Buick Open, Round 4

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Tiger Woods won his third career Buick Open title on Sunday, shooting a 3-under 69.

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Buick Open

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report has all the news and notes from the Buick Open, and we'll be providing updates from Warwick Hills all day long for each round, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.) PGA TOUR Shot Tracker | Live Scoring | PGA TOUR Network | Facebook | Twitter | FanZone

WIN NO. 69 FOR WOODS (6 p.m.): Tiger Woods gave the fans something to remember. After muddling through the opening round, he hit the gas pedal and never looked back. He shot a bogey-free 69 Sunday to win by three, recording his 69th career PGA TOUR victory, which moves him to third all-time.

For the fans, they showed their appreciation for Woods and the rest of the field all week, especially at No. 17, where they were loud (and respectful) all day long. They showed their appreciation for 51 years of memories, following behind Woods as he made his way to the 18th green. It was a scene straight out of a British Open being played out in Grand Blanc, Mich.

Woods showed his appreciation not only by playing, but by winning and winning in his usual style with one highlight-reel moment after another. As Woods finished off the victory, lipping out a lengthy birdie putt before tapping in for a 3-under 69, he raised his arms again then threw his ball back into the masses that had gathered behind him on the 18th fairway. It was Woods' way of saying thank you and the crowd's way of saying the same. -- Brian Wacker

WELCOME TO 17 (5:38 p.m.): The par-3 17th hole at Warwick Hills has rivaled the 16th at TPC Scottsdale this week with fans chanting and cheering all week long. Today was no different. When Tiger Woods was making his way to the 197-yard hole, the fans in the grandstands surrounding the hole broke out into a rhythmic chorus, chanting, "Let's go Tiger!" (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap). By the time Woods got to the green, the stands behind the hole were rocking with fans jumping up and down and chanting. One fan held up a sign that read, "17 Welcome to the Party." Absolute enthusiasm all day long. Woods rewarded them with a par -- and the crowd responded with one last and loud roar -- before tossing his ball into the stands and moving to the final hole with a three-shot lead. -- Brian Wacker

FINAL ROUND WINDING DOWN (5:10 p.m.): Tiger Woods has never finished worse than a tie for 11th at the Buick Open and that's not going to change this year. Woods has a two-shot lead with four holes left in his round. Should Woods go on to win -- and let's face it, he's only lost once in his career when holding the lead going into the final round -- Woods will have his fourth victory of the season and move back to the top of the FedExCup standings. A victory would also eliminate the bad taste that was in Woods' mouth after the British Open, where he missed the cut, and give him plenty of momentum going into next week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, which he has won six times. -- Brian Wacker

TIGER STAYS ON TOP (4:40 p.m.): Tiger Woods just made his first mistake of the day, finding the water on his second shot on the par-5 13th hole. It was a mistake because he hit a huge cut shot with his 3-wood from the fairway with water right of the green. Sure enough, Woods found the water. So how did he respond? By hitting his wedge shot to a few feet and making par to keep a two-shot lead. -- Brian Wacker

LETZIG UNABLE TO MAKE A MOVE (4:20 p.m.): One of the big reasons Michael Letzig found himself one shot off the lead entering today's final round was hit scrambling. Another was his putting and his typically good ballstriking.

While Letzig, 1 over on his round, has continued to scramble fairly well today at 80 percent, he's only hit 54 percent of his greens in regulation and even when he has found the green, his average distance to the pin has been 52 feet. Those aren't the kind of numbers that are going to win you the Buick Open, particularly when the guy you're playing with is Tiger Woods. -- Brian Wacker

AT THE TURN (3:57 p.m.): The final pairing of the day has made the turn at Warwick Hills, and Tiger Woods and playing partner Michael Letzig are headed in opposite directions. Woods is 2 under on his round and 19 under for the tournament, giving him a two-shot cushion. That cushion isn't over Letzig, though. It's over Roland Thatcher, who went out early and shot a 64. Letzig, meanwhile, is 2 over after making a bad double-bogey on the par-3 eighth. This could be the final round of the Memorial Tournament all over again. -- Brian Wacker

NOT-SO-PERFECT 10 (3:52 p.m.): It's pretty rare that you see a 10 on anyone's scorecard at a PGA TOUR event and it's even more rare when you see two of them in the same week, especially at Warwick Hills, which always plays as one of the easier courses on TOUR.

Two days after John Daly went double-digits on the par-5 first, Matt Bettencourt did the same, pumping his tee shot out of bounds before hacking out to the fairway in 5 and eventually getting home in 5 more. That ruined any chance of contending for Bettencourt, who started the day at 14 under, just three off the lead. -- Brian Wacker

LEONARD GOES LOW (3:35 p.m.): Justin Leonard hasn't played the Buick Open often in recent years, but when he has played there he's played well. Today was no different.

After shooting 67-69 each of the last two days, Leonard, who won this event in 1996 and who tied for 10th in 2001 and tied for second in 2007, got things rolling on the back nine, making five straight birdies at one point and seven in an eight-hole stretch.

As a result, Leonard has moved from a tie for 42nd at the start of the round to a tie for 11th currently. If he can stay there, or in the top 15, that will give him two straight top-15s after a an eighth-place finish at the British Open two weeks ago. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Leonard's scorecard from today:

BACK-TO-BACK EAGLES (3:23 p.m.): This is turning out to be quite a week for Brian Vranesh. Coming into the Buick Open, he'd made just two cuts in 14 events. Today, he has two eagles, coming back-to-back at Nos. 13 and 14.

After reaching the par-5 13th in two, Vranesh rolled in a 17-footer for his first eagle. One hole later, Vranesh drove the short par-4 14th before sinking a 12-footer.

Not only is that a rare achievement, it's helped spar quite a turnaround for Vranesh, who is currently tied for fourth and heading toward easily his best finish of the season -- a season in which he's made just two cuts after making just one cut in 12 starts on the Nationwide Tour last year. -- Brian Wacker

WHAT'S AT STAKE (3:10 p.m.): There is a lot at stake in today's final round of the Buick Classic -- Tiger Woods' fourth win of the season and third-career victory here; Michael Letzig trying to win in just his second year on the PGA Tour; John Senden and Matt Bettencourt trying to win; Vaughn Taylor looking for his first top-10 this year. There are also 500 FedExCup points at stake and there could be some significant changes in the standings, too. See below for more. -- Brian Wacker

TIGER TAKES THE LEAD (2:50 p.m.): It was only a matter of time before someone passed clubhouse leader Roland Thatcher on the leaderboard and that someone is Tiger Woods, who just made his first birdie of the day. Woods rolled in a 21-footer for birdie on the par-4 fourth hole, which he's now birdied two straight days. That moves Woods to 18 under for the week and back to the top of the leaderboard by himself. -- Brian Wacker

THATCHER TIED FOR THE LEAD (2:35 p.m.): How much do you think Roland Thatcher would like to have yesterday's round of 73 back right now?

He just closed out a round of 8-under 64, the lowest score in the clubhouse right now, and is tied for the lead. Don't expect Thatcher to stay there, though, since there's a lot of golf still left to be played by Tiger Woods and the rest of the field still on the course.

Nonetheless, Thatcher's 64 today was easily his lowest round of what's been an up and down season with just three made cuts in nine events prior to this week. Playing on a Major Medical, Thatcher's performance this week, though, will go a long way toward earning the just over $400,000 he needed in 13 events this season to earn his PGA TOUR card. Coming into the week, he had just over $263,000 in those nine events.

Thatcher will also move well up in he FedExCup standings, which he started the week ranked 174th and is projected to finish around 50th. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Thatcher's scorecard from today:

PAR FOR TIGER (2:10 p.m.): For the third time this week, Woods could only make par on the par-5 first hole at Warwick Hills. That's a stark contrast to how he's played the rest of the par-5s here. On the three other par-5s on the course Woods is a combined 7-under for the week. -- Brian Wacker

TIGER, LETZIG OFF (2 p.m.): Tiger Woods and Michael Letzig are off in the day's final pairing with Woods having hit his second shot on the par-5 opening hole just off the back of the green. Woods has only birdied No. 1 once this week (in Round 2), but he's in good shape to get up-and-down for birdie. Follow their pairing live with Shot Tracker by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker

THATCHER ON TARGET (1:45 p.m.): Here's another case in point about missing fairways at Warwick Hills: Roland Thatcher his hit just 36 percent of his fairways, but he's 7 under through 14 holes and suddenly just one shot off the lead.

It helps if you hit 86 percent of your greens in regulation, which Thatcher has, and that's helped him take just 19 putts. Even though Thatcher is just one back, though, he'll need to keep making birdies if he hopes to remain in contention with Tiger Woods and Michael Letzig just about to start their rounds. -- Brian Wacker

SHORT-GAME SUCCESS (1:25 p.m.): The biggest reason that Michael Letzig is in the position he's in, just one shot back of Tiger Woods as the two get set to tee off in 25 minutes from now is because of his ability to scramble and his putting this week.

Until yesterday's 18th hole, Letzig made par or better 15 of 17 times this week. That ties him for fourth in the field. Add in that he's averaging a field-best 25 putts per round and it's easy to understand why he's in second going into today's play. He's also converted 20 putts from outside of 5 feet this week (second in the field), making 120 feet, 4 inches of putts per round (first in the field) -- compared to his 2009 season average of 73 feet, 4 inches. -- Brian Wacker

HITTING FAIRWAYS NOT IMPORTANT (1:05 p.m.): Finding the short grass off the tee has proven to be both difficult and unimportant, at least to Tiger Woods, who tied his fewest hit yesterday with five. Yet, he still shot 65. Go figure. Judging by past performances, though, it's not too much of a surprise (see chart below). -- Brian Wacker

EARLY MOVERS (12:38 p.m.): Scores have been low all week at Warwick Hills -- even when the wind kicked up yesterday afternoon, Tiger Woods and others were able to keep making birdies. So far today that trend has continued.

Roland Thatcher, who shot a second-round 64 before stumbling with a 73 yesterday, is back on track today at 3 under through his first eight holes. Matt Jones is also 3 under through his first seven with both players moving from a tie for 29th into the top 10 at the moment.

Bob Estes, though, has the day's best round going at 6 under through 15 holes. The problem for Estes is that he didn't break 70 in any of his previous three rounds. Today's been a different story, however, for Estes, who already has a highlight-reel moment with a pitch-in for eagle from 55 yards on the par-4 12th. This marks the second week in a row that Estes has played well with him coming off a tie for eighth at the RBC Canadian Open. -- Brian Wacker

WHY TIGER IS THE FAVORITE (12:25 p.m.): When Tiger Woods tees off with Michael Letzig in the day's final pairing a little more than an hour from now, he'll take with him a 46-3 mark when leading or sharing the lead entering the final round. The last time Woods didn't do the deed? The 2004 TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. The other two occasions were in 2000 (also at the TOUR Championship) AND 1996 (at the Quad City Open).

Woods also has a terrific history of playing well in the final round at Warwick Hills, where he's played 7 of his 8 final rounds in the 60s with a stroke average of 67.25.

Letzig, meanwhile, is playing together in the final group with Woods for the second time this season. The first time didn't go so well for Letzig, who shot 75 at the Memorial Tournament, where Woods closed with a 65 for his second win of the season. Still, Letzig likes his chances, or at least says he's excited about having another opportunity (click here to listen). We'll see how he feels in about 5 hours or so from now. -- Brian Wacker

Groups We're Watching

Tee time Players   1:41 p.m. ET John Senden, Matt Bettencourt Bettencourt has competed in 24 events, but has just two top-10 finishes so far. Senden could use his top-ranked Greens in Regulation percentage to vault up the leaderboard today. 1:32 p.m. ET Vaughn Taylor, Charles Warren Taylor has missed three straight cuts entering this week, but it appears that he has righted the ship in Michigan. 1:50 p.m. ET Tiger Woods, Michael Letzig These two were paired together in the final round once before this year, and the expected happened -- Woods won, and Letzig faltered. Will the same pattern happen again?

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