Get ready for another day of survival in the final round
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
IRVING, Texas -- Forget Moving Day. Saturday's third round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship was Survival Day. Expect more of the same in Sunday's final round.
Wind gusts to 35 mph from the south are forecast, as well as scorching heat, which means more brutally tough scoring conditions at a TPC Four Seasons Resort course that has little protection from such elements.
Those conditions on Saturday left the best golfers in the world feeling helpless, frustrated and plain worn out from the nearly 40-mph gusts.
"We're pretty good players," Joe Ogilvie said, "but it's making us look like amateurs."
"I thought the wind blew hard yesterday," Ryuji Imada added, "but today was a whole other level of wind."
Ryan Palmer will enter Sunday with a one-shot lead over Sergio Garcia, but no one disputes who kicked the most butt on Saturday.
Of the 74 players who made the cut, just eight posted rounds in the 60s. The scoring average of 73.338 is the second toughest single-round on the PGA TOUR this year -- and more than 2 1/2 strokes higher than Thursday's first round.
"These guys are good ...," said Nick Watney, "But I think the course won today."
Palmer sat down to face the media after shooting a 3-over 73 and promptly rested his head on the table in front of him. He grew up in West Texas. He should be used to these kinds of conditions.
So what? That doesn't make it any easier.
"It got tougher and tougher," Palmer said. "You never could figure out the gusts; that was the hard part. It would gust and then it would stop, and gust and then stop."
The closing five-hole stretch at TPC Four Seasons was especially brutal because the holes played into the wind. Palmer and Garcia appeared to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, but they stumbled down the stretch, a common occurrence Saturday.
Palmer bogeyed three of his last five holes to fall to 5 under; Garcia bogeyed two of his last three to drop to 4 under. And yet both players walked off feeling good about being 1-2 on the leaderboard in conditions that could've easily turned disastrous.
"Whether it's 1 shot or 5 shots, it's nice to go into Sunday with that lead," said Palmer, who is seeking his fourth career win.
"I could not shoot one shot higher than I did today," Garcia said about his 4-over 74. "If you look at it that way, and I'm only one shot behind Ryan and I have tomorrow, I think it's pretty positive."
The bad news for Palmer and Garcia is they brought a lot of people back into contention because of their struggles on the last few holes. At one point on the back nine, Palmer was four shots ahead of everybody but Garcia. Now 14 players are within four shots of his lead.
The good news is that because conditions will be similarly tough on Sunday, it's doubtful anybody in contention will go low ... unless, by low, you mean 2 or 3 under par.
Consider this: No player in the last 15 groups that teed off Saturday managed to shoot a round under par. In the last five groups, the collective score was 33 over.
"If the wind blows like this again, who knows who'll win?" said Jeff Overton, who's tied for eighth at 1 under. "You can draw a bogey on every hole the way this course is playing.
"It's definitely an advantage to have the lead. Not many people will shoot under par the way this place is playing."
Perhaps Arjun Atwal has the secret to playing in these conditions. After all, he had the low round on Saturday, a 3-under 67. That moved him from a tie for 29th after 36 holes to a tie for third with Imada going into Sunday.
"You've got to be really careful," Atwal said. "You've got to wait to hit shots and putts. That's the secret right now."
Patience will indeed be a huge factor.
That's why Jordan Spieth, the 17-year-old amateur who missed his high school graduation Saturday because he didn't finish in time, was asking his caddie to keep him patient on every hole.
Despite a rollercoaster round that included two double bogeys, Spieth had to be happy with his 2-over 72. That leaves him in a group at 1 under, just four shots behind Palmer.
"I just want to post a solid number," said Spieth, who would be the youngest winner in at least 111 years if he can go low Sunday.
It won't be easy for Spieth. It won't be easy for anybody on Sunday.
The wind gusts will rattle your nerves and have you standing over your golf ball on the green, making sure it doesn't move. It will disrupt your game plan and make you think twice about each shot. You won't know when the gusts will come. You just know they will.
"It will be another grind tomorrow," Palmer said.
You don't thrive in Texas this Memorial Day weekend. You just survive.
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FANTASY
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner Sports Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 