Tiger Woods Takes A Four Shot Lead Into Sunday At Doral
By Les Bailey
Tiger Woods is quickly becoming what golf fans have waited five years for, and professional golfers throughout the world have been dreading, his old self. A confident Tiger Woods added seven more birdies to his weekly total on Saturday at The Blue Monster with the seventh coming at the 18th hole. Woods will be paired again, with Graeme McDowell as the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship gets underway on Sunday afternoon.
Woods shot a -5 under par 67 on Saturday to take his three day total to -18 for his weeks work, and a four shot lead over playing partner, Graeme McDowell. McDowell was six strokes back, and quickly getting too far behind the leader as they got to the drivable par four 16th hole. He would chip in for and eagle two, and with Woods making par, cut the lead to four.
He got another opening on 17, when Tigers drive pushed a little too far right, and got stuck in a palm tree. Believe me, those Cabbage Palm trees in Florida can gobble up a golf ball in a hurry. He got lucky, and was able to identify his ball, and got a drop, instead of having to go back to the tee. McDowell got in with par and Tiger his only bogey on the back nine, and one of only two on the day.
McDowell’s approach shot at the very dangerous closing hole, would run to the back of the green, some 80 feet from the cup. Faced with having to draw his approach shot, something he doesn’t often do, into a cut wind, Tiger dropped his approach shot 12 feet to the right of the flag. McDowell lagged to less than a foot, and in Tigeresque fashion, Woods drained his putt, did a huge fist pump, and will carry a four shot lead into Sunday’s action.
Since getting a putting tip from Steve Stricker earlier in the week, Woods has turned into a putting machine. He has a three day total of only 74 putts, and a Tiger record of 23 birdies in three rounds of golf. The performance has him in position to win his 17th career WGC event, and his first since 2007. Tiger is 39 and 2 when taking a lead into the final round of a PGA tournament, The only time he has ever lost a lead of more than two shots was in 2010 against an 18-man field at the Chevron World Challenge, when McDowell beat him in a playoff.
With Sunday being the last round of golf to be played on The Blue Monster before restorations begin, and change the old historic layout forever, the star studded field promises to give golf fans one last memorable event before Donald Trump brings in the bulldozers. If Tiger doesn’t show up ready to play, an entire field of world class players will be ready to put a halt to what looks like a big comeback for a golfer who has spent the last five years trying to do just that. Come Back.
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