tour and
\nled the lucrative Benson and Hedges International won by top
\nEuropean Darren Clarke three years ago with 16 holes to go before
\nfinishing third.<\/p>\n
But loss of confidence in his swing saw his fortunes plummet,
\nculminating in a lost card last year.<\/p>\n
Playing on the lower European Challenge Tour, he was lucky to
\nget into this week's event.<\/p>\n
"I want to make this count because I've worked hard to get my
\ngame back," said Florioli.<\/p>\n
"After I lost my card I was very disappointed, so I worked all
\nwinter on my swing and my mental approach and now I'm waiting for
\nthe results of my work.<\/p>\n
Florioli took over the lead from Fasth, whose early double-
\nbogey and two bogeys dropped him off the leaderboard, but the
\nSwede, who led from start to finish last year, got back in the
\nhunt with five birdies and only one more dropped shot.<\/p>\n
Fasth shares fourth place with American Craig Hainline, 48-
\nyear-old Irish veteran Des Smyth, whose last win was over seven
\nyears ago, and Briton Stephen Dodd.<\/p>\n
Results<\/p>\n
Bay Hill Invitational (U.S. unless noted):
\n 204 - Tiger Woods 71-67-66
\n 205 - Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71-66-68
\n 206 - Chris Perry 71-66-69
\n 207 - Vijay Singh (Fij) 71-70-66
\n 208 - Greg Norman (Aus) 69-71-68, Harrison Frazar 70-70-68, Lee<\/p>\n
Janzen 67-72-69, Phil Mickelson 66-72-70, Steve Lowery 68-<\/p>\n
70-70, Scott McCarron 67-70-71
\n 209 - Brandt Jobe 70-73-66, Jeff Sluman 67-74-68, Scott Hoch 68-<\/p>\n
72-69, Grant Waite (Nzl) 66-71-72, Paul Goydos 68-68-73
\n 210 - Tom Lehman 71-71-68, Dennis Paulson 66-75-69, Steve Pate<\/p>\n
66-73-71, Fulton Allem (Rsa) 70-67-73
\n 211 - Rocco Mediate 77-67-67, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 71-72-68, Kevin<\/p>\n
Sutherland 73-69-69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69-72-70, David<\/p>\n
Berganio 70-71-70, Frank Lickliter 70-71-70, Frank Nobilo<\/p>\n
(Nzl) 72-69-70, Robert Damron 72-66-73
\n 212 - Nick Faldo (Gbr) 72-72-68, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72-70-70
\n 213 - K.J. Choi (Kor) 71-72-70, David Frost (Rsa) 68-70-75<\/p>\n
Madeira Island Open (Britain unless stated):
\n 201 - Massimo Florioli (Ita) 68-68-65
\n 203 - David Lynn 68-71-64, John Bickerton 67-67-69
\n 204 - Craig Hainline (U.S.) 69-70-65, Stephen Dodd 71-67-66,<\/p>\n
Des Smyth (Irl) 66-70-68, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69-63-72
\n 205 - Andrew Oldcorn 67-69-69
\n 207 - Fredrik Henge (Swe) 70-68-69, Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 69-68-<\/p>\n
70, Markus Brier (Aut) 68-68-71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68-<\/p>\n
68-71
\n 208 - Philip Golding 67-72-69, Francis Valera (Spa) 73-65-70,<\/p>\n
Stuart Little 72-66-70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 69-68-71, Gary<\/p>\n
Emerson 69-67-72
\n 209 - Santiago Luna (Spa) 70-72-67, Simon Hurd 73-69-67, Marc<\/p>\n
Pendaries (Fra) 70-71-68, Pehr Magnebrant (Swe) 70-70-69,<\/p>\n
Jeremy Robinson 68-72-69, Mark Mouland 70-69-70, Seve<\/p>\n
Ballesteros (Spa) 71-68-70, Malcolm Mackenzie 66-73-70,<\/p>\n
Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70-66-73<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tiger-on-track-at-bay-hill-for-first-title-of-the-year-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }