Children's Miracle Network Classic, Round 3
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
MCNEILL DOUBLE BOGEYS, FALLS INTO SHARE OF LEAD (4 p.m.) -- George McNeill finished bogey-double bogey on Saturday after his driver failed him on the final two holes. McNeill drove into the trees on the 18th, had to take a drop and failed to get up and down. He ended the day with a 69, which included two eagles.
Justin Leonard had a makeable birdie putt on the final hole Saturday but missed it left, leaving four players tied for the lead entering the final day. The final threesome will be McNeill, Leonard and Mathias Gronberg. Justin Rose was the last player to finish at 13 under; he will be playing in the group immediately ahead of the final threesome.
OUTTA NOWHERE ... MATHIAS GRONBERG (3:42 p.m.) -- An unexpected name has popped up on the leaderboard at 13 under.
Mathias Gronberg, who finished 24th this year on the Nationwide Tour to earn a PGA TOUR card for 2010, just birdied the 18th hole to finish with a 66, which ties the low round of the day.
Gronberg is 190th on the money list but has a shot to move into the top 125 with a finish of solo second. As mentioned before, players within the top 125 on the money list earn a host of privileges not extended to most Nationwide Tour grads, including a spot in the 2010 PLAYERS Championship and the luxury to set your own schedule early in the season.
BOGEYS FOR MCNEILL, LEONARD (3:38 p.m.) -- George McNeill's lead remains at two even after his tee shot on the difficult par-4 17th found the water on the left side. McNeill had to pitch back out to the fairway, and he got up and down from 122 yards for a world-class bogey.
Leonard failed to take advantage of McNeill's bogey -- he three-putted from 18 feet out to fall back to 3 under.
Q-SCHOOL AGAIN FOR RILEY? (3:30 p.m.) -- Former Ryder Cup member Chris Riley got his card back at the 2008 q-school, and it appears he will be headed back there after a 73 on Saturday.
Riley, 126th on the money list, entered the third round tied for 43rd, but his 1-over round sent him down the leaderboard on a good day for conditions at Magnolia. The round left him at a projected 132nd on the money list.
QUOTABLE QUOTES BY WILL (3:20 p.m) -- Will MacKenzie's post-round interview just ended. Some gems:
On his next child, scheduled to be born Feb. 26, 2010, by C-section:
• "I think she's due March 13th, but we're just going to do a C-section on February 26th. Or she's going to do it."
About the date:
• "Our son was born on July 26th, so I got a bad memory, and I'll able to remember they were both on the 26th. I'm like, what are you born on? July. You just gotta remember the month."
On his 66 in the third round:
• "The reason I shot such a good score is I had a couple kick-ins."
On getting instruction from the tube:
• "I started back playing and when I got on TOUR in 2005, I used to watch The GOLF CHANNEL every day. I mean, I was getting tips and stuff."
| A sip of Maginnes | |
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MCNEILL EAGLES NO. 14 (2:56 p.m.) -- George McNeill has the outright lead after an impressive eagle (ever seen an unimpressive eagle?!) on the 592-yard 14th.
McNeill lofted a 3-wood to 30 feet and made the putt, moving him to 16 under for the tournament and 6 under on the day. McNeill also eagled the par-5 10th. Coming into this event, McNeill only had four eagles on the year, which ranked 128th on TOUR.
ADVANTAGES OF THE TOP 125 (2:55 p.m.) -- Players are gunning for a spot within the top 125 of the money list, and there are some major differences between the 125th spot and the 126th spot.
The players along the money bubble are almost always non-winners during the season, but thir place in the top 125 gives them the freedom to set their schedule early in the year. Players in the top 125 are always going to secure key West Coast Swing spots at Torrey Pines and Riviera as well as a spot in THE PLAYERS Championship.
• For more on the geographic stops on the 2010 PGA TOUR schedule, click here.
THE FINAL ROOKIE (2:45 p.m.) -- No rookie has won on the PGA TOUR this year, and it appears Matt Weibring is the final hope for the '09 freshman class.
Weibring is 3 under on the day and tied for sixth in the tournament. He's also on the money list bubble: He's 143rd on the money list, a good spot considering he's only made it into 22 events this year.
When Weibring does make it into events, he shows the all-around game that helped make his father, D.A., a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR. The younger Weibring is 28th on TOUR in all-around ranking, and he's in the top 100 on TOUR in every major category except scoring average (70.85, 105th).
LEONARD, MCNEILL TO 14 UNDER (2:32 p.m.) -- Justin Leonard drove to within 35 yards of the short par-4 13th and got up and down for birdie, his 20th of the week, to get back to 14 under. George McNeill matched Leonard's birdie ahead of the final par-5 of the day.
MACKENZIE HITS EVERY GREEN (2:05 p.m.) -- Will MacKenzie, gunning for his second Fall Series win in two years, finished with a 66, the low round of the day so far. MacKenzie's stats through three rounds:
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MCNEILL CATCHES LEONARD, BUT LEONARD RESPONDS (1:53 p.m.) -- George McNeill rammed in a 42-foot eagle putt on the 10th to get to 13 under, but Leonard birdied the same hole to get to 14 under.
Nick O'Hern and Will MacKenzie are working on 6 under rounds today, and Leonard's five-shot lead is a mere memory at this point, with four players within three shots of the lead.
• To follow the Leonard-Rose-McNeill group with Shot Tracker, click here.
BIG SWING FOR O'HERN (1:38 p.m.) -- Orlando resident Nick O'Hern just picked up three shots in 20 minutes. The Aussie pitched it to five feet on the par-4 13th, then eagled the par-5 14th after hitting a 255-yard 3-wood to three feet.
O'Hern was once ranked as high as 21st in the Official World Golf Ranking but has never won on TOUR in 110 tries. He has grinded through an unspectacular 2009 that featured a best finish of T3 at the Shell Houston Open.
The eagle is O'Hern's seventh of the year. Interestingly, he didn't have an eagle in all of 2008.
RICKIE FOWLER UPDATE (1:35 p.m.) -- Rickie Fowler's bid to finish in the top 10 and secure a PGA TOUR card for 2010 is still alive, but it's not looking too good, especially with some of the low scores already seen in Round 3.
Fowler's 75 on Friday left him in a tie for 43rd, and while he's 2 under today, he's only moved up into a tie for 36th. Fowler is only four shots out of 10th, but it looks like he will need to go low on Sunday to earn his card.
WALKER BACK INSIDE THE TOP 125 ... FOR NOW (1:25 p.m.) -- Jimmy Walker entered the final week 130th on the money list, but he's inside the top five right now after his fifth birdie of the day.
Walker's run has him 121st on the projected money list -- but that is assuming he finishes in a tie for third or better. Walker has just two top-10s in 83 career PGA TOUR starts, so the pressure is on.
HAAS TWO BACK OF LEONARD (1:06 p.m.) -- Just when it appeared Justin Leonard was about to run away with the Children's Miracle Network Classic, Bill Haas got hot.
Haas has birdied his last three holes to get to 11 under, cutting Leonard's five-shot lead down to two as the leaders hit the back nine on Saturday.
Haas has made only one bogey all week, and he's hit 90 percent of his greens so far, which easily leads the field.
ROUGH STARTS FOR JOHNSON, HERRON (12:51 p.m.) -- Zach Johnson and Tim Herron are both in black figures for Round 3. Johnson double-bogeyed the par-5 eighth hole, and Herron has two bogeys and six pars. Herron, who entered the week 128th on the money list, will need to get something going -- quick.
Based on his archived scorecards, today was the first time Johnson had double-bogeyed a par-5 hole all year, excluding the majors.
CUE THE 'BEEM HIM UP' HEADLINES (12:45 p.m.) -- Rich Beem is 4 under on the day, tops among the field early in the second round, and he's moved to 126th on the projected money list.
He will need to keep it going. Beem is 124th on the money list, and a mere made cut at the Children's Miracle Network Classic isn't enough to keep a card. Beem will need to finish inside the top 20. Currently, he's tied for 25th.
NO PRESSURE FOR PETTERSSON (12:15 p.m.) -- Carl Pettersson is slowly starting to recapture the form that one made him one of the game's better players under the age of 30.
At one point in 2006, Pettersson was ranked as high as 36th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he's endured the toughest year of his career in 2009 on the PGA TOUR. As Helen Ross wrote in August, Pettersson started to struggle around the time he lost 30 pounds.
Unlike a lot of people, PGA TOUR players usually lose weight during the holidays. With no official events in the month of December, players often work out and watch they eat, which is more difficult to do during the grind of city-to-city, restaurant-to-restaurant life on the PGA TOUR. Pettersson was one of those who shaped up after the 2008 season, but it affected his swing to the tune of six consecutive missed cuts in the spring.
But things are improving. Because he won the 2008 Wydham Championship, Pettersson is secure through 2010, which is a good thing -- he ranks 151st on the money list. He is 2 under on his roujnd Saturday at the Magnola Course to move into a tie for fourth.
Pettersson has played a heavy Fall Series schedule and has made the cut in all three tournaments, including three final-round scores in the 60s.
• To track Pettersson with Shot Tracker, click here.
AMES IN THE HUNT FOR ANOTHER DISNEY TITLE (11:55 a.m.) -- Stephen Ames, winner here in 2007, has made three birdies on his front nine to join a slew of other players at 8 under. Everyone is still chasing Justin Leonard at 13 under, but a host of players, including Cameron Beckman and Jeff Overton, are going low on Saturday to join the fray.
LEONARD EXTENDS LEAD (11:32 p.m.) -- Justin Leonard nailed down his 17th birdie of the week early in Round 3, hitting his approach on the par-4 second to 11 feet and making the putt. Leonard leads Justin Rose by three.
MACKENZIE RACES UP LEADERBOARD (11:07 a.m.) -- Will MacKenzie has hit the ball just about better than anyone all week -- he's missed only six greens in his first 40 holes -- but his putting has held him back. But trouble with the flatstick hasn't stopped him from making his share of birdies.
MacKenzie is already 3 under today through six holes as he chases his third PGA TOUR win. MacKenzie, who is 130th in money, is one of the few on the bubble that isn't fighting for a PGA TOUR card because he won the Viking Classic in 2008.
MacKenzi'e surge is bad news for players on the bubble like Rich Beem, because MacKenzie can easily bump someone out of the top 125 with a strong run this weekend.
HUGE EAGLE FOR OGILVIE (10:45 a.m.) -- Joe Ogilvie, 135th on the money list and playing for his card this week, just bombed a 257-yard 3-wood to four feet on the par-5 fifth hole. He made the eagle putt to get to 8 under. According to ShotLink, Ogilvie will finish 129th on the money list with a tie for eighth place, so he will need to finish around the top five to keep his card.
Ogilvie won the U.S. Bank Championship in 2007, but his two-year exemption for winning that tournament expires after this year.
A NEW FACE FOR HAWAII (10:30 a.m.) -- Unless Zach Johnson can get something going on the weekend, it looks like the winner of the Children's Miracle Network Classic will lock down the final spot in the season-opening, winners-only SBS Championship at Kapalua.
Justin Leonard, who finished fifth at Kapalua this year, is aiming to return to the winner's circle after a 17-month absence.
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| The top of the leaderboard in the Children's Miracle Network Classic is filled with former PGA TOUR winners who haven't won this year: | |||||||||||||||||||||
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ROSE CAN SLEEP IN TODAY (10:15 a.m.) -- Justin Rose was one of the first players on the course on Friday, and he joked about his 4:30 a.m. wake-up call, which his wife did not share.
"My wife turned up for the back nine," said Rose, who shot 69 on the Magnolia Course to earn a spot in the final group on Saturday. "We don't all have to suffer."
Rose, who keeps a home in the Orlando area, added this tournament to his schedule at the last minute. After 149 starts of trying to win on the PGA TOUR, the Englishman has an excellent at breaking through.
"My short game's been very, very sharp," said Rose, who is fourth in the field this week in putts per greens in regulation. "So yeah, if I can couple that with improving my ball striking on the weekend, which is the goal now, hopefully I'll give myself that chance coming Sunday afternoon."
SPLIT TEES FOR ROUND 3 (10:02 a.m.) -- With the shorter fall days, split tees have been used on the weekend in the Fall Series and will be again Saturday at the Magnolia Course. Leaders Justin Leonard, Justin Rose and George McNeill are the last group out at 11 a.m. on tee No. 1.
STILL WINDY (10 a.m.) -- The high winds that have kept scores high the first days are still around, but it's not expected to be as bad as it was the first two days. George McNeill's 66 on the Magnolia Course was the low round on that track the first two days; Justin Leonard's 64 on the easier Palm Course gave him the 36-hole lead.
Davis Love III shot 25 under last year to win by one, and it doesn't look like leader Justin Leonard will approach that mark over the next two days, even though Sunday's weather is expected to be perfect for scoring.
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