The Daily Wrap-up, Round 3: Arnold Palmer Invitational
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Sean O'Hair survived a windy, rugged test Saturday at Bay Hill and wound up in the final group with Tiger Woods for the second straight year -- with one big difference.
This time, the tournament is in his hands.
Despite three bogeys in the last four holes, O'Hair had a 1-over 71 and a five-shot lead over Woods going into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
"Sometimes, you have to hang on for dear life," O'Hair said. "Those three bogeys didn't reflect how I played."
Woods, the defending champion and a five-time winner at Bay Hill, was fortunate to be only five behind. He made bogey putts of 10 feet and 25 feet on the last three holes, the last one on No. 18 after Woods never found a shot that plugged into the bank of the lake.
O'Hair and Woods were part of a five-way tie after 54 holes last year, and Woods won with a 25-foot birdie on the last hole.
Woods, who had a 71, has never won at Bay Hill when trailing going into the last round. His largest comeback on the PGA TOUR was five shots at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 2000.
It was a wild finish that matched the day at Bay Hill.
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O'HAIR IN FAMILIAR SPOT
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sean O'Hair has been there before. A year ago to the day, in fact.
Only last year, he was merely tied for the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard with five others, most notably one Tiger Woods. On Sunday, he'll have the relative luxury of a five-stroke advantage over the game's No. 1 player when they tee off at 1:05 p.m.
So what if he bogeyed three of his last four holes on Saturday? O'Hair wasn't the only one leaking oil on a wild and wind-whipped afternoon at the Bay Hill Lodge and Club when only four players managed to break par.
"The fact of the matter is there's one more round of golf in this event, and I'm going to focus on it like I would Thursday," O'Hair said firmly. "... I'm not going to play anybody else, I'm just going to play the golf course ... and add them up at the end."
His tally on Saturday was 71, which was six strokes higher than his second-round score but equally as solid given the conditions. His short game wasn't quite as "tidy" he said, but Bay Hill's greens were just as vexing and the wind wrecked havoc for all involved.
"Anything around even par today I thought was a great score," O'Hair said. "Obviously you saw that with everybody else how they finished."
Take Woods, for example. Not only did the defending champion bogey No. 16 with an approach that hit the cart path and bounced 40 yards right of the green, Woods turned a double into an all-world bogey on the final hole Saturday.
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| Top 5 other notables at Arnold Palmer Invitational | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Saturday's Best |
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The par-5 12th hole was easiest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.662.
The par-4 16th hole was toughest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.554.
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Tiger Woods rolled in a 25-footer to save bogey on the final hole to earn a spot in Sunday's final group. 
Brandt Snedeker had a bogey-free round and the lowest score of anyone in the field on a windswept day at Bay Hill. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Michael Collins offers these observations from Saturday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
The golf course definitely won Round 3. Round of the day: 3 under by Brandt Snedeker. And only four guys shot under par. I saw more back-offs during Round 3 than at a supermodel mixer party.
Disaster for Jason Gore came on the 17th hole when his own caddie backed him off his par putt because he fell at the front of the green after he stepped in a sprinkler head hole. After picking himself up and dusting himself off, waving his cap to the crowd, Gore promptly missed his par-saver and then went on to make the dreaded double bogey at 18 with a three-putt from inside 4 feet.
Talked to Sean O'Hair after his round. Told him it looked like he was in a 12-round title fight and he had just gotten up off the canvas as the bell went off to end the 10th round. He laughed and said he felt like sleep would not be a problem for him tonight, even with two kids and a pregnant wife with him. We did share a cool moment at the 17th green. Sean and I are both huge Phillies fans and I had on my full Phils outfit today. Before his birdie putt from 30 feet, he came over to me and said, "I need some of that good Philly karma for this putt!" He rubbed the logo on my hat and rolled a slippery downhill putt to 2 inches. That hat got rubbed again before the tee shot at 18. Should've let him rub it before the putt. His wife did tell me after the round that I better have that hat on for the final round. You don't have to tell me twice.
Sean O' Hair, Tiger Woods, and Zach Johnson are in the final group on Sunday. Sean's got a 5-shot lead on Tiger and a 6-shot lead on Zach. If Sean goes on to win playing with two major champions chasing him, doesn't that make him the favorite going into Augusta? After Tiger asked me on the practice green before he teed off on Saturday, "Where's your Dodger stuff?!" I said, "Hey, who beat the Dodgers to go to the World Series this year?!". He then showed me I was No. 1... at least I think that's what he meant.
| What the top finishers said... | ||||||||||||
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THIRD-ROUND NOTEBOOK: ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL
By Mark Stevens, PGA TOUR Staff
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sean O'Hair shot a 1-over 71, but was able to increase his lead from three strokes in the second round over Jason Gore to five strokes over Tiger Woods.
• O'Hair has held the third-round lead/co-lead three other times in his PGA TOUR career, including last year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (he finished tied for third). He also led in 2007 at THE PLAYERS Championship (finished 11th) and at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship (finished second). Last year, O'Hair was tied with four other players going into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, including Woods, who went on to win his fifth Bay Hill title.
• O'Hair had only one bogey in each of the first two rounds, but tallied five in the third round.
• O'Hair is one of seven United States natives under the age of 30 with multiple PGA TOUR victories (J.B. Holmes, D.J. Trahan, Anthony Kim, Nick Watney, Charles Howell III and Dustin Johnson are the others). With a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he would be the first in this group with three victories.
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KODAK CHALLENGE: The first-of-its-kind competition for PGA TOUR players continues at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The Kodak Challenge celebrates beautiful holes and memorable moments on the PGA TOUR. The Kodak Challenge offers $1 million to the winner. There will be one designated Kodak Challenge Hole at 24 different PGA TOUR tournaments in 2009, with this week's featured hole the 411-yard par-4 18th.
Players, who must play at least 18 of the holes during the season to be eligible, will count their lowest score relative to par on the Kodak Challenge Hole made during an official competition round. The player, with the lowest cumulative score in relation to par at the end of the challenge, wins.
• For more on the Kodak Challenge, click here.
| This week's Kodak Challenge hole | |||
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| This week at the Kodak Challenge hole | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round-by-round statistics on the par-4 18th at Bay Hill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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