Third round: Chopra holds two-shot lead after late birdie
GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) -- Daniel Chopra took advantage of an opportunity to build a cushion in the Buick Open.
Chopra birdied the last hole Saturday after Dudley Hart bogeyed it, giving the Swede a two-shot lead with one round left at Warwick Hills
Chopra made a 15-foot putt to close the third round at 4 under and reach 16 under 200. Hart (70), Bubba Watson (68) and Woody Austin (69) were tied for second.
Second-round leader Bo Van Pelt (73) was another shot back along with Kenny Perry (67), the highest-ranked player in the field.
Chopra was alone atop the leaderboard for the first time at the ninth hole when Hart had his first bogey of the tournament.
Hart pulled back into a tie with Chopra with a birdie at 16, where he got off to a good start with a 308-yard drive in the middle of the fairway. An errant drive set up trouble at 18, though, and he would've had to make a 31-foot putt just to stay within a stroke.
Van Pelt closed the front nine at 3 over after going from one sand trap to another to card a double bogey at the ninth hole. He got back into contention with two birdies in a four-hole stretch, pulling within two shots.
Chopra won the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, but has failed to crack the top 30 in any tournament since.
Hart has won twice on the PGA TOUR, with the last victory coming in 2000 at The Honda Classic. His highlight this year was in February, when he had a third-place finish at Pebble Beach.
He missed the last seven months of the 2007 season after a softball-sized tumor was discovered in his wife's lung. She had the tumor and two-thirds of her lung removed last May, but it turned out to be a benign mass. He returned to the TOUR this year under a family medical exemption and has already made enough money to regain his card.
Chopra was wild off the tee -- hitting just three of 14 fairways -- but recovered well enough to hit 13 of 18 greens.
When he didn't stick an approach, such as at No. 4 -- when his approach rolled off the green and under a camping chair -- his touch with a wedge was sharp enough to help him scramble for par.
The sixth hole seemed to be a pivotal hole for the final threesome of Chopra, Hart and Van Pelt.
Hart chipped in from 60 feet for birdie to take the lead at 14 under, then Chopra's 15-foot birdie putt kept him within a stroke before Van Pelt blew a chance to regain a share of the lead by pulling a 5-footer.
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Charles Warren's shot was like one of those old McDonald's commercials -- from the fairway, off the grandstand, the ball lands inches from the pin. His killer approach shot at the 18th hole (
Two players fired 7-under 65s in the third round but Rod Pampling's was a little more interesting than Paul Goydos'. Pampling didn't meet Old Man Par often on Saturday in a round that included 10 birdies, 3 bogeys and 5 pars.
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WATSON LETS PUTTER DO HEAVY LIFTING
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- People weren't kidding when they told Bubba Watson the fairways at Warwick Hills were hard to hit.
Not that he's let it bother him, though. If need be, the big-hitting Floridian doesn't mind playing out of the rough -- or from behind a tree, for that matter -- and he will start the final round of his first Buick Open two strokes off the lead.
Watson fired a 68 on Saturday to move into a tie at 14 under with Dudley Hart and Woody Austin. The round was his third straight in the 60s at Warwick Hills and seventh consecutive overall, counting that tie for sixth last week at the Travelers Championship.
The 29-year-old who leads the PGA TOUR in driving distance has only hit 17 of 42 fairways this week -- which is tied for 65th in that category -- but he's still managed to make 17 birdies. He hasn't dropped a shot to par over the last 36 holes, either.
"The first three days have been good," Watson said. "My first year here, didn't know what to expect. They said the fairways were a little hard to hit. They are tight and so far so good for me, even though I haven't hit that many fairways. (I've) putted well."
Interestingly, Daniel Chopra, who owns the lead at 16 under, is also taking the more adventurous route. The Swede, who won the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, joins Watson in hitting fairways at a 40.48 percent clip.
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AFTER CADDIE DAD DUTIES, TWAY FINDS LOW ROUND
By Helen Ross, Chief of Correspondents
GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- Bob Tway was a little taken aback.
"For the whole year?" he asked incredulously. Could the 67 he shot Saturday during the third round of the Buick Classic really be his best round of the season?
Told that it was, Tway smiled wryly. "If it's for the whole year, that's not very good," he said. "(But) you've got to have something good happen sometime, right?"
And there were plenty of good things on Saturday as Tway made six birdies and dropped just one shot to par. He's 10 under through three rounds -- which is already one stroke lower than his best tournament of the season, a tie for 11th at the AT&T Classic.
Overnight rains had softened the course, and Tway was in the second group off the first tee. He knew the greens would be receptive and easy to putt, and he quickly took advantage, shooting 32 on the front and using just 26 putts for the round.
"These greens are great, and after the rain, they're going to be very smooth," the 49-year-old veteran said. "So if you give yourself some opportunities, before people start walking on them, ... you're going to be able to make some. And I was able to do that."
Tway, who counts the 1986 PGA Championship among his eight TOUR wins, is playing out of the past champions category this year after finishing outside the top 150 on the money list in 2007. He's only played in nine events this year, as a result, but he's not complaining.
The time off has given Tway plenty of chances to watch his son, Kevin, who recently completed his freshman year at his father's alma mater, Oklahoma State, play. He even caddied for his son at the U.S. Open two weeks ago.
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HE'S NOT LETTING UP
When he rolled in that snake of a 55-footer on No. 3 for his third consecutive birdie Saturday, Kenny Perry was entertaining thoughts of that magical 59.
"And then I hit a poor drive on No. 4 underneath a tree and that kind of brought me back to reality," he said.
Still, Perry couldn't be too disappointed. He made seven birdies on Saturday -- bringing his total for the week to 19, which is tied for first among the field -- and finished with a 67 that moved him to 13 under and three strokes off the lead.
"I've just got to figure out a way to limit the mistakes I've been making," Perry said. "It's just the kind of golf course if you hit the ball in the fairway you've got a good chance of making birdie. My bogeys were all where I hit it in the rough."
The rare bogey notwithstanding, Perry, at 47, is playing some of the best golf of his life. He won the Memorial Tournament for a third time last month, which was one of three top-six finishes in his last five starts.
And each week Perry plays well, he inches closer to his goal of making the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He currently ranks sixth in the standings where Nos. 2-9 automatically make Paul Azinger's team in Tiger Woods' absence.
Someone asked Perry the reason for his success. Experience? Wisdom?
"Both," he said. "I'm just trying to make that Ryder Cup team. That's it. I've got one goal. I'm not letting up. I'm keeping that gas pedal to the floor here. I'm just trying to do the best I can each and every week and hopefully, I can get to Valhalla."
USING HIS IMAGINATION
Daniel Chopra has taken the adventurous route this week.
He's only hit 17 of 42 fairways -- and just three on Saturday -- yet he leads the Buick Open by two strokes entering the final round. The tight tree-lined fairways certainly don't intimidate the imaginative Chopra.
"(I) can hit trundlers and cuts and hooks and find ways to get it on the green," he explained. "As long as you give me a swing and some kind of a gap, I'm pretty good at finding it, and this golf course allows you to do that.
"So I think it relaxes me a little bit off the tee so that I can go ahead and hit it; and if I miss, I can use my skill to recover. And you're not dead for the most part, not dead in the trees; you have some kind of a shot."
| 10 | Number of players who now have Sunday off because they failed to finish in the top-70 players and ties on Saturday. |
| 16 | How many weeks in a row that the 54-hole lead has been held by just one player. |
Chopra's detours into the woods didn't go unnoticed as he played with Todd Hamilton and Jeff Maggert during the first two rounds. Hamilton's caddy started calling Chopra "Rambo" on Thursday.
"And I go, "Rambo?" Chopra recalled. "Yeah, you're lethal from the trees." It was funny because I made more birdies out of the trees the first day than I did from the fairway; so that was kind of funny."
On Friday, Chopra had to kneel above a greenside bunker at the eighth hole to hit his bal out of the sand. The ball landed 13 inches from the cup.
"So I think I had a little bit of everything this week, and it's something I prided myself on is being able to use my imagination and come up and find the desperate shot when I'm in trouble and just don't give up," Chopra said.
"And if I can find a way and find a gap, I'll go for it, and most of the time, I'll pull it off. Hit a few trees along the way, but it seems to pay off."
On Sunday, he'll see just how well.
WHO WILL BE NO. 10?
Yeah, yeah, we all know there have been nine 20-somethings who have won on the PGA TOUR in 2008, as compared to seven in all of 2007. Before Tiger Woods' early exit from the 2008 season, that was the biggest golf story of the year.
However, after having six players in their 20s win in a seven-week stretch from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to THE PLAYERS, there have been none since. With Woods, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry and Stewart Cink all winning in the meantime, it looks like the veterans are winning the trophy tug o' war.
Will someone break that trend this week? Here is a look at the players in their 20s who are currently in the top 15 through 54 holes at Warwick Hills:
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THINGS TO WATCH ON SUNDAY
1. Bo Van Pelt. He was only 1 over on Saturday but in this birdie fest, that meant he dropped from first into a tie for fifth. Will he rebound on Sunday and retake the lead?
2. First-time winner? At a tournament that is kind to first-time winners, there are seven players in the top 10 after 54 holes who are hoping for that maiden victory.
3. At least 22 players. You likely won't know who to keep your eye on in the final round, as 22 players are within six strokes of the lead. As Woody Austin said following the third round, "It will be a shootout."
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