The Daily Wrap-up, Round 3: Quail Hollow Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Zach Johnson had the slightest feeling of panic Saturday when he saw his 7-iron hug the left side of the 17th green, wondering for a moment whether he would stumble for the second day in a row along a three-hole stretch called the "Green Mile."
Relief set in when he saw his ball on green grass, and the 12-foot birdie that followed made a world of difference.
Tiger Woods faltered on the final holes for the second consecutive day with two bogeys. George McNeill did the same. And when a storm system cleared, and the third round finally finished, Johnson had a two-shot lead at the Quail Hollow Championship.
Now comes the hard part.
"I've got a two-shot lead. I'm happy to be there," Johnson said. "At the same time, on this golf course, that's a matter of one hole. Maybe even one shot."
Johnson's par-birdie-par finish -- one day after he went bogey-bogey-bogey -- gave him a 4-under 68 and a two-shot lead over Woods, McNeill and Lucas Glover, all of whom dropped at least one shot over one of the toughest closing stretches on the PGA TOUR.
Johnson was at 11-under 205 and in position to win for the second time this year.
The final two groups, including Johnson and McNeill, had to wait out a 1 hour, 12-minute storm delay before finishing the 18th hole. PGA TOUR officials blew the horn to stop play right after Woods staggered to the finish line with a 70.
Woods birdied all the par 5s, including a two-putt from 12 feet on the 15th hole that put him in the outright lead at 11-under par for the first time in a third round that featured seven players atop the leaderboard at some point.
That he would drop two shots at the end was not terribly shocking, given the difficulty of the holes.
What bothered Woods was that he had a 7-iron in his hand both times -- a poor approach to the 17th that led to a three-putt from 60 feet, and a slight shift in the wind that kept his ball right of the green on the 18th, followed by a poor chip to 6 feet and failure to save par.
"That's not the way you want to finish," Woods said. "But I've got a shot going into tomorrow."
He's not alone.
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GLOVER LOOKING TO CLOSE THE DEAL IN CHARLOTTE
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Lucas Glover will be the first to tell you he's been in what he calls the "three-round mode" most of this year.
Glover will be playing well, but he always seems to throw in that 73 or 74 when everyone else is shooting 67 or 68. Another top 10 -- or more importantly, that elusive second PGA TOUR win -- vanishes in the process.
Glover's had his three solid rounds again this week at the Quail Hollow Championship. He flirted with the top of the leaderboard throughout Saturday's third round, making three birdies, an eagle and dropping just one shot to par on the final hole in that 68.
At 9 under, Glover will start the final 18 holes tied with Tiger Woods and George McNeill, two strokes off the lead held by Zach Johnson. He's cautiously optimistic that he can break out of that pesky "three-round mode" and anxious to see what happens.
"I'll say I've made less mistakes this week than I have in the past few weeks when I had those three out of four or two out of four or whatever," Glover said. "That's what you try to do, especially on a course like this, limit your mistakes and pick your opportunities and try to go get them.
"I'm going to try to break the trend tomorrow."
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| Top 5 notables at Quail Hollow Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Saturday's Best |
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The 532-yard par-5 7th hole was easiest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.486.
The 250-yard par-3 6th hole was toughest with a Saturday scoring average of 3.446.
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Ian Poulter chipped in from the rough for birdie on the par-4 18th hole on his way to a 2-under 70. 
Y.E. Yang had a solid moving day. His 6-under 66 included just one bogey as well as an eagle at No. 7. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||||||||||
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent John Maginnes offers these observations from Saturday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
I have always hated the term "moving day," but Saturday at the Quail Hollow Championship had the guys who man the scoreboards scrambling. The final group of Bubba Watson and Retief Goosen quickly became an afterthought as they fell from the top spot before they ever hit a shot. Neither mounted much of a charge after that.
The same can be said for the No. 2 player in the world -- Phil Mickelson. Lefty's day was ruined when he made double bogey from the greenside bunker at the par-5 10th. He was hole-high in two but took five to get down from there. The Saturday 75 dashed Phil's chances of winning the Quail Hollow Championship.
Tiger Woods was not immune to the carnage as he bogeyed his final two holes to shoot a third-round 70 and finish at 9 under. Certainly he is well within striking distance, but he will have to reel in Zach Johnson, who has played some incredibly solid golf this week. Johnson is in the top 10 in all major categories and will be tough to beat on Sunday.
THIRD-ROUND NOTEBOOK: QUAIL HOLLOW CHAMPIONSHIP
By Mark Stevens, PGA TOUR Staff
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Play was suspended at 5:46 p.m. due to a dangerous situation with four players still on the course. Play was resumed at 6:58 p.m. after a 1-hour, 12-minute delay.
• Zach Johnson shot a 4-under 68 to take a two-shot lead over Lucas Glover, Tiger Woods and George McNeill into the final round.
• Johnson has turned both of his career third-round stroke-play leads into victories, including this year at the Sony Open in Hawaii (one stroke) and at the 2004 BellSouth Classic (three strokes). Johnson also held the third-round lead in 2006 at The International (Stableford format), but finished tied for 13th.
• Glover shot a 4-under 68 Saturday and is tied for second. Glover picked up his only PGA TOUR win in 2005 at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, where he came from three strokes back with a final-round 65.
• McNeill was two strokes off the lead after 54 holes one other time in his career, earlier this year when he also trailed Johnson at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Johnson fired a 65 in the final round to win, while McNeill shot a 69 to tie for seventh.
• To read the remainder of this story, click here.
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