Sunday, July 8, 2001
Love extends lead, but Tiger
lurking
By NANCY ARMOUR
AP Sports Writer
LEMONT, Ill. (AP) — After flirting
with birdies all over the front nine, something clicked when Davis
Love III made the turn.
Maybe he felt Scott Hoch, Phil Mickelson
and Tiger Woods closing in on him.
Love birdied the first three holes of the
back nine Saturday and went on to shoot a 3-under-par 69, giving
him a one-stroke lead after the third round of the Western Open.
He's at 14-under 202 for the tournament.
But Love can't get too comfortable.
Hoch is at 203 after making birdies on the
final four holes for a 66. Mickelson (67) birdied three of his
last four holes and is five strokes back.
And Woods finally broke out of his “slump”
with a flurry of birdies on the back nine, getting within seven
strokes with a 68.
Woods could have been even closer, after
making an eagle and two birdies on the front nine. But he gave
all the strokes back with two double-bogeys.
“Today was one of those rounds where
I can't explain it. It was just an interesting day,” Woods
said. “I figured something out last night with my golf swing.
I started hitting the ball the way I used to and started hitting
the ball my normal distances again.”
Mark Wiebe, the first-round leader, and
Brandel Chamblee are four strokes back.
Love had birdie chances on almost every
hole on the front nine, including a few maddening misses. On the
par-4 8th, his 15-foot putt bumped the edge of the cup and kept
rolling.
He missed an eagle on the par-5 No. 5 when
his 18-foot putt rolled along the right edge and stopped, clinging
to the rim but refusing to drop.
But Love's score started dropping as soon
as he made the turn. On the par-4 10th, his second shot from about
90 yards out hit the green and rolled back, stopping about 11/2
feet from the cup.
The crowd roared, and Love smiled and waved
as he approached the green, where he tapped in for a birdie. He
picked up strokes with birdies on the next two holes.
He had an impressive birdie on the par-5
15th. His approach overshot the green and landed in the rough.
But his chip shot landed on the edge of the green, took a couple
of hops and rolled into the cup.
Love faltered a little down the stretch.
He bogeyed the par-4 16th when he missed a par putt from about
4 feet. And his birdie putt on 18 stopped at the edge of the cup
but refused to roll in.
Love is going to have to make those shots
Sunday with the way the rest of the field is heating up. Woods
is the most intriguing of the contenders. He's been struggling
for weeks now, trying to find his swing.
He thought he'd found the answer at the
driving range Friday night, but every time he made a move on the
front nine, he slid right back.
After drilling a tough, 38-foot putt for
eagle on the par-5 No. 5 — prompting a fist bump with caddie
Steve Williams — he three-putted on the par-3 6th for a double-bogey.
He sent his tee shot flying into the gallery on No. 7, but made
an amazing recovery with a shot that left him 3 feet from the
pin for an easy birdie.
But he three-putted again on the 8th for
another double-bogey.
“With five holes to go, I wasn't really
into it,” he said. “Two-under-par wasn't looking too
good. Stevie said at the beginning of the day if we could get
to seven or eight we'd be right back in the tournament.”
A long birdie putt on the par-3 14th got
him back in the groove. He eagled the par-5 15th, putting his
second shot just 12 feet from the pin, and finished with birdies
on Nos. 17 and 18.
Woods played a lot looser, too. After his
approach shot on the 15th, he and Williams looked like a couple
of kids about to have a mud fight as they tossed a divot between
the two of them.
“I said something very smart to him.
He didn't like it and he threw a divot at me and I threw it back
at him,” Woods said. “We were needling each other all
day. We were on each other the whole day.”
Mickelson, who was only one stroke off the
lead after the first round, birdied four holes on the back nine,
including Nos. 15, 16 and 17.
“It was kind of a fluke day,”
Mickelson said. “I'm not going to complain about 5-under
par, but if I were going to get myself in better position to win
this tournament, I needed to make a few more.”
Divots:
Play was delayed for two hours Saturday afternoon when a storm
rolled through. ... Mark Wilson, trying to become the first Monday
qualifier to win a PGA Tour event since 1986, struggled to a 1-over
73 Saturday. That leaves him at 5 under overall and nine strokes
back.
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