Tiger fires magical 65
Simpson still in the lead by seven shots
PONTE VEDRA BEACH ( Florida):
Tiger Woods turned in his best round of the season and his lowest score ever at The Players Championship.
It sky-rocketed him up the leaderboard, and he stayed there.
Woods shot a seven-under 65 in the third round, besting his previous low score on the Stadium Course by a stroke. He honed in his iron shots, fine-tuned his putter and was so hot through 12 holes that it looked as if he might challenge the Stadium Course record at TPC Sawgrass.
“I wish I could repeat it more often, but honestly it was just a better start,” Woods said. “I got off to a much better-quality start.”
Woods took advantage of warm temperatures, soft greens and little wind by making birdies at three of the first four holes. He drained putts of 15, 5, 10 and 17 feet, regaining a scoring touch that eluded him last week at the Wells Fargo Championship and in the opening two rounds in Ponte Vedra Beach.
“Eventually I was going to put all the pieces together and today, for the most part, I did that,” he said. “I hit a lot of good, quality shots. I hit some shots in the correct spots, which was nice. I hit probably three of the best long irons I’ve hit all week.”
Woods will be paired with Jordan
Spieth for the final round and will start the day 11 shots behind Webb Simpson.
Simpson will take a record seven-shot lead into the final round after a four-under 68 on Saturday gave him 54-hole total of 19-under 197.
Simpson’s three-round total matched the tournament record set by Australian Greg Norman in 1994 en route to a four-stroke victory.
Simpson had been five strokes clear of three players after his second-round 63. With just 18 holes remaining in the tournament at TPC Sawgrass, Simpson was seven clear of New Zealand’s Danny Lee, who carded a 70 for 204.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson birdied three of his closing six holes in a 69 to grab third place on 206. Former world No. 1 Jason Day of Australia was in a group of five on 207 – but the tournament is Simpson’s to lose.
Hours after Woods and Spieth charged up the leaderboard with morning 65s that moved them to eight-under, Simpson showed now sign of bowing to pressure from any quarter.
He declared his intentions with a birdie at the first and then another at the fourth to get to 17-under.
He bogeyed the par-three eighth but promptly recovered that shot with a birdie at the par-five ninth.
Simpson produced his shot of the day at the par-five 11th, where he sent his second shot some 33 yards past the hole and into a rear greenside bunker.
In another stroke of brilliance, Simpson proceeded to hole his third shot for an eagle that stretched his lead to seven strokes.
Simpson struggled somewhat in playing the 14th through the 16th in one-over.
But at the par-three 17th, where he took a double-bogey after finding the water on Friday, Simpson brought a huge crowd to their feet in sinking a three-footer for birdie that moved him back to 19-under. — Agencies