Round 3: St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
NOT SO FAST (6:15 p.m.): So much for that three-shot lead for Brian Gay. Just as he has all week, Gay struggled on Nos. 17 and 18, making a bogey on the finishing hole -- while Bryce Molder poured in a birdie. The two-shot swing means Gay's lead is down to just one entering tomorrow's final round.
Give Molder a lot of credit. After an early bogey, he bounced back with six birdies the rest of the day to pull within one. He'll have a great shot at his first win on the PGA TOUR tomorrow, while Gay will try to avoid squandering an opportunity to get his second victory of the season and earn, among other things, a spot in next week's U.S. Open. By the way, Gay has now played Nos. 17 and 18 in a combined 4 over this week.
Because of the early start tomorrow due to the threat of bad weather in the area, the Live Report will also have an earlier start. Tee times are set between 8 and 10 a.m. ET with threesomes going off both sets of tees. -- Brian Wacker
THIRD ROUND WINDING DOWN (5:50 p.m.): We're wrapping up the third round here at TPC Southwind and things look much the same as they have since Thursday with Brian Gay atop the leaderboard. He has a three-shot lead and has the same kind of look to his game that he had when he won the Verizon Heritage. He led by three going into the final round there, too, and went on to win by 10. Not sure he'll be able to do that here, but he's going to be hard to beat with the way he's playing right now. -- Brian Wacker
WOODY'S WILD DAY (5:22 p.m.): Woody Austin knows how to go low in the final round of the St. Jude Classic -- when he won here in 2007, he did so by shooting a final-round 62. Given the way his third round has gone, he may need a similar round tomorrow.
Since beginning the round in a tie for fifth, Austin has actually dropped a spot after being unable to muster anything more than a round of 1 under through 16 holes today.
Austin got off to a good enough start with an eagle on the par-5 third hole, but gave one of those strokes back one hole later when he came up short of the green on the par-3 fourth. After making all pars the rest of his front nine, Austin opened with a double bogey on the back when he found deep rough left off the tee, couldn't get out of it on his next shot and three-putted for a 6. Austin bounced back with a birdie on the very next hole and has since added another birdie, but it looks like it'll take something really low for him to win here again. -- Brian Wacker
GOYDOS GOES LOW (5 p.m.): Paul Goydos has quietly moved into contention at the St. Jude Classic, where he shot his second straight 64 today.
For Goydos, it's the second time in his last three starts that he's been in the hunt. At the Valero Texas Open, Goydos opened with a 63 that he backed up with a 65 and a pair of 69s on the weekend to finish in a tie for third. That was his best finish since playoff loss at the 2008 PLAYERS Championship.
Most impressive about Goydos third round: He hit 93 percent of his fairways, which led to him hitting 78 percent of his greens in regulation, which led to just 26 putts -- only one more than he had yesterday.
Over his last 36 holes, Goydos has 13 birdies and just one bogey. -- Brian Wacker
PUTTING PROBLEMS (4:40 p.m.): The Achilles Heel in Robert Allenby's game has always been the putter -- he's ranked 164th, 184th and 187th in putts per round each of the last three years on the PGA TOUR. Today seems to be another case of the Aussie struggling a bit with the flat stick.
In fairness, Allenby hasn't given himself a ton of opportunities -- though he just rolled in a 16-footer for birdie. Prior to that, however, Allenby hadn't made anything longer than 6 feet and missed opportunities on Nos. 4, 9, 12 and 13. Allenby actually three-putted the par-4 ninth hole, failing to save par from 7 feet. The other missed putts were all in the 15-20 foot range. -- Brian Wacker
WALKER'S WACKY WEEK (4 p.m.): Jimmy Walker is having one of the strangest weeks of the season after opening with a 65 on Thursday that had him near the top of the leaderboard.
Since then, however, Walker has carded rounds of 72 and 82. That's a 17-shot swing in just two days. Since playing a bogey-free first round, Walker has made 12 bogeys, one double bogey, one triple bogey and just three birdies over his last 36 holes. -- Brian Wacker
FINAL ROUND TO START EARLY (3:35 p.m.): The threat of more severe weather on Sunday afternoon has prompted PGA TOUR officials to move the final round tee times up. The tee times will run from approximately 8-10 a.m. ET with an expected finish of between 3-4 p.m. ET. Players will be grouped in threesomes and will be sent off Nos. 1 and 10. The final round will be tape-delayed on CBS and run from 3-6 p.m. ET. -- Helen Ross
TOUGH FINISH (3:20 p.m.): It looks like the rain that swept through the Memphis area late yesterday and overnight didn't do too much to make TPC Southwind any easier. The course is playing about as difficult as it did in Round 1 -- especially on the back nine, which is where six of the seven most difficult holes are. Below is a look at how the final nine played in the second round. -- Brian Wacker
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PRICE ON POINT (3 p.m.): Rookie Aaron Price could be looking for not only his best finish of the season since a tie for sixth in Cancun, but his first career win after making seven birdies through his first 12 holes today to get to 8 under for the tournament. That's a jump of 50 spots on the leaderboard.
Price's run up the leaderboard began on the back, which is where he started, with birdies on two of his first three holes before he added another at the par-5 16th. On No. 18, Price again birdied before adding three more on his next three holes, hitting it inside of 12 feet on each of his approach shots.
A little background on Price: He was 18th on last year's Nationwide Tour money list and earned his first career win at the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship, which he won in a playoff after rallying from four back on the final day. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Price's scorecard so far:
WHAT'S AT STAKE (2:45 p.m.): The two players at the top of the leaderboard have a lot to gain with a victory this week. A win would be a boost to Brian Gay's chances of making the U.S. Presidents Cup team and would move Australian Robert Allenby (currently No. 11) into the top 10 of Captain Greg Norman's International Team standings. Gay is currently 13th in the standings.
Gay, who won the Verizon Heritage earlier this year, is also one of four players left in the field that would earn an exemption to next week's U.S. Open with a second win (since last year's U.S. Open). -- Joel Schuchmann
TOUGH TITLE TO DEFEND (2:05 p.m.): With scores of 76-69, defending champion Justin Leonard missed the cut at the St. Jude Classic for the first time since 1998. Leonard has played the event 11 times since 1994, missing just three cuts while recording five top-10 finishes and winning twice. As you'll see in the chart below, defending champions here have generally fared either very well or struggled mightily here. -- Joel Schuchmann
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HORSES FOR COURSES (1:45 p.m.): Some guys are just more comfortable on difficult courses; take Vance Veazey for example. The soon-to-be 44-year-old notched his fourth career Nationwide Tour victory earlier this year at the season-opening Panama Digicel Championship at Panama Golf Club, which happens to be the toughest course on the Nationwide Tour the last two years running.
While Veazey, a Memphis native, has spent most of his time on the Nationwide Tour this season and is currently fifth in "THE 25," he's playing in the St. Jude Classic this week, as he does most years -- he hasn't missed one since 2001 -- on a sponsor's exemption.
Maybe it's the hometown advantage, but Veazey is just as comfortable on this tough track as he was in Panama. He opened his week with a 67 and followed with a 68 to sit in a tie for 12th entering the third round at TPC Southwind. Eager to continue in that direction, Veazey birdied his second hole of Round 3 and is now 6 under for the tournament.
With ties for 10th (in 2007) and 20th (in 2003) here, he'll be one to watch as the weekend unfolds. For more information about the Nationwide Tour and its players, click here. -- Ceri Mobley
WALKER'S WOES (1:25 p.m.): The opening-round 65 that Jimmy Walker shot must seem like forever ago right now. After finishing up a 2-over 72 earlier today, things have gotten much worse for Walker in the afternoon with a back-nine 43 as he makes the turn toward the front.
After starting his third round with three straight bogeys, one of which came when Walker found the water off the tee on the par-3 11th, things really blew up with a double bogey at No. 16 and a triple bogey at No. 18.
On the 16th hole, Walker hit his tee shot way left and had to take a penalty stroke before hacking it out of the rough, across the fairway and into more rough. on the 530-yard, par-5 hole. At the 18th, he found water off the tee again and left his fourth shot short of the green before finally hitting on and two-putting.
Not exactly what anyone saw coming from a guy who had three top-25s on the PGA TOUR last season and who was a three-time winner on the Nationwide Tour. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Walker's scorecard so far today:
PHIL, DALY UPDATE (1 p.m.): Phil Mickelson and John Daly both began their third round on the back nine and neither got off to a particularly good start.
Mickelson bogeyed the 10th hole after sailing his approach shot to the green over the hole, then added another bogey two holes later when he found the water off the tee at No. 12. On the bright side, Mickelson posted a birdie at No. 11 after hitting his tee shot to 7 feet on the par-3 hole.
Daly, meanwhile, parred each of his first two holes today before failing to get up-and-down for par from just off the back of the 12th green. -- Brian Wacker
ALLENBY'S TURN? (12:30 p.m.): Robert Allenby, who lost in a playoff to Justin Leonard here last year, is playing his 202nd event since his last victory, which came at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Open.
That's hard to fathom for a guy of Allenby's caliber. He's certainly played well at enough to win at times since then and this year -- he has four runner-ups and 46 top-10s, including a tie for fifth at this year's Honda Classic since then -- and if he keeps playing like he has through the first two rounds, he just may get it.
Through two rounds at TPC Southwind, Allenby ranks third in greens in regulation, second in driving accuracy and has the sixth-most birdies in the field.
Having to finish his second round early this morning didn't seem to affect Allenby, either -- he played his last three holes in 1 under. Now we'll see what he can do in the third round when he tees off in about 20 minutes from now. -- Brian Wacker
EARLY MOVERS (12:15 p.m.): About half of today's groups are out on the golf course for the third round right now and a few players are making some early moves, trying to take advantage of soft conditions after a quick, but hard storm yesterday.
Michael Bradley is already 3 under today after three straight birdies in his first four holes. Chris Stroud and Bob Estes are also off to solid starts at 2 under through their first two and three holes, respectively.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Walker, who at one point was in great shape after an opening-round 65, has fallen well back. He finished his second round at 2-over 72 and already bogeyed his first three holes of Round 3 before settling down with a couple of pars. -- Brian Wacker
THIRD ROUND UNDER WAY (12 p.m.): Now that the dust has settled -- literally -- after a quick, but hard-hitting system stormed through the Memphis area late yesterday afternoon that forced the third round to be completed early this morning, there's been a cut, players have re-paired in threesomes and groups sent off both sets of tees for the third round. Despite all that, Brian Gay is still in the same position, leading the tournament at 10 under.
It's easy to see why, when Gay putts well -- he's averaging 24 1/2 putts per round this week -- that he can be a force out here. He already has one win this season and two other top-six finishes. That's what happens when rank third on the PGA TOUR in driving accuracy, 10th in scoring average, third in final-round scoring average, eighth in approach shots from 175-200 yards and 15th in approaches from 100-125 yards.
Oh yeah, Gay is also tied for the most birdied in the field this week with 14 through his first 36 holes. He has company, however, with Robert Allenby one shot back and Woody Austin three back. Allenby finished second here a year ago, and Austin won this tournament two years ago. -- Brian Wacker
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