The Live Report, Round 3: Buick Invitational
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LEFTY'S STRUGGLES (6:15 p.m.): Phil Mickelson's round of 73 on Saturday was certainly not what he wanted.
"I thought a good round would get me back in it, and I didn't get off to the best start, but it was playing tough today, and I just didn't quite put it together," the three-time Buick Invitational champ said.
"I fought hard to make a few birdies coming in to keep it at 1 over."
The hometown favorite will start the final round in a tie for 20th, 11 strokes behind the leader, John Rollins. He'll approach Sunday as a stepping stone of sorts, trying to gain some momentum for next week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Mickelson's putter hasn't cooperated this week and he's only hit 18 of 42 fairways. He missed the cut last week in his season's debut at the FBR Open, as well.
"I'm going to go try to play a good, solid round and see if I can shoot something in the mid-60s and get some momentum heading into next week's tournament," Mickelson said.
"Obviously my game has been a little rusty. I played poorly last week, and I'm playing better this week but not where I expect. I'm hoping to get one good, solid round in over 18 holes and try to take that into next week."
Mickelson will defend his first title of the year at the Northern Trust Open the week after he plays at Pebble Beach.
"It doesn't feel far off," Mickelson said. "It feels like I'm missing fairways by three or four yards here, three or four yards there. It feels like I'm just missing some putts, and it doesn't feel far off, but the score isn't what I expect. So I think hopefully one good round tomorrow can give me a little bit of confidence." -- Helen Ross
CAMILO VS. ROLLINS (5:58 p.m.): With John Rollins and Camilo Villegas having distanced themselves from the rest of the field going into Sunday's final round, let's take a look at how the two have fared in final rounds in each of their wins. Both have won twice, but this will be the first time Rollins takes a lead into Sunday. --Brian Wacker
| John Rollins vs. Camilo Villegas - Final round performances in previous wins | |||||||||||||||
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS (5:21 p.m.): Here's a quick look at some statistics from Torrey Pines today so far. It should give you a pretty good indication of how the course is playing ... and why John Rollins is in the lead. -- Brian Wacker
| Third-round stats: Torrey Pines | ||||||||||||
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TOUGH TRACK (5:05 p.m.): How tough is Torrey Pines playing today, even with a handful of "up" tees? Well, as we roll into the final hour or so of the third round, more than half the field is over par on the day. The day's best score? A 4 under by Charles Warren. -- Brian Wacker
LAVER, RIVERS ON HAND (4:41 P.M.): Tennis great Rod Laver was among the spectactors at Torrey Pines on Saturday.
This year is the 40th anniversary of his second Grand Slam campaign. Laver remains the only tennis pro in the open era to have won all four titles in the same calendar year. The diminutive lefty also accomplished the feat as an amateur in 1962.
Laver now lives in Carsbad, Calif., which is about 25 minutes north on the I-5.
Also on hand was San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, an avid golfer himself. Rivers, who led the Chargers to a miraculous turnaround and into the playoffs after a 4-8 start, joined Jim Nantz in the CBS tower Saturday afternoon. -- Helen Ross
TEES UP AGAIN (4:30 p.m.): Good question from reader Myaz0521 via AOL Instant Messenger just now. Here's the dialogue below:
Myaz0521: Playing the ball up this afternoon?
TheLiveReport: Great question. They were up for the first two rounds in anticipation of bad weather and are again today. They're using the "up" tees on holes 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13 and 18. In the first two rounds, Nos. 5, 7, 11, 12 and 13 were up.
Myaz0521 then said he was actually asking if they're playing lift, clean and place after he thought he saw John Rollins mark his ball in the fairway before picking it up and cleaning it. The answer to that one is yes. -- Brian Wacker
WARREN MAKING MOST OF OPPORTUNITY (4:15 p.m.): Charles Warren has conditional status on the PGA TOUR after finishing 130th on the money list in 2008, but so far he's making the most of the opporuntity in his season debut.
Warren, who tied for second at the 2007 Reno-Tahoe Open and was third at last year's FBR Open, has moved from 32nd to a tie for fourth at the moment after turning in a round of 4-under 68.
Warren is a former NCAA Championship winner and David Williams award winner as the nation's top collgiate player while at Clemson, where he was a teammate of Lucas Glover and Jonathan Byrd. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at Warren's card from Saturday:
GORE STRUGGLES (3:58 p.m.): Jason Gore tried to downplay it after he signed for a second-round 69. But it was clear in Saturday's cold, damp conditions that Gore's back was hurting more than he let on. He let go of his club after he hit his approach on the 10th hole and later was stepping gingerly out of the greenside bunker.
Gore was 2 under for the tournament at that point and in a tie for 16th, which was just two shots out of the top 10. He started the day tied for sixth -- and with a lot on the line.
A top-10 finish would give Gore a spot in the Northern Trust Open, which is played at Riviera Country Club just 20 minutes from his Valencia, Calif., home. Gore dearly wants to play there but he lost his exempt status when he finished 134th on last year's money list.
Gore called himself an "extra-big weenie" on Friday as he made his first cut of the season. He grinned and said he'd never had a back problem "so that's why I'm really whining."
A small swing change could be the culprit, Gore suggested. He planned to get the back treated and hoped it would continue to improve.
"I'll live," Gore said. "It's not a deal-breaker, that's for sure." -- Helen Ross
WATSON'S WOES (3:45 p.m.): After starting the day in a tie for sixth, Bubba Watson has tumbled down the leaderboard. He's 4 over on the day after five bogeys and a birdie through 11 holes.
At one point, Watson bogeyed four out of five holes on the front nine. One of the reasons he's struggling so much is that he hasn't been able to find the green very often, hitting just 36 percent of his greens in regulation so far. -- Brian Wacker
MR. WEST COAST SWING (3:30 p.m.): Nick Watney's only win on the PGA TOUR came at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but the former Fresno State star has a pretty good track record out west, too.
Watney, currently tied for third at 7 under, finished T12 at last week's FBR Open after a second-round 63 that had him in contention going into the weekend. In 2007, he tied for 9th at the Buick Invitational, his best finish in the event, after a T13 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. In '06, he was T7 at Pebble Beach.
Watney's secret this week? Putting. He's tied for sixth in the field in putting average and ranked 14th on TOUR coming into this week. -- Brian Wacker
FORMER NATIONWIDE PLAYERS STEPPING UP (3:02 p.m.): After Pat Perez scored the 239th PGA TOUR win for a Nationwide Tour grad last week, we thought it was a sign to keep an eye on these guys.
Take a look at the top of the leaderboard, and you'll have to agree: John Rollins is leading, Camilo Villegas is right behind him and Paul Goydos, Nick Watney and Lucas Glover are all making a run. All five are Nationwide Tour graduates.
Speaking of the Nationwide Tour, its season opened this week in Panama -- you can follow the Panama Digicel Championship and all the Nationwide Tour news by clicking here. -- Ceri Mobley
| Top five Nationwide Tour grads at Buick Invitational | ||||||||||||||||||
| Performance on the PGA TOUR | ||||||||||||||||||
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BIG EAGLES (2:50 p.m.): Paul Goydos just moved into contention after holing out for eagle from 197 yards on the 462-yard par-4 seventh. That brings Goydos, who plans to take some time off following the death of his ex-wife but chose to play this week's event because it's close to home, to 8 under for the tournament.
Follow Goydos' round live with Shot Tracker by clicking here.
Meanwhile, Charley Hoffman just played himself back into the tournament after a sluggish start with an eagle of his own on the 560-yard par-5 sixth. You can follow his round live by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker
TOUGH SCORING (2:42 p.m.): How tough is scoring today? Only 22 of the 85 players still in the field are under par right now. Of that group, the lowest number on the board is Lucas Glover's 4 under. With weather conditions expected to worsen as the day goes on, don't expect those numbers to get much lower. -- Brian Wacker
GLOVER MOVING UP (2:25 p.m.): A day after struggling to a front-side 37 on Torrey Pines' South Course, Lucas Glover is exacting some revenge. He's 3 under on the day with three birdies and no bogeys through his first 10 holes.
As a result, Glover has shot up the leaderboard, moving from T17 to T5. One reason for the early success today? He's got the flat stick rolling with just 14 putts. It's easier to take fewer putts when your proximity to the hole is some 9 feet better than the field average.
Glover, though hard to believe, is still looking for his first win since the 2005 FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney Resort. -- Brian Wacker
ROLLINS ON ANOTHER ROLL (2:10 p.m.): Two early birdies have John Rollins alone in the lead at 12 under and though the 33-year-old hasn't won since 2006, it's not all that surprising that he's playing well here. He played well last year just up the coast in L.A. and in 2007 was runner-up at two early-season events, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the FBR Open.
And for some reason, Rollins has a propensity for playing well in Buick sponsored events -- four top 10s and a T20 in three different Buick tournaments, including a T4 here in 2006. -- Brian Wacker
COMPARING CAMILO, ROLLINS AND TIGER (1:54 p.m.): With Tiger out of the picture this week, the Buick Invitational will see the first winner other than Tiger in the past four years. Here is a comparison of Camilo Villegas and John Rollins against the previous winners after two rounds Previous winners through two rounds. -- PGA TOUR Staff
| Previous winners through two rounds | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WHAT WILL WEATHER DO? (1:38 p.m.): If the last two days are any indication, it's hard to figure out what the weather will do today. The rain was heavy overnight, with three-quarters of an inch falling at Torrey Pines. By the time the first players teed off on Saturday, though, there was plenty of sun and blue skies. The forecast still calls for showers this afternoon that could be heavy at times. -- Helen Ross
HOFFMAN'S SLOW START (1:25 p.m.): Charley Hoffman's round did not get off to a good start.
The San Diego native hit his drive right and it landed in a tree. Hoffman searched the deep grass underneath the tree and then used two sets of binoculars to see if he could find -- and most importantly -- identify a ball in the branches. At one point, he even asked if he could use a camera to focus in on the ball.
The ball eventually was dislodged. Hoffman scooped it out of the rough, looked at it and put it in his pocket. Then he got in a golf cart and returned to the first tee. His third shot -- and second drive -- landed in the right fairway bunker, not far from the pesky tree that snagged his first ball.
Hoffman's fourth shot landed well left of the green. He chipped on but missed the 12-footer and made a triple to drop from solo third and into a tie for 10th.
Hoffman's playing partners, Camilo Villegas and John Rollins, bvoth made pars and remain 1-2 at 11 and 10 under, respectively. -- Helen Ross
CUT DAY (1:15 p.m.): Usually Saturday on the PGA TOUR is known as moving day. With 85 players advancing from the second round, it'll be known as cut day to get to the low 70 and ties for Sunday's final round. With so many players still in the field today, that meant 15 threesomes were sent off No. 1 and 14 groups off No. 10 to try to get everyone in before darkness and, perhaps more importantly, bad weather set in. -- Brian Wacker
KEEP AN EYE ON CAMILO (1:10 p.m.): Leaders Camilo Villegas and John Rollins just teed off about 15 minutes ago and it'll be interesting to see if Villegas was able to fix the problems he was having with the driver yesterday when he hit just four fairways. That didn't stop him from maintaining the lead, however. Part of the reason he was able to do so was his putting, which is about as good as it's been in his career, at least statistically anyway.
One other note before taking a closer look at his putting numbers through the first two rounds: Villegas is 4 under from the fairway and 9 under from everywhere else.
Take a look at the chart below. -- Brian Wacker
| Key stats: Camilo Villegas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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