Tiger making plenty of memories at Warwick Hills
By By Vartan Kupelian, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- Tiger Woods is poised to become a three-time winner of the Buick Open and likely the last champion in the PGA TOUR event's 51-year history.
Woods escaped some flawed shots to shoot 7-under-par 65 Saturday at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club and take a 1-shot lead over Michael Letzig.
Woods is at 17-under-par 199, despite an opening 71 which left him, at the time, eight shots off the pace. Woods won the Buick in 2002 with a 17-under 271 total. In 2006, his most recent appearance and victory at Warwick Hills, he shot 24-under 264 with four straight rounds of 66.
This is the 50th time in his career that Woods has gone into the final round either leading or sharing the lead. He is 46-3.
Letzig shot 68 and is another shot ahead of 36-hole leader John Senden (71). Matt Bettencourt (65) and Vaughn Taylor (69) are at 202, 14-under. Scott Piercy's 64 was the day's best round and moved him into a tie for ninth.
Woods and Letzig will be paired in Sunday's final group. They played together in the final round of the Memorial Tournament in June. Woods shot 65 to win; Letzig shot 75 and finished tied for 14.
Larry Peck, Buick marketing manager for golf, wouldn't acknowledge that Sunday will be the final round in Buick Open history as has been widely speculated. He did, however, say that Woods being in position to win and all that it could mean "gives me goose bumps."
"It's a very special feeling," Peck said. "This being the birthplace of General Motors, the 51st year of the tournament, having Tiger come back, have him shoot 71 Thursday and now be in position to win is just a great feeling for everybody at Buick, at General Manager and southeast Michigan. It's special."
Woods got plenty out of a round that included some wayward shots, among them two visits into adjacent fairways and "a couple of up-shooters right," he said.
A 199-yard pop-up off the tee -- Woods called it a loss of focus -- into the right rough at the 437-yard fifth hole left him nearly 250 yards to the green. Woods hit a fairway wood out of the rough and saved par.
"W hen I was over the ball, I took the club back and said, 'What shot am I supposed to be playing again?'" he said. "And just threw the club at it, hit a terrible golf shot, and I just got away with it."
Woods bounced back from a three-putt par on the first hole with three straight birdies to immediately join the leaders after starting the third round 4 shots behind Senden.
Woods hit 5 of 14 fairways, but still made eight birdies.
Woods said he was disappointed with the way he hit the ball, "but I scored."
"The whole idea of the game is to put the ball in the hole, I did that," he said. "But as far as controlling my ball, I didn't do that ... and got away with some shots. I was able to put myself in position to make a couple of putts, and I did."
The longest came at the par-3 17th, where Woods holed a 33-foot birdie to get within a shot of Letzig.
Letzig had the lead until a double-bogey 6 at the final hole, where he was in a greenside bunker, barely got it out and two-putted. Woods made par from the same bunker after driving into the ninth fairway from the 18th tee.
"As far as playing with Tiger, I'm very excited to have a chance to do it again," Letzig said. "Last time I played with him he showed me how to win a tournament. Beat me by 10 at Memorial that final round.
"I'm really looking forward to (Sunday)."
Letzig doesn't expect to be nearly as nervous this time going against Woods. But he said, and repeated, that he won't be thinking about winning, just proving to himself that he can play well with so much at stake.
"I've put pressure on myself all year to win," Letzig said. "I felt like I've been ready to win this year and I've had a terrible year as far as top 10s and giving myself a chance.
"It's going to happen. I don't care when, but I'm not going to put pressure on myself to do it anymore. I'm just going to try and play good golf."
Senden had good moments and some not-so-good. He made eagle at the first, reeled off six pars and had a bit of a stumble in the middle of the round.
"I thought I hung in there well," Senden said. "It was a good day. I'm just going to go out there and do the same thing (Sunday) and knock them in like Tiger Woods does."
Bettencourt, who was No. 1 on the 2008 Nationwide Tour money list, tied for fifth at the Memorial Tournament and 10th at the U.S. Open. Rounds of 68 in the second and third rounds at Muirfield Village gave him the 54-hole lead in Dublin, Ohio, before a final-round 75.
Bettencourt made his major championship debut at Bethpage Black, where his form was reversed. After an opening 75 at the U.S. Open, he posted rounds of 67-71-69.
"Kenny Perry sat me down and talked to me after about the ninth or 10th tournament of the year and said, 'Just stop playing to make the cut. Go out there to win because you have the game to do it,'" Bettencourt said. "And that's really stuck with me all year. Since the Memorial Tournament that's been all the difference in the world. I've been trying to play to win now. It really helped me believe in myself that I can play at the top level."
Piercy's 64 featured nine birdies and a bogey at the par-3 third hole, where his tee shot finished in the rough left of the green and he failed to get it up-and-down. He made three straight birdies on the back, though, between Nos. 12 and 14, the most vulnerable stretch at Warwick Hills.
"The hole was as big as a trash can today," Piercy said. "The putts started falling big-time. I was putting well, doing lots of good things and got good results."
Putting hasn't been a problem recently for Piercy, who needed 27 putts after hitting 14 greens in regulation.
"They were going dead center, perfect speed," Piercy said. "I don't know the exact numbers but I probably made three putts outside of 30 feet, maybe more."
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