Day 3: Goggin's not letting go just yet at Memorial

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Mathew Goggin of Australia takes a three-shot lead into the final round of the Memorial Tournament.

Jun. 1, 2008
By AP and Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.COM Senior Correspondent

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) -- Mathew Goggin tried to keep his balance on the bank of a creek, looking for a way out of trouble at the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley. He quickly abandoned those thoughts, chipped out to the 14th fairway and took a bogey.

Muirfield Village was no place for heroics Saturday, not in such difficult conditions, not with a guy looking for his first PGA TOUR victory.

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It was that type of patience that carried Goggin to a 1-under 71 in the rain-delayed third round, giving him a three-shot lead and the highest score by a 54-hole leader at the Memorial in nearly two decades.

Goggin could have played toward the green, but the ball would have been parallel to his chest.

"Unless I was Phil Mickelson, I wasn't going to try that," he said.

He picked up a birdie on the next hole, hung on with pars and wound up at 8-under 208, three shots clear of former Masters champion Mike Weir and four others going into the final round.

"It's definitely his tournament to win," said Kenny Perry, whose birdie on the 18th hole gave him a 74 and put him in the group at 211. "If he shoots 75, then the door's wide open for everybody."

Not since Roger Maltbie in 1976 -- the first year of the tournament Jack Nicklaus built -- has a player won the Memorial on his first visit. Goggin's last victory was 10 years ago in the Australasian Tour Championship, and he has said all week that a first- and second-round lead don't mean much on this circuit.

What about now?

"That's an interesting situation," he said. "Expectations are rising. You're three in front, you expect to win, don't you? But it's a tough golf course, and I'm going to feel the same amount of pressure tomorrow as what I did today. It's a great opportunity.

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TRIVIA QUESTION

Can you answer this? Jack Nicklaus' signature tournament has taken place every year since 1976, but do you know how many times in the tournament's 33-year history its host -- the one and only Golden Bear -- has won it? And in which years? See answer at bottom of page.

ROUND OF THE DAY	SHOT OF THE DAY
Nick Watney, 68. Like Mike Weir, Watney toured Muirfield Village without a bogey Saturday, while Stuart Appleby had six birdies and two bogeys to shoot 4 under par. But Watney improved on his second-round score by 12 shots. In fact, he has posted rounds of 68-80-68.	Matt Kuchar holed out from 97 yards with a sand wedge at the par-5 15th hole for eagle to help erase a scratch front nine. "It looked good the whole way, but I couldnt see the bottom of the hole. It was nice to get the crowd reaction there," Kuchar said. To top of his 1-under-71, he also holed a 25-foot chip shot at the par-3 16th for a birdie. Watch his shot

EASIEST HOLE	MOST DIFFICULT HOLE
Three of the four par-5s played under par Saturday, but the seventh, with an accessible hole location near the front-middle portion of the green, yielded 24 birdies and an eagle. It was the only hole where no one made worse than bogey.	The 10th hole at Muirfield Village is the only one that plays uphill. The opening hole on the back nine played to a stroke average of 4.355 after giving up only three birdies against 24 bogeys and three double bogeys.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I'm learning a lot about major championship qualifiers. But, hey, you can't win them if you don't get in them." -- Davis Love III, who has been preparing for a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Open on Monday in Columbus while competing in the Memorial Tournament and was also looking ahead to a British Open qualifier June 30 in Detroit.

TIP FROM STRICKER HAS WEIR PUTTING WELL AT MEMORIAL
By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.COM Senior Correspondent

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Golf already sets itself apart from other athletic endeavors with its honor system. Those who play it also tend to exhibit a selflessness you would never find on a gridiron, ball diamond, ice, or the hardwood.

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Mike Weir's best finish so far this season was fourth place at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Mike Weir, tied for second and three off the lead held by Australia's Matthew Goggin, offered the latest testimonial following his third round Saturday at the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley. The left-hander from Canada had just completed a tidy 4-under-par 68 at merciless Muirfield Village Golf Club, one of just three unblemished rounds this week, when he began discussing the keys to his solid scoring.

The biggest: Steve Stricker.

Stricker, the No. 6 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, withdrew prior to the 33rd Memorial, but he's having an impact on the proceedings through 54 holes at Jack Nicklaus' elite invitational event.

Friends and fellow competitors in another life on the Canadian Tour, Stricker and Weir got to talking last week after Friday's second round at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Winner of the 2003 Masters, Weir was bemoaning his putting when Stricker, one of the best on the greens, offered a tip and a lifeline to lower scoring.

In five minutes, Weir was a new man at least in the task of rolling a little white ball.

"I was so frustrated after Thursday, Friday last week because I felt like I was playing so well and getting nothing out of it," Weir, 38, said after posting 5-under 211 through 54 holes. "He just gave me a little tip, and I went out Saturday at Colonial and birdied five of my first six holes, and I thought, 'Wow, putts were going in from places they hadn't been.' And I just feel more comfortable. And whether they go in or not, I just feel more comfortable out there and confident."

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What the leaders said

Player	Score	Position	Comment
Mathew Goggin	8 under	Leader	"You just can't really press here. You got to let them come to you. You hit the ball a lot of times hitting the ball to 20 feet and think it's a good shot and if you can make a couple of those and make some birdies. If not, it's going to be a lot of pars."
Mike Weir	5 under	Tied for second	"Anyone within 5 or 6 of the lead is going to have a chance if they can put a good round up there. I know how to play my game, and Ive been playing solid all week. I feel good about what Im doing, and I cant think about what anyone else does."
Matt Kuchar	5 under	Tied for second	"You have to go out and play the golf course. Each hole there is an appropriate shot to play at the time, and you have to stay patient. You cant play based on the leaderboard."
Kenny Perry	5 under	Tied for second	"I hung in there, thats all. The round was a big struggle. And somehow maybe the mo (momentum) will come back like I did the first day and get on a rhythm and get on a roll and run them down."

WEATHER DELAY
Play at the Memorial Tournament was suspended at 1:39 p.m. EDT Saturday due to a dangerous situation. The delay was not exactly unexpected. Rather than twosomes off the first tee, the third round already was rearranged to provide for threesomes off both tees beginning at 10:45 a.m.

BY THE NUMBERS

3	The number of players -- Keith Fergus, Kenny Perry and Tom Lehman -- who have made the Memorial their first PGA TOUR victory.
0	The number of wire-to-wire winners at the Memorial Tournament. Goggin is the fourth player to have led each of the first three rounds.
5	The largest come-from-behind victory, which has happened three times -- K.J. Choi last year, Jim Furyk in 2002 and David Edwards in 1992.

About 1.75 inches of rain fell overnight on Muirfield Village Golf Club, enough that officials even altered two hole locations -- at No. 3 and No. 12 -- from their original positions for the third round.

The Memorial has the unfortunate reputation of being plagued by weather since its inception in 1976. In 33 editions of the Memorial, 34 of 131 rounds now have been delayed, interrupted or canceled.

Last year, the Memorial was delayed for nearly 2 hours, 32 minutes on Saturday. The delay started at 1:28 p.m. EDT, just 11 minutes earlier than today's stoppage.

Henry

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, QUALIFY
The competition on the golf course was heating up late Saturday afternoon as play resumed at 4 p.m. EDT after a 2 hour and 21-minute delay. The practice range at Muirfield Village Golf Club also was getting busier.

Players who didn't make the cut can still use the range and other practice facilities the rest of the week, and with a U.S. Open sectional qualifier looming Monday in Columbus at three sites, some players were working up a sweat. Jonathan Byrd was hitting all manner of chips and bunker shots on one of the two chipping greens. J.J. Henry, Greg Kraft and Chad Campbell, meanwhile, were beating balls.

By the way, Nick Faldo isn't totally out of practice, even as he fulfills broadcasting duties for GOLF CHANNEL and CBS. Friday evening, after GOLF CHANNEL's second-round coverage was complete, there was the six-time major champion practicing his putting.

Rose

ANOTHER 20 SOMETHING?
England's Justin Rose is in the field this week after taking last week to play across the pond, and he's back in the states with a vengeance. The 27-year-old (birthday coming up in July) finds himself in the fivesome choking up the second-place position going into Sunday's final round.

Rose has been anything but consistent this week with rounds of 68, 73 and 70, but an eagle on No. 15 in the third round helped get him back on track. Now at 5 under and three shots back from the lead, Rose will start the final round in the penultimate group alongside another 20 something -- Matt Kuchar won't turn 20 until June 21.

But Kuchar already has a PGA TOUR win. If Rose can add his name to the list of winners under 30 this season (already nine strong), he will also be earning his very first PGA TOUR win. Surprising, no? The young Brit is No. 11 in Official World Golf Ranking but has yet to score a trophy on the U.S. circuit.

TRIVIA ANSWER

Jack Nicklaus only took one year of warming up to win his own tournament -- he took home the trophy at the Memorial for the first of two times in 1977. He then won the event again in 1984. Surprisingly enough, despite having 19 runner-up finishes in majors, Nicklaus never came in second at his own event.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH ON SUNDAY
1. Mike Weir. A charge by former Masters champion Mike Weir, who has won seven of his eight PGA TOUR titles in come-from-behind fashion.

2. Mathew Goggin's nerves. He had never held a 36-hole lead, and he went out and shot a 1-under 71 Saturday. He'll need similar fortitude to hang tough with the 54-hole advantage.

3. Par saves. K.J. Choi was a master of chipping and putting down the stretch last year. Shots on and around Muirfield Village's slick greens, especially little tricky shots from the deep rough or the furrowed bunkers, will make or break the chances of many contenders.