U.S. Open is Gary Woodland’s to lose heading into final round
Gary Woodland made three miraculous par saves in Saturday’s third round at Pebble Beach and takes a one-shot lead into the final round of the U.S. Open
It’s a great irony of Saturday’s third round of the U.S. Open that Gary Woodland, one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, may have just saved his tournament with his short game.
Woodland, the 36-hole leader, was two-under on his round through 11 when he stepped to the 12th hole. His tee shot on the par-three came up short and nestled in thick rough bordering the bunker in front of the green. With both feet in the bunker and the ball well above him, Woodland could only hack it out into the rough on the right side of the green. Chipping for his third shot, the ball bounced twice on the green before making a left turn straight for the flag and dropping in for an unlikely par.
Woodland found himself in the same situation again on the next hole, his approach at the 13th in the rough short of the green. This time he was able to hit a good recovery shot to four feet and saved par again. But the biggest break of his tournament, one that may determine whether he wins his first major championship tomorrow, came on the par-five 14th.
Woodland took out driver on the tee, but while making his swing his foot slipped out from under him, the ball coming up in the right-hand rough. Unable to make clean contact with his second shot, he hooked it into more thick rough on the left. After laying up on his third shot, his fourth landed on the green but started rolling back down the false front. Almost miraculously, however, the ball came to a stop, teetering precariously on the edge of a steep ridge. Still faced with a 43-foot putt to save par, Woodland holed it for his third straight par save.
Those escapes from the trouble that often greets players at Pebble Beach saved Woodland’s one-under round of 69. At 11-under for the tournament, he’ll take a one-shot lead over Justin Rose into Sunday’s final round.
It’s not how the 35-year-old Kansas native usually goes about winning golf tournaments. Woodland is a big, athletic golfer whose biggest strength is his length off the tee. He ranks 11th in driving distance this year on the PGA Tour. He usually struggles on the greens, ranking 150th in strokes gained: putting. But this week at Pebble Beach, Woodland is third in that category.
He’s never held the 54-hole lead of a major championship before in his career, but Woodland has managed to turn around his lackluster record in majors within the past year. Without a top-10 finish in his first 27 career starts, he finally got one by finishing in sixth place at the PGA Championship last August, a tournament where he held the 36-hole lead. He was also eighth at the PGA last month and now has two top-10s in his last three majors.
Rose, Woodland’s closest challenger, is no stranger to major success. The 2013 U.S. Open champion shot a three-under 68 on Saturday and is 10-under through 54 holes. Paired with Woodland in the final group, Rose made birdies at 12 and 14 but missed a good look from 10 feet at the par-three 17th. He managed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the par-five 18th hole, rolling in a birdie putt to get within one of the lead entering the final round.
Rose, though, was plagued by the same problems he’s faced all week. He hit less than half the greens in regulation on Saturday and ranks just 63rd in the field this week. Where he’s made up for it is on the greens. Rose leads the field in strokes gained: putting through three rounds and needed just 23 putts today, the fewest of any player.
Woodland and Rose are three shots clear of the rest of the field, but should they stumble on Sunday there’s a big group waiting behind him. Two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka is in a tie for third, four off the lead, after a bogey-free round of 68. Koepka struck the ball as well as anyone today, finishing third in fairways hit and first in greens in regulation. But he again struggled with his putting, taking 29 putts, good only for 51st in the field. For the week he’s just 58th in strokes gained: putting.
Kopeka, looking to become the first three-peat U.S. Open champion in more than a century, looked to get closer to Woodland on the 18th. Stuck behind the large tree in the middle of the fairway, he tried to curve a three-wood under it but came up short in the rough. He failed to make birdie from there, settling for a disappointing par. He still hasn’t made a bogey, though, since his eighth hole on Friday.
Joining Koepka at seven-under are Chez Reavie and Louis Oosthuizen. Rory McIlroy is a shot further behind after a one-under 70, but it could have been so much better for the 2011 champion. McIlroy put on his usual performance with the driver, constantly hitting long drives down the fairway and leaving himself good opportunities to make birdie. But he failed to convert those chances time and again on Saturday, and a costly bogey at the 17th dropped him to six shots behind. He managed to birdie the last—again missing a good look for eagle—and heads into Sunday five behind Woodland.
The bad news for McIlroy and everyone behind him is that no one has won the U.S. Open coming from more than four shots back on Sunday in 21 years. Rose has been in this situation before, coming back from two down to win in 2013. Woodland has never been in this position, but the par saves he made on Saturday certainly showed off the type of pedigree seen in a major champion.