After two days of lackluster golf, Tiger Woods found his game during Saturday third round en route to a career-best 65 at TPC Sawgrass.
Tiger Woods teed off when the leaders were having breakfast prior to the third round of Saturday’s Players Championship.
By lunchtime, Woods had stormed into the top 10, drawing Sunday crowds and roars on his way to a 7-under par 65 – his career-best score at TPC Sawgrass during 64 rounds and best score to par since August 2013.
Woods’ epic – and encouraging – round featured a front-nine 30, a season-high eight birdies, one bogey and a couple of missed opportunities on the back nine. His biggest hiccup was a missed putt just outside five feet for birdie on the par-5 16th hole. Woods was just 1-over par on the final six holes.
“To be 8-under there through 12, realistically I probably could have got a couple more out of it and got to 10 for the day,” he said. “But I’ll take it.”
After two days of lackluster golf left Woods on squarely on the 1-under par cut line, the 42-year-old was searching for his game. On Saturday, all the pieces fell in place from the opening hole.
Woods’ iron play was spot on and his putter red hot as he birdied four of the first five holes.
Along the way, he sank three putts of 10 feet or longer a day after he made just one longer than six feet over 18 holes. On five of his birdies, Woods hit approach shots from 130 yards or closer to within 15 feet. During the second round, he failed to get any of seven shots from the same distance within 15 feet.
Woods finished his third round hitting 15 of 18 greens in regulation and sinking 99 feet in putts.
“I birdied the first couple of holes and I just kept it rolling from there,” he said. “It was nice to see a few putts go in. I hit a lot of quality shots and 65 was probably as high as I could have shot today, which was kind of nice.”
Woods ended his day tied for eighth, seven shots behind leader Webb Simpson but just two shots out of second place.
Knowing the scoring conditions and accessible pin placements, Woods did not expect to end the third round in the top 10. To enter the back-nine mix on Sunday, he would need Simpson to slow down and most likely would have to summon Saturday’s magic again.
“Well I won’t be by end of the day, but it’s nice to kind of somewhat be up there,” Woods said. “These guys are going to go low today again. I think that some of the guys will probably shoot better scores than I did out there today. It’s definitely gettable.
“I know there’s a lot of pressure coming down the back nine here, but I think these guys, the way they have set up the golf course today, it’s set up for these guys to go low.”
Either way, fans at the Stadium Course were ecstatic to see Woods capitalize.
“The crowds out here early today have been incredible,” longtime NBC analyst Gary Koch said. “I have been doing this event a long time. I can’t recall so many people here so early on Saturday morning.”
Tiger Woods made the 1-under par cut at the Players Championships on the number. He then made the most of reaching the weekend with a third-round 65, to move more than 50 spots up the leaderboard.
Tiger Woods carded a third-round, 7-under 65 Saturday at TPC Sawgrass to end his day inside the top 10, but still well behind leader Webb Simpson.
Tiger Woods carded a 1-under par 71 Friday to just slip under the cut line at the Players Championship.
Tiger Woods said his speed on the greens was fine, but he struggled with his reads. Either way, Woods made just one putt outside of six feet Friday.
if it was not one thing it was another for Tiger Woods during two days at TPC Sawgrass, where made the cut on the number with a 1-under par 143 total.
if it was not one thing it was another for Tiger Woods during two days at TPC Sawgrass, where made the cut on the number with a 1-under par 143 total.
