Tiger on track at Bay Hill for first title of the year
Tiger on track at Bay Hill for first title of the year
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters): The title drought may be about to end for Tiger Woods. Woods, winless in six tournaments this year, took a big step toward ending his malaise when he carded a six- under-par 66 in the third round at the Bay Hill Invitational to jump to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday.
The world number one and winner of three of last year's four major championships, matched the day's best round in ideal conditions on the Bay Hill course to stand at 12-under 204 with 18 holes to play.
Woods heads into Sunday leading by one stroke over Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who carded a 68, while Chris Perry was two shots behind after a 69.
Scott McCarron was only one stroke from the lead until he triple-bogeyed the final hole to plummet four strokes off the pace.
Woods made his move early, picking up five birdies in a sizzling six-hole stretch on the front nine. He added two more birdies coming home, along with his lone bogey of the day at the par-five 16th, where his second shot found the pond in front of the green.
"I made a couple of putts early in the round, which got me started, and from there I just kept plugging away," said Woods, who has won 23 of 27 times when taking a lead into the final round of a professional tournament.
One of those four failures to hang on came just two weeks ago at the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic, where he was overtaken by Thomas Bjorn at the final hole.
Woods, who last year became just the fifth player to complete the modern Grand Slam, gears his career toward those four majors and The Masters is only three weeks away.
"(The Masters is) on the back of everyone's mind, but right now we are all out there trying to play well and get ourselves in there with a chance to win," he said.
Garcia, three shots behind with three holes left, birdied the 16th before picking up another shot at the last, where he drilled a nine-iron to five feet to close within one.
"I'd love to be in front, but one behind is a good place to be," said the popular 21-year-old Spaniard, who two years ago succumbed by one stroke to Woods at the PGA Championship.
"Tiger's a great player and it looks like he's playing better. More than going head-to-head with Tiger, I'm really happy to have a chance of winning," Garcia said.
"If I beat Tiger, I still might not win the tournament. I'm happy I'm playing well. Even if I don't win, I don't really care much, because just to play well is a great feeling."
Florioli leads
In Madeira, Portugal, little-known Massimo Florioli produced seven birdies in nine holes on Saturday at Santo da Serra to take a two-stroke lead in the Madeira Island Open.
Florioli's seven-under-par 65 took him to a 15-under-par total of 201, ahead of two Britons, John Bickerton and David Lynn, with Sweden's overnight leader Niclas Fasth battling back from a poor start to join a quartet three strokes adrift.
The Italian leader, who lost his tour card last season, is aiming to follow in the footsteps of fellow countryman Costantino Rocca and he certainly played in the same vein as his hero as he gave himself birdie chances at every hole.
He took nine of them from the third and would have been one better if he had not left his six-foot chance on the last an inch short.
It is a golden chance for the 29-year-old from Mantova, now living in Monaco, to make his breakthrough at last.
Florioli has twice finished runner-up on the European Tour and led the lucrative Benson and Hedges International won by top European Darren Clarke three years ago with 16 holes to go before finishing third.
But loss of confidence in his swing saw his fortunes plummet, culminating in a lost card last year.
Playing on the lower European Challenge Tour, he was lucky to get into this week's event.
"I want to make this count because I've worked hard to get my game back," said Florioli.
"After I lost my card I was very disappointed, so I worked all winter on my swing and my mental approach and now I'm waiting for the results of my work.
Florioli took over the lead from Fasth, whose early double- bogey and two bogeys dropped him off the leaderboard, but the Swede, who led from start to finish last year, got back in the hunt with five birdies and only one more dropped shot.
Fasth shares fourth place with American Craig Hainline, 48- year-old Irish veteran Des Smyth, whose last win was over seven years ago, and Briton Stephen Dodd.
Results
Bay Hill Invitational (U.S. unless noted): 204 - Tiger Woods 71-67-66 205 - Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71-66-68 206 - Chris Perry 71-66-69 207 - Vijay Singh (Fij) 71-70-66 208 - Greg Norman (Aus) 69-71-68, Harrison Frazar 70-70-68, Lee
Janzen 67-72-69, Phil Mickelson 66-72-70, Steve Lowery 68-
70-70, Scott McCarron 67-70-71 209 - Brandt Jobe 70-73-66, Jeff Sluman 67-74-68, Scott Hoch 68-
72-69, Grant Waite (Nzl) 66-71-72, Paul Goydos 68-68-73 210 - Tom Lehman 71-71-68, Dennis Paulson 66-75-69, Steve Pate
66-73-71, Fulton Allem (Rsa) 70-67-73 211 - Rocco Mediate 77-67-67, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 71-72-68, Kevin
Sutherland 73-69-69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69-72-70, David
Berganio 70-71-70, Frank Lickliter 70-71-70, Frank Nobilo
(Nzl) 72-69-70, Robert Damron 72-66-73 212 - Nick Faldo (Gbr) 72-72-68, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72-70-70 213 - K.J. Choi (Kor) 71-72-70, David Frost (Rsa) 68-70-75
Madeira Island Open (Britain unless stated): 201 - Massimo Florioli (Ita) 68-68-65 203 - David Lynn 68-71-64, John Bickerton 67-67-69 204 - Craig Hainline (U.S.) 69-70-65, Stephen Dodd 71-67-66,
Des Smyth (Irl) 66-70-68, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69-63-72 205 - Andrew Oldcorn 67-69-69 207 - Fredrik Henge (Swe) 70-68-69, Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 69-68-
70, Markus Brier (Aut) 68-68-71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68-
68-71 208 - Philip Golding 67-72-69, Francis Valera (Spa) 73-65-70,
Stuart Little 72-66-70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 69-68-71, Gary
Emerson 69-67-72 209 - Santiago Luna (Spa) 70-72-67, Simon Hurd 73-69-67, Marc
Pendaries (Fra) 70-71-68, Pehr Magnebrant (Swe) 70-70-69,
Jeremy Robinson 68-72-69, Mark Mouland 70-69-70, Seve
Ballesteros (Spa) 71-68-70, Malcolm Mackenzie 66-73-70,
Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70-66-73