Photo by AP
Bubba Watson shows his ball after making par on the 17th hole during the third round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament on Saturday, March 10, 2012, in Doral, Fla.
MIAMI — The TPC Blue Monster at Doral Golf Resort & Spa, 50 years old and about to get a facelift, took out its wind dentures and plopped down to rest Saturday.
In came the kids, playfully pouncing all over the Monster, as kids will do on a Saturday morning. Birdies, eagles, putts dropping like Indiana free throws all over the third round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.
Leader Bubba Watson, fresh off a 10-under-par 62 on Friday that often is tough to follow, saw the way Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Wade Simpson tore through the course and thought, “It’s definitely helpful. You see that it can be done.”
Watson didn’t duplicate Friday, although his 5-under 67 did push him to 17-under 199 and turned his one-shot lead over Justin Rose into a three-shot lead over Rose and Keegan Bradley going into Sunday’s final round.
Rose and Watson, in a threesome Thursday and Friday, would be playing together for a fourth consecutive day but for Rose’s seven-foot par putt on No. 18. The lip out and bogey dropped Rose into a tie with Bradley at 14-under after a day chasing Watson, catching him with a four-birdie streak, then falling back, even as Watson put his approach on 16 inside a shot-tracker tower.
“He’s pitching it well,” Rose said. “When he’s driving it way down there, he’s pitching it typically inside six feet. There are some tight flags out there and, I guess with Sunday, especially, if you start missing in the Bermuda rough to the tight flags, it’s not so easy to get the ball close to those wedges and pitches. That’s going to be a key for him (Sunday), but that’s what he’s been doing really, really well.”
Rose didn’t do too badly in that area himself Friday and Saturday. After Watson blew through the first seven holes at 4-under and left Rose four shots behind, Rose started his birdie streak. Watson birdied No. 8, but pushed a par putt on No. 9 to the right. Rose got up and down out of a front bunker on the par-5 10th for birdie and tied Watson at 16-under with his birdie at 11.
“I hit it close, really, on those four holes,” Rose said. “I think it was four feet, five feet, tap-in, eight feet. I think the key was, when I was on the seventh hole, I told myself to be patient, and I got the reward straightaway with four birdies because, obviously, Bubba was playing great. At the same time, you can’t get too wrapped up in being three ahead or four behind out there. You just have to keep playing, keep your head down. It’s going to be the same for me (Sunday). I am three behind, but I think it’s important to not go out, force the issue and not take on shots that don’t make sense.”
Watson responded with a 308-yard drive down the middle of No. 12 that had him giving pet pats to the head of his pink Ping driver.
“I made it where I couldn’t get to the green and then I laid it up short,” Watson said. “I chipped it in there. That time, it hit the grain perfect and checked up — and then, somehow made, I guess a 15- to 10-footer.”
Watson’s regained lead grew to two shots when Rose’s short par putt on No. 13 broke sharply right before the hole. On No. 14, his approach from 139 yards landed within two feet of the hole for a knock-in birdie. Watson said he had a 52-degree wedge downwind, crosswind and, as an aiming point, used a fan whose orange shirt stood out in a broad brush of white and black-shirted fans.
Two holes later, his approach clanged off the tower used for shot tracking and wound its way down inside, beneath some steps. In less technology-heavy times, the tower wouldn’t have been there and the ball would have found the creek on the other side of the golf cart path.
Watson got a drop, chipped to the green, but his 17-foot par putt wouldn’t go.
“I was in-between clubs,” Watson said. “I had 103 (yards) back into the wind, and I was trying to hit a 64-degree (wedge) really, really hard, and I just came up a little bit. I skulled it just a little bit.”
Coaches and psychologists won’t get work with Watson. His trainer travels with him, but that’s the extent of his support system. He sees about as much need for them as he sees need to pretend to be comfortable going into Sunday.
“I’m not at all,” he said. “That’s the challenge. That’s the beauty of it. I play this game because I love it, and I love the challenge. I love trying to get better and better. If anybody says they are not nervous going into Sunday around the lead or close to the lead or with a chance to win, they’re just lying to you. Their psychologist is telling them to lie to themselves.”
In came the kids, playfully pouncing all over the Monster, as kids will do on a Saturday morning. Birdies, eagles, putts dropping like Indiana free throws all over the third round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.
Leader Bubba Watson, fresh off a 10-under-par 62 on Friday that often is tough to follow, saw the way Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Wade Simpson tore through the course and thought, “It’s definitely helpful. You see that it can be done.”
Rose and Watson, in a threesome Thursday and Friday, would be playing together for a fourth consecutive day but for Rose’s seven-foot par putt on No. 18. The lip out and bogey dropped Rose into a tie with Bradley at 14-under after a day chasing Watson, catching him with a four-birdie streak, then falling back, even as Watson put his approach on 16 inside a shot-tracker tower.
“He’s pitching it well,” Rose said. “When he’s driving it way down there, he’s pitching it typically inside six feet. There are some tight flags out there and, I guess with Sunday, especially, if you start missing in the Bermuda rough to the tight flags, it’s not so easy to get the ball close to those wedges and pitches. That’s going to be a key for him (Sunday), but that’s what he’s been doing really, really well.”
Rose didn’t do too badly in that area himself Friday and Saturday. After Watson blew through the first seven holes at 4-under and left Rose four shots behind, Rose started his birdie streak. Watson birdied No. 8, but pushed a par putt on No. 9 to the right. Rose got up and down out of a front bunker on the par-5 10th for birdie and tied Watson at 16-under with his birdie at 11.
“I hit it close, really, on those four holes,” Rose said. “I think it was four feet, five feet, tap-in, eight feet. I think the key was, when I was on the seventh hole, I told myself to be patient, and I got the reward straightaway with four birdies because, obviously, Bubba was playing great. At the same time, you can’t get too wrapped up in being three ahead or four behind out there. You just have to keep playing, keep your head down. It’s going to be the same for me (Sunday). I am three behind, but I think it’s important to not go out, force the issue and not take on shots that don’t make sense.”
Watson responded with a 308-yard drive down the middle of No. 12 that had him giving pet pats to the head of his pink Ping driver.
“I made it where I couldn’t get to the green and then I laid it up short,” Watson said. “I chipped it in there. That time, it hit the grain perfect and checked up — and then, somehow made, I guess a 15- to 10-footer.”
Watson’s regained lead grew to two shots when Rose’s short par putt on No. 13 broke sharply right before the hole. On No. 14, his approach from 139 yards landed within two feet of the hole for a knock-in birdie. Watson said he had a 52-degree wedge downwind, crosswind and, as an aiming point, used a fan whose orange shirt stood out in a broad brush of white and black-shirted fans.
Two holes later, his approach clanged off the tower used for shot tracking and wound its way down inside, beneath some steps. In less technology-heavy times, the tower wouldn’t have been there and the ball would have found the creek on the other side of the golf cart path.
Watson got a drop, chipped to the green, but his 17-foot par putt wouldn’t go.
“I was in-between clubs,” Watson said. “I had 103 (yards) back into the wind, and I was trying to hit a 64-degree (wedge) really, really hard, and I just came up a little bit. I skulled it just a little bit.”
Coaches and psychologists won’t get work with Watson. His trainer travels with him, but that’s the extent of his support system. He sees about as much need for them as he sees need to pretend to be comfortable going into Sunday.
“I’m not at all,” he said. “That’s the challenge. That’s the beauty of it. I play this game because I love it, and I love the challenge. I love trying to get better and better. If anybody says they are not nervous going into Sunday around the lead or close to the lead or with a chance to win, they’re just lying to you. Their psychologist is telling them to lie to themselves.”
source :http://www.bostonherald.com/
