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TIGER LURKING AS ROUND 3 CONCLUDES (5:45 p.m.): Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wilson share the 54-hole lead at the Memorial Tournament, and Wilson has won twice before when in this position, but there's a certain someone looming large, just four shots back.
Below is a chart breaking down all of Tiger Woods' comebacks when he's trailed after 54 holes. Woods might be the best front-runner in the history of golf, but he's also proven he can come from behind. Of course, there's also a collection of pretty fair players in front of Woods, too, including Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy. No matter what happens, you can bet that Bettencourt and Wilson will feel a good deal of pressure. -- Brian Wacker
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BETTENCOURT, WILSON LEAD (5:10 p.m.): For all the names littering the leaderboard, Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wilson are probably the two that were least expected to be atop it by the end of play Saturday. Yet here they are, one guy who didn't even play golf in college, not turning pro until he was 27, and another guy who has just one PGA TOUR victory.
Chasing Bettencourt and Wilson are a collection of future Hall of Famers in Geoff Ogilvy, who had the round of the tournament with a 63 this morning, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and, of course, Tiger Woods.
Though Wilson is only a year older than Bettencourt, the experience edge goes to Wilson since he's won on TOUR before, taking The Honda Classic in 2007. Bettencourt, on the other hand, was an amateur star in Northern California before graduating to the bigs by finishing first on last year's Nationwide Tour money list with two wins. -- Brian Wacker
THIRD ROUND WINDING DOWN (4:40 p.m.): The third round of the Memorial Tournament is winding down to its last few holes and it's as if someone put a wall up at 8 or 9 under with very little movement at the top of the leaderboard.
Matt Bettencourt has moved to 8 under and for now leads by one. Five players, however, are just one shot back, while five more, including Tiger Woods, are within two or three shots. There hasn't been a playoff here since David Edwards beat Rick Fehr in 1992, but with a little more than one round of golf to go, it certainly wouldn't be a surprise if that changed this year. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER'S TOUGH FINISHES (4:05 p.m.): Tiger Woods, who won this tournament three straight years from 1999 to 2001, just capped off a 4-under 68 to climb into contention with one round to go.
The bogey he made at No. 17 will sting a little -- more on that below -- and he'll feel like he left a shot or two out there for sure, but if the lead backs up at all to 7 or 8 under, Woods might smell blood come Sunday.
As for Woods' bogey on 17, it was the result of a three-putt from 17 feet and it wasn't the first time we've seen him struggle this year on the last few holes of a golf course. In fact, Woods has played the 16th, 17th and 18th holes of his stroke-play events in a combined 7 over. That includes some good and some not-so-good as you'll see in the chart below. -- Brian Wacker
| Tiger on holes 16, 17 and 18 in 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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HERE COMES THAT MAN (3:25 p.m.): Accuracy. That's been the story of the week for Tiger Woods. Actually, a little bit of inconsistency might be more, well, accurate. A day after shooting a 74, Woods is making birdies when he has to and can now smell the lead as he plays the last two holes of his round.
On the day, Woods has missed just two fairways and only four greens in regulation. He's taken 25 putts today, but he's also scraped out four birdies and an eagle, compared to just one bogey.
Now Woods needs to avoid the kind of result he had yesterday on Nos. 16 and 18 when he bogeyed both holes. If he can make birdie, or even par out, you get the feeling Woods will smell the finish line tomorrow. -- Brian Wacker
A LOT AT STAKE FOR LOVE (3:14 p.m.): Another player who could find himself resting Monday rather than playing in the 36-hole U.S. Open qualifying is Davis Love III.
Love has moved near the lead at the midway point of the third round of the Memorial Tournament. The 2008 Children's Miracle Network Classic champ would fall under the multiple win U.S. Open exemption if he were to win on Sunday. The victory in the season-ending event was the 20th of Love's career and gave him a lifetime PGA TOUR exemption. Love recently successfully qualified for the British Open that will be held at Turnberry in July.
There are several others entered in Monday's qualifying who made the cut at the Memorial and have won in the last 12 months but they are well back. Mark Turnesa (2008 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open), Y.E. Yang (2009 The Honda Classic) and Chez Reavie (2008 RBC Canadian Open) stand 7 over, 3 over and 1 over, respectively. -- Helen Ross
BIRDIE BARRAGE (3:05 p.m.): We've got a new leader at the Memorial with Matt Bettencourt having birdied his last four holes to move to 8 under on the week. Not many could have expected that since Bettencourt has missed more cuts (9) than he's made (7) with just one top-25 finish this season. That means nothing to Bettencourt, however, who has hit 7 of his first 8 greens in regulation and 4 of 6 fairways on his way to taking just 12 putts so far. -- Brian Wacker
ELS ON THE RISE (2:50 p.m.): Muirfield Village might be playing a lot like Augusta National this week, at least that's the sentiment among a lot of the players, but Ernie Els is sure playing a lot better than he did at this year's Masters.
Els, who missed the cut for a third straight year at the Masters, is 1 under on his round as he makes the turn and just two shots off the current lead of 7 under.
Though the Big Easy won last year's Honda Classic for his first PGA TOUR victory since 2004, the last few years have been anything but easy for Els.
"I've never really set specific goals ever. It's just basically, you go into a certain direction ... But I would say always a goal would be to at least have a chance to win a major," Els said earlier this year. "I've only won three, but I've been in contention in a lot of majors in my career.
"I've been really working hard at my whole game to be honest. I just need to get the results now, basically."
That Els has been doing, spending a lot of time with Butch Harmon and Bob Rotella. So far, it appears to be paying off. -- Brian Wacker
TRACKING TIGER (2:20 p.m.): All of sorts of things just went down in the last couple of minutes, most notably Tiger Woods making an eagle on the par-5 11th after he reached the green in two with a 5-wood. With 9 feet to go, Woods and caddie Steve Williams spent plenty of time figuring out the line and Woods rolled it right in the center of the cup.
Just about the same time that Woods was getting to 3 under on the day and within four of the lead, good pal Jim Furyk, playing in the day's final pairing, lost his share of the lead with a tough bogey on No. 3, where he two-putted from just over 3 feet.
Ernie Els and Stewart Cink are in the mix, too, with both men 1 under on their rounds through the first six holes today. Both are 5 under for the week at the moment. -- Brian Wacker
LOVE ON THE MOVE (2:10 p.m.): We're starting to see some movement near the top of the leaderboard now that we're into the teeth of the third round and the latest player to climb into contention is Davis Love III, who is played his first eight holes in 4 under to get to 8 under for the week.
Love's first birdie of the day came on the 531-yard, par-5 fifth, where, after reaching the green in two, he two-putted from 48 feet. Two holes later, on the second par-5 on the front, he chipped in for eagle from 51 feet away and then added another birdie on the par-3 eighth after hitting his tee shot to just over 6 feet. -- Brian Wacker
FURYK IN FRONT, FOR NOW (1:50 p.m.): It didn't take Jim Furyk long to seize control of the lead as he birdied his first hole of the day, rolling in a 20-footer at the first. That moves him to 8 under on the week and, perhaps more importantly, can give him some good momentum for the day with No. 1 playing as the third-most difficult hole on the course so far. -- Brian Wacker
LEADERBOARD UPDATE (1:35 p.m.): Overnight leaders Jonathan Byrd and Jim Furyk are getting set to tee off in a few minutes and though they still technically have a share of the lead at 7 under, Geoff Ogilvy's 63 certainly raised some eyebrows.
Right now, no one else is going particularly low with only one player among the top 18 -- Will MacKenzie -- lower than 2 under on their round today. That includes Luke Donald, who opened with a 64, fell back with a 76 yesterday and is even par through five holes today.
Just outside that group is Tiger Woods, who is getting ready to make the turn and who is just 1 under on his round today. In other words, with the exception of Ogilvy, moving day is looking a lot more like parking day with very little movement at the moment. -- Brian Wacker
OGILVY IN WITH ROUND OF THE DAY (1:05 p.m.): This is why Geoff Ogilvy is considered one of the best players in the world. After playing his first two rounds in 2 over -- which would have missed the cut at a lot of tournaments -- Ogilvy hit the range and then cranked it up this morning with a round of 63. That was not only a third-round tournament record, but it moved him into the clubhouse lead at 7 under.
Ogilvy hit 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation and even when he missed managed to make par with three saves from the sand. Combine that with an average distance to the pin of just over 19 feet and it's no wonder Ogilvy needed just 24 putts today. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Ogilvy's scorecard from today:

U.S. OPEN QUALIFIER (12:48 p.m.): A total of 61 players in the Memorial Tournament field are scheduled to stay over on Monday to participate in the 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier at Brookside Golf & Country Club in Columbus.
Mark Wilson, who starts Saturday's second round one stroke off the lead, could bypass the qualifier, though, if he were to win the Memorial. Multiple TOUR winners from June 2, 2008 through the end of next week's St. Jude Classic are fully exempt -- and Wilson won the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun in March.
It will be a quick turnaround for 34 of the players entered in the Monday qualifier since they are also committed to play in the St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind next week. All but 12 of those made the cut at the Memorial, too, so if they complete the qualifier they will have played six competitive rounds in five days. -- Helen Ross
GOING BEHIND BYRD'S SUCCESS (12:38 p.m.): After firing a 4 under par -- 68 today, The last time Jonathan Byrd had the lead or a share of the lead after 36 holes prior to this week was at the 2007 Buick Open, where he went on to finish in a tie for fifth. Byrd is also in unfamiliar territory at this tournament -- in six previous starts, he's missed five cuts and never finished better than a tie for 29th. As you'll see by the chart below, however, Byrd is putting up some pretty impressive numbers and that's exactly why he's in the position he is as he gets set to tee off in about an hour from now. -- Brian Wacker
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BIRDIE ALERT (12:25 p.m.): Geoff Ogilvy continues to go low today, rolling in his third straight birdie and fourth in five holes to get to 8 under on the day and 6 under on the week, just one off the lead. It really is amazing how Ogilvy continues to perform in golf's biggest events. Though he's never won here, Ogilvy has finished in the top 10 each of the past two years and he certainly appears headed toward another one, if not something better, this year. Click here to follow Ogilvy's last few holes live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER UPDATE (12:15 p.m.): Tiger Woods is on the golf course and though he's not having the round that Geoff Ogilvy is (at least not yet), he's certainly in decent position six shots off the lead.
Woods stumbled at the start today, making bogey at the first hole before bouncing back with a birdie at No. 2. Keep an eye on Woods' putting today -- in the second round he missed four putts from inside 10 feet. Woods also said his ballstriking wasn't quite where it needed to be on Friday, either, as he missed some approaches on the wrong side of the hole.
The bigger picture of course is that Woods is, overall, hitting the ball much better than he has at any point this season. "I'm swinging better," Woods said yesterday. "I finally feel my body's coming around now. That I can start doing these things. It's kind of fun."
Follow Woods' round live with Shot Tracker by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker
OGILVY ON A ROLL (12 p.m.): Geoff Ogilvy's season has been wildly inconsistent -- he has wins at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, but has finished outside the top 20 six times. That's always been the knock on the super-talented Aussie.
The flip side to that is Ogilvy tends to perform at his best in the biggest tournaments, and the Memorial Tournament certainly qualifies as one of those. After a sluggish 72-74 start, Ogilvy is rocketing up the leaderboard today at 7 under through his first 14 holes.
As a result, Ogilvy, who has missed just two greens in regulation so far this morning, has moved into the top 10 and is now just two shots off the lead. Not only has Ogilvy hit a lot of greens, he's hit his approaches close with an average distance to the pin just 17 feet, 5 inches.
You hit it that close, you're going to make birdies. -- Brian Wacker
EAGLE LANDS (11:45 a.m.): Marc Leishman isn't exactly having the best week of his season after opening with a pair of 74s, but he had a bright spot in today's round a little while ago when he eagled the 517-yard, par-5 15th to get to 2 under on his day.
The young Aussie, who is coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes at the Valero Texas Open and the HP Byron Nelson Championship, hit his approach on No. 15 to just 7 feet, 6 inches, before sinking the putt for the first eagle of the day at the hole.
On the week, No. 15 has yielded five eagles with two coming in each of the first two rounds. -- Brian Wacker
FURYK FINDING HIS GAME (11:30 a.m.): Jim Furyk has 13 career victories on the PGA TOUR, but it's been nearly two years since his last, which came at the 2007 RBC Canadian Open. Set to tee off in a little more than two hours from now, Furyk finds himself in position to win again with a share of the 36-hole lead here at the Memorial Tournament.
Think about that for a second -- that's 41 stroke-play events for Furyk since his last win. That's the longest victory drought of his career and while Furyk started his season a little later than usual -- Pebble Beach was his first tournament -- he really only skipped a few events with the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship being one of them, which he obviously didn't qualify for.
During that time, Furyk has played 149 rounds, 2,682 holes, hit 10,487 shots, and walked just over 521 miles on the golf course in tournament play. Some of the reasons all that could come to an end this week include Furyk hitting a lot of fairways (T5 in the field), a lot of greens in regulation (T4) and a 94 percent rate on putts inside 10 feet (T4 and considerably better than his 87.7 percent the rest of the year).
A win this week would not only end a victory drought, it would also vault Furyk from 30th to ninth in the FedExCup Standings. It would also go a long way toward elevating his season, one in which he's had five top-10s, including a tie for 10th at the Masters and a tie for fifth at THE PLAYERS Championship. -- Brian Wacker
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