Ogrin shoots near record 62 but Woods only
one back
By MIKE COCHRAN / Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Nobody escapes the Tiger. Nobody.
David Ogrin shot an 8-under-par 62 Saturday to take the third-round
lead of the MasterCard Colonial but couldn't shake the ominous
spectre of young Tiger Woods.
Woods, three shots back and eight under par at the start of
the third round, rode a 64 into second place entering Sunday's
climactic showdown.
Ogrin was at 15-under 195, a stroke ahead of the 21-year-old
Woods.
Reeling off six consecutive birdies at one point, and without
a bogey on his card, Ogrin came within a whisker of matching the
course record of 61.
But Woods stalked him as relentlessly as, well, a Tiger.
With victories at the Masters and Byron Nelson in his last
two starts, Woods is zeroing in on three straight titles and his
fourth of the 1997 campaign.
And nobody - not Palmer, Nicklaus, Hogan, Nelson - has ever
done this much this fast.
With whistling, howling, delirious fans cheering every shot,
Woods opened Saturday with a birdie, gave it back at the par-4
4th, then collected birdies at Nos. 6, 8, 11, 14, 15 and 17.
He capped it all with a knee-rattling short putt at the 18th
to save par.
Paul Goydos, who started the day tied for the lead, got to
15 under through 14 but stumbled in with two bogeys for a 68 and
was third at 197.
The elite field turned the Colonial Country Club course - known
as "Hogan's Alley" - into a bowling alley, embracing
the fast fairways, soft greens and light winds to flirt with a
number of course records.
Steve Pate was a prime example, shooting a 64 for an 11-under
199, four off the pace and tied with Justin Leonard (68) and Brad
Faxon (70), who had started the day tied for the lead.
"I made nine birdies today," he said with laugh.
"That's three or four days worth for me lately. ... I also
hit some funny ones at the end."
Beginning at the par-4 9th, Pate birdied four straight and
six out of seven before a bogey at the par-3 16th broke the spell.
He played the last three holes bogey-birdie-bogey.
"It was an interesting finish," he said, recalling
specifically the bogey at the par-4 18th.
"I rattled my tee shot off a tree. I rattled another shot
of a tree and hit a lady in the head. That's my second spectator
of the week, by the way. I got it up from where the margarita
machine used to be."
This course, he groaned, "can make you look foolish."
David Frost, the other second-round leader, could do no better
than a 69 and was tied with Jim Furyk, who had a 67, at 12 under,
three off the lead.
Ogrin, whose only PGA victory was at last year's Texas Open
at his hometown of San Antonio, will be paired with Woods for
Sunday's final round.
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