The Barclays, Round 3
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
WRAPPING UP ROUND 3 (6:30 p.m.): Three rounds of the first PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup event are in the books. Liberty National showed when the weather is good, she can be scored upon. Co-leaders Paul Goydos and Steve Marino, both knotted at 9 under, were both 3 under Saturday. So was Fredrik Jacobson, who is tied for third with Webb Simpson, two strokes back.
Of the names on the first couple of pages of the leaderboard, only Simpson was over par. The rookie from Wake Forest, who led after 36 holes for the first time in his career, never could get it going in the third round, taking 31 putts.
The elephant in the room, of course, is Tiger Woods, who seemed less agitated after a 4-under 67 that kept him "in the ballgame," as he said. Woods is five shots back -- the same number he trailed by when he won at Bay Hill earlier this year. With good weather in Sunday's forecast, though, he might need more than the five birdies he had to today to make another comeback.
Whatever happens, the 2,500 FedExCup points the winner gets will go a long, long way. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER, ZACH TOGETHER AGAIN (6:29 p.m.): Tiger Woods and Zach Johnson will be paired together for the fourth consecutive round, teeing off at 1:16 p.m. ET. The two have posted identical scores in each of the first three rounds (70-72-67). This will be the seventh time this year that they've been paired together at a PGA TOUR event. -- Mike McAllister
ZACH ATTACKS COURSE (6:05 p.m.): Zach Johnson credited the 67 he shot Saturday during the third round of The Barclays to perseverance.
He started the day even par but Johnson was 1 over and going nowhere when he made the turn. Johnson stayed patient, though, and once his putter began to be more accommodating the ball found the hole -- to the tune of five straight birdie putts. The streak began at the 13th hole and an up-and-down at the par-5 13th as well as birdie putts of 16, 8, 24 and 5 feet.
"Today was a matter of persevering and (not) getting off to the best of starts, even though I didn't play that bad really,' Johnson said. "I remained patient and got some momentum and started making some putts and seeing the line nicely and carried into the back nine and fortunately came away with a decent round."
Johnson, who came into the week ranked third in the FedExCup, didn't advance past The Barclays last year. He finished seventh overall in 2007, which was the same year he won his first major. So what is the difference between this year and last?
"I think it's a matter of everything," Johnson said. "My game has become a little bit more complete. My ball striking has gotten better. My putting has gotten better and I think my mental process has gotten better. It's just polishing. Last year was a 2007 lag, Masters lag, and I just was able to maintain the good rhythm today." -- Helen Ross
FURYK SUFFERS PENALTIES (5:50 p.m.): Jim Furyk incurred two-stroke penalties on the first and second holes after he discovered he had a 15th club in his bag. Furyk would have parred the first two holes, but due to the infraction, he ended up with a pair of double bogeys. Furyk still managed to shoot 70 after playing his next 16 holes in 5 under. He is 1 under for the tournament and tied for 22nd right now. The offending club was a 60-degree sand wedge. -- Helen Ross
YANG HANGING AROUND (5:40 p.m.): Y.E. Yang didn't sleep particularly well on Friday night, so he didn't know exactly what to expect during the third round of The Barclays. Turns out, the reigning PGA champ need not have worried.
Yang fired a 3-under 68 that included five birdies and just two bogeys that left him at 3 under for the week. He was steady throughout the muggy afternoon, hitting all but four fairways and all but three greens. If his putter had cooperated -- Yang had 30 putts on Saturday -- the score could have been even lower.
"Seems like I'm getting better into the weekend," Yang said through an interpreter. "I didn't sleep well so I didn't actually anticipate another good round, but somehow I actually found my pace and found my swing and felt that my rhythm was quite good on the back nine. Unfortunately I missed a lot of putts, crucial birdie putts, especially from the 14th onward. I'm a bit disappointed about that."
Yang was encouraged by the fan support he felt in his first start since he took down Tiger Woods at Hazeltine. No longer does he hear "Choi" or "Wi" or "Na" being yelled out by the crowd.
"I'm focused but when I sometimes hear my name being called out, it does give sort of a moral boost," Yang said. "It's a feel good situation, especially when I finish up and everybody is calling me. Some people actually are calling me 'Yeah Yang.' I don't know if they are doing it on purpose or their own convenience but I don't mind."
Yang, who has won twice on the PGA TOUR this year, is participating in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup for the first time this year. He finished 145th -- one spot out of qualifying for The Barclays -- last year as a rookie.
"It's a different format and totally different type of game," Yang said. "It's not just one tournament; it's a slew of tournaments that I have to try and concentrate on. I just have to try concentrating on each tournament and that's my main goal right now." -- Helen Ross
BO GOES LOW (5:30 p.m.): A bogey-free round -- just the fourth recorded at Liberty National this week -- helped Bo Van Pelt make a big move up The Barclays leaderboard on Saturday.
Van Pelt fired a 66 that left him 3 under and tied for 13th (for now) after 54 holes of the first event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Van Pelt had started the day in a tie for 38th, but his ball-striking finally caught up to a red-hot putter. He used just 24 strokes with the flat stick for second time in three days.
Van Pelt's birdie putts came from 5, 9 and 33 feet, allowing him to make the turn in 33. He got up and down from in front of the green at the par-5 13th, then capped off the round with a 7-footer at No. 17.
"The putter has been pretty good all week, and just finally hit it a little bit better today, and obviously the conditions were better than I had yesterday morning," Van Pelt said. "It was pretty tough out there. I was playing pretty good. I made a triple on 1 as I made the turn yesterday and got it all the way back to where I was even and bogeyed the last two holes.
"I was playing pretty good golf, and just drove it well today and putter stayed hot."
The eight-year PGA TOUR veteran picked up his first win last month in Milwaukee, and it did wonders for his confidence. Not to mention, he earned a two-year exemption on TOUR and a ton of FedExCup points.
"I don't have that in the back of my mind anymore," Van Pelt said of the winless drought. "It's not like I'm thinking about when is the first time going to be. So it's nice that I don't have to think about it. I've been out here long enough where I have good experience, but it was just nice to get that one off the shelf."
Now Van Pelt can concentrate on his next goal -- playing in THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola for the first time. Not only will he have a chance to win the FedExCup if he gets there, Van Pelt, and any of the other 29 players in the field, are guaranteed a spot in the first three majors and the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, among other perks.
"My goal is Top 30 like everyone else, to get in THE TOUR Championship, and with the win, got myself somewhere in the 40s," Van Pelt said. "Starting the week, I felt like I had a really good shot. I still didn't even know with all the points how it was going to shake out. I'll know more I guess after this week to see how much I can move up and move down.
"That's the goal, just try to play the best you can each week, the next three weeks and see where that gets you."
BACK-NINE BLITZ, PART II (5:20 p.m.): Zach Johnson and Padraig Harrington have posted the best back-nine performances of the week, each coming in at 30, 5 under on the backside, Saturday afternoon.
Johnson had five consecutive birdies from holes 13-17, while Harrington birdied holes 12, 13 and 14, along with 16 and 17.
Each finished with 4-under 67s and stand 4 under for the tournament. -- Mike McAllister
IN CONTENTION ... SORT OF (5:08 p.m.): Depending on what the leaders do during the remainder of the day, Tiger Woods may find himself too far back to make a run during the final round.
Woods, 4 under after shooting a 4-under 67 Saturday, found himself five shots back of Paul Goydos after Goydos birdied the par-5 13th.
Woods has rallied from seven shots back once in his career, which is why he said "anything seven or less" is within striking distance.
But he wouldn't be surprised if Goydos puts in overdrive in his last five holes.
"The guys can run away with it if they really play well coming in," Woods said, citing the course set-up in which most of the tees were moved up.
Woods saved par on the last hole with a 13-foot, 3-inch putt.
"It was important because ... where the tees are, they are playing the ladies tees most of the day," Woods said. -- Mike McAllister
ACE HIGH (4:55 p.m.): Daniel Chopra is well off the pace at 2 over for the week, but he hit the best shot of the week so far a little while ago, making a hole-in-one with a 6-iron on the 193-yard par-3 fourth. That is the first ace of the week here and helped Chopra get to 2 under on his round, which he's at now with two holes to play. -- Brian Wacker
NEW YORK FANS (4:50 p.m.): As Luke Donald was walking up the 18th fairway following his second shot, a fan sitting in one of the suites down the left side yelled out in his best Darth Vadar voice, "Luke, I am your father." Hardly original, to be sure. The Englishman didn't hear it -- or at least he didn't acknowledge it. But it did draw a few snickers from the gallery. "I bet he's been waiting all day to use that one," someone remarked. -- Mike McAllister
TIGER IN WITH A 67 (4:30 p.m.): It wasn't always pretty, but it was effective. A round of 4-under 67 by Tiger Woods left him, as he put, "in the ballgame."
As of now, Woods is four shots off the lead and even though he made a great par on the par-5 13th, had his approach shot not come short and found the water, he very well could be sitting at 6 under for the week, two shots back. Ifs are meaningless, though, and Woods knows that. If he's going to win here, he'll need to figure out Liberty National's tricky greens.
"These greens are unbelievable," Woods told CBS' Peter Kostis after his round. "Half the putts you hit here are going two different ways."
Woods putts a lot on memory, but since this is the first time he's played here, the memory bank is empty. Still, a couple of late birdies and a clutch par on No. 18 leave him in contention with one round to play.
"If I drop another [on 18], they can put it out of reach," Woods said. "At least I got a good feeling, hit some good putt and made a good save on 18." -- Brian Wacker
SWEET 17 (4:05 p.m.): The par-4 17th isn't exactly the most difficult hole at Liberty National -- it's currently the third-easiest hole on the course -- but it was especially kind to the threesome of Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson and Luke Donald. All three stuffed their approach shots to the hole and all made their birdie putts.
For Johnson, it was his fifth straight birdie, moving him to 4 under for the week and within four of the lead. Ditto Woods, who has five birdies today, including two in his last four holes. -- Brian Wacker
GOYDOS BACK ON TOP (3:45 p.m.): We're on the back nine here at Liberty National, where the final groups of the day have made the turn. So far, this has been the best day of scoring at Liberty National yet and Paul Goydos and others have taken advantage.
Goydos is 3 under through nine today and back atop the leaderboard (for now) by one. A host of others are under par, too, including Fredrik Jacobson, Steve Stricker and Ian Poulter, all of whom are in contention. Even Tiger Woods, who has struggled at times with his driving, or his ball striking, or his putting, is 3 under (and it could have been 5 under if not for one errant shot on No. 13).
The best round in the clubhouse is a 66 by Bo Van Pelt, but Greg Owen might surpass that -- he's at 6 under today with three holes to play.
As hard or complicated as this course is to play, you give PGA TOUR players some time and they'll figure it out, at least some of it and that appears to be exactly what they are doing. -- Brian Wacker
FREDDY, OTHERS ON FIRE (3:30 p.m.): It was just a front-nine 34 for Fredrik Jacobson, but how the Swede got there is quite a story. After bogeying two of his first four holes, Jacobson caught fire, making four straight birdies to get to 6 under for the week.
As a result, Jacobson, whose best finishes on the PGA TOUR are a pair of runners-up the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro and at last year's AT&T National, has moved into fourth, just three off the lead of Paul Goydos.
Meanwhile, Bo Van Pelt has the best score of the day so far, having just turned in a 5-under 66 that featured five birdies and zero bogeys. Van Pelt didn't miss a single fairway and took just 24 putts on his round (which is somewhat misleading considering he hit just 11 of 18 greens in regulation). That moved him from a tie for 38th at the start of the day into a tie for seventh currently. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Van Pelt's scorecard from today:
A TOUGH PAR (3:10 p.m.): With the tees up, the par-5 13th is playing just 509 yards, which gives the players the green light to go for the green in two. That's what Tiger Woods did, except his approach came up short and found the water. Woods knew it as soon as he hit it, letting go of the club as soon as he swung.
Woods recovered by hitting his next shot to just outside 8 feet before rolling in the putt for what was a terrific par considering the circumstances. Still, we're talking a two-shot swing there. Had his fourth shot been his second, the putt would have been for eagle and moved Woods to 4 under and within four of the lead. That very well might have changed the complexion of his round and this tournament. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER UPDATE (2:45 p.m.): Tiger Woods is on the back nine at Liberty National, where he started hot with three straight birdies on the front nine to climb to 3 under and into a tie for fifth. Since then, however, Woods has cooled, making four pars and a bogey. That's dropped him back down the leaderboard some and Woods is now seven shots back of leader Paul Goydos, who is 3 under through his first six holes. -- Brian Wacker
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BACK-NINE BLITZ (2:20 p.m.): Starting his third round on the 10th tee, Greg Owen just blitzed the back nine with a 4-under 31, which ties for the lowest score on the back nine this week at Liberty National. Sergio Garcia also posted a 31 on the back nine in Thursday's first round.
Unlike Friday morning's brutally tough conditions, it's apparent that low scores are available for the taking. Owen and Bo Van Pelt are each 4 under for their rounds today, and 21 other players currently are under par for their rounds. -- Mike McAllister
GOYDOS GRABS LEAD (2:12 p.m.): Paul Goydos has taken over the lead thanks to a couple of birdies, along with a bogey by 36-hole leader Webb Simpson.
Should Goydos, who is making the 424th start of his career on the PGA TOUR, remain the leader after 54 holes, it would be just the third time in his career that he's entered the final round with the lead.
Goydos was the 54-hole leader at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2008 and the Travelers Championship in 2009. At THE PLAYERS, he finished second, losing in a playoff to Sergio Garcia. At the Travelers, he finished tied for second behind Kenny Perry. -- Mike McAllister
GAY STILL GOING STRONG (2:02 p.m.): Brian Gay has already won twice this year on the PGA TOUR. He's been battling a bad back of late, though; missed the cut at the PGA Championship and ended up 12th in the standings for the U.S. Presidents Cup team.
So if Gay is to impress Captain Fred Couples, who makes his two picks on Sept. 8, he needs to giddy-up. That's why his steady climb up the leaderboard this week couldn't come at a better time.
The Floridian birdied his first two holes on Saturday and is 2 under through eight holes and for the tournament, which leaves him firmly entrenched in the top 10. He rolled in a 10-footer at No. 1 and an 8-footer at the second. He nearly picked up a third birdie at No. 8 but missed from 7 feet.
While Couples has indicated Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan are the top candidates, a strong showing -- or perhaps a win -- from Gay in the first two Playoff events would certainly make the U.S. Captain's decision harder. -- Helen Ross
NUMBER GAME (1:48 p.m.): Just how difficult was Liberty National yesterday? Well, in the first round, the scoring average was 71.960 for the par-71 track across the Hudson River from the Manhattan. Yesterday, that number ballooned to 74.361 with 142 fewer birdies and 82 more bogeys. What about today? So far, Liberty National is playing to a scoring average of 70.966. Though that number will probably go up some, there's no way it will approach 74 and the biggest reason it won't is because the weather won't be near as bad as it was yesterday. -- Brian Wacker
ANOTHER BIRDIE FOR TIGER (1:33 p.m.): Tiger Woods is on a run of three consecutive birdies, his longest stretch since the second round of the PGA Championship in his most recent start when he birdied three straight holes on his way to claiming the 36-hole lead. Woods is now at 3 under for the tournament. Although he's five shots off the lead held by Webb Simpson, just four players are now ahead of him on the leaderboard. Incidentally, Justin Rose and Greg Owen also have put together strings of three straight birdies in the third round. -- Mike McAllister
MARINO'S MAGIC STICK (1:25 p.m.): Will Steve Marino's putter remain on fire during Saturday's moving day? Through his first 36 holes, Marino has one-putted 23 times. His one-putt rate of 64 percent ranks him first in the field this week; for the year, he ranks just 141st in one-putt percentage (36 percent), so he's really turned it up a notch.
Inside 7 feet this week, Marino has been perfect, making all 29 of his attempts in the first two rounds. No wonder he has needed just 47 putts as he enters Saturday's round just two strokes off the lead held by Webb Simpson.
Incidentally, no player has made more birdies since the start of the 2007 season than Marino, who has 1,119 birdies in that span. Brian Davis is next on the list with 1,053 birdies. -- Mike McAllister
| Steve Marino On the Greens This Week vs. 2009 Season | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WHY WEBB IS LEADING (1:15 p.m.): Proximity to the hole is one of the most underrated stats on the PGA TOUR. Simply put, the closer you're hitting your approach shots, the better chance you have at making the putt.
This week, though, that stat is particularly telling given how vexing Liberty National's greens have been. Take leader Webb Simpson. For the year, he's averaging 35 feet, 5 inches, which ranks 105th on TOUR. This week, he's been just over 8 feet closer and ranks second in the field. As you'll see in the chart below, he's also made the putts he should make and even when he's missed the green, he's managed to get up-and-down fairly effectively.
If Simpson keeps doing all those things, he should become the first rookie to win on TOUR this season. -- Brian Wacker
| Webb Simpson - This Week vs. 2009 Season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TIGER UPDATE (1:05 p.m.): For just the second time this week, Tiger Woods has made back-to-back birdies. Woods birdied the par-4 fifth then just added another at the par-5 sixth. which he has now birdied twice this week.
That moves him into the top 10 for the moment and within six of the lead. Usually, Saturday is moving day on the PGA TOUR, but with Liberty National playing so difficult in not the best weather, you have to wonder where Woods will be if he can add another couple of birdies before his round is over, especially considering rookie Webb Simpson hasn't been in this position before and there aren't a whole lot of big names above Woods on the leaderboard. -- Brian Wacker
MATTESON TRYING TO MAKE MOST OF OPPORTUNITY (1 p.m.): Troy Matteson had the dubious distinction of being the last man in at The Barclays. Of course, coming to New Jersey ranked No. 125 is better than having a five-week layoff.
Matteson is certainly playing like he wants to hang around in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, too. He's 2 under through six holes and currently among the top 10 players on the leaderboard.
Matteson, who was the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year in 2006, rolled in a 6-footer at No. 5 to get into red numbers quickly on a dreary afternoon at Liberty National. Then he rolled in a 15-footer from just off the green at the par-5 sixth to continue his surge. -- Helen Ross
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT (12:45 p.m.): Webb Simpson, who leads by two, will continue the pursuit of his first PGA TOUR title in this, his rookie year, in about 15 minutes from now when he tees off in the day's last group. Having entered the week 85th in the FedExCup standings, and projected to move up to second should he go on to win, he's already secured a spot in the field for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.
He's not the only one, though. Any player ranked 74th or better in the standings, is assured a trip to Boston. And any player in the remaining field could reach the top 5 in the standings with a win or runner-up finish.
As for the guy who tops the FedExCup points list, he has a 1,276-point lead, but could mathematically be passed by anyone ranked 32nd or higher should that player go on to win and claim the 2,500 points that goes with a victory.
Back to who's in/out. There are currently seven players projected to play their way into Round 2 of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup from outside the top 100; and six who are projected to be going home after this week (see charts below; click here for more projections). -- Brian Wacker
| Projections - Playing their way into Round 2 of the Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Projections - Playing their way out of the Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TRACKING TIGER (12:30 p.m.): Four holes, four pars. As tough as Liberty National has played this week, that's not going to get it done for Tiger Woods, who has already missed two of his first four greens in regulation here in the third round.
Clearly the FedExCup points leader has been frustrated by his play and the course. Yesterday, while trying to drive the par-4 16th, he hit his tee shot miles to the right, then nearly took out his frustration on a tee marker before stopping short.
Woods has also struggled with his putting this week. While he's a very good 39 of 43 from inside 10 feet, he's made just one putt out of seven from 10-15 feet. And with just three par-5s on the course, Liberty National doesn't exactly suit the game of the guy who leads the PGA TOUR in par-5 performance -- he's played them in just 2 under this week with two birdies and four pars through two rounds.
If Woods is going to make up the eight strokes he trails by over the next two days, he'll need to do better in all those areas. (Click here to follow Tiger's round live with Shot Tracker.) -- Brian Wacker
GAY OFF TO GOOD START (12:10 p.m.): Brian Gay is probably on the outside looking in when it comes to Fred Couples' Captain's picks for The Presidents Cup, but he's doing everything he can to make the decision difficult for Captain Couples.
After rounds of 70-72 here at Liberty National, Gay is already 2 under today, having birdied each of his first two holes.
"If [Hunter Mahan and Lucas Glover] continue to play the way they are playing, then Brian Gay has got to step it up," Couples said two weeks ago. Well, Gay, who Couples believes has been injured but who has also been mum about whether he is or not, is certainly doing that so far.
The trouble, though, is that Couples has already told Glover that he's on the team and he'd already been leaning toward Mahan prior to this week. Mahan, by the way, is even through five holes today and 2 over for the week.
If Gay, who has currently moved into a tie for ninth, continues to make birdies and contends, though, making that call is going to be awfully difficult for Couples. -- Brian Wacker
WEATHER UPDATE (11:45 a.m.): A steady drizzle is falling here at Liberty National this morning, but the heaviest precipitation is expected to remain off shore. That doesn't mean there won't be scattered showers or a thunderstorm in the afternoon -- and they are playing lift, clean and place today -- but Tropical Storm Danny appears headed for Long Island and on to the Massachusetts coastline. The high temperature will be in the upper 70s.
The outlook for Sunday is much more promising with partly cloudy and breezy conditions in the forecast. Highs will return to the mid-80s and winds should top out at 12-22 mph in the afternoon as the leaders make the turn. -- Helen Ross
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