" Now on the first tee, from HY WYcom, England, the, eh 2016 winner of the Honda Classic, Luke MmmMcDonald"
Not exactly right sir, not even close. Luke is from Hemel Hempstead, won the 2006 Honda and although we Scots would take him, we never did appoint the Mc in front of his real last name, Donald.
As usual, the easy going former world #1 (2011) shrugged it off with a joke, then went out with his mate Lee Westwood and scrambled his way to a 71 to go into today's final round at -3, the same as Westwood and two behind their other countryman, leader Tommy Fleetwood who had the lucky putter going for 67 and -5, 205 total.
Apart from American Brendan Steele (71) at -4, it's like the All England club atop the leaderboard at this real tough PGA National course.
Only 11 players broke par yesterday, firm greens, a good breeze and the ever present water lurking for even the good shots. The average score for the field is +2 73, so the field is still very bunched.
Daniel Berger 69, Charl Schwartzel 70 and rookie of the year, Korean Sungjae Im 70, are all in at -2.
The best of the bunch however was Canadian Mac Hughes who flew in under the radar with what I think was his best round of the year, -4 66 to move from T35 to a T8 at -1, suddenly just 4 shots off the lead. He gained 6 strokes on the field.
After making the cut on the line with 71 72 +3, Mac had nines of 33 (6 birdies, 2 bogey's) and going into today his 14 birdies are T2, he's scrambling so well he's 1st in strokes gained around the green, and he's also 2nd in putts per green in regulation.
Players all have different approaches going into a final round when they are in contention, and if you take all the -1's as the benchmark, there are 17 guys within 4 shots of Tommy.
Lee Westwood who I'm sure was ribbing Donald about his new found Scottish heritage, is playing pressure free during his resurgence, he has finally realized he doesn't need the money or the glory anymore and is having the most fun playing the game ever.
Repeating his 66 of Saturday would be a tall task for Mac Hughes, if he did it could well be enough to win, but whatever thought process he enjoyed yesterday would be one to follow today whether the putts fall again or not.
It is going to be an exciting Sunday afternoon. Follow my customized scoreboard on my link above.
Bryan Angus
No comments:
Post a Comment