Tiger Woods’ fast start slows on back nine, and he trails by six shots at Quicken Loans National.
Woods six out of lead shared by Molinari, Ancer at National event
Tiger Woods ran off four straight birdies and finished the front nine with seven consecutive one-putt greens. Unlike Francesco Molinari and Abraham Ancer, he couldn’t keep it going Saturday in the Quicken Loans National.
Ancer and Molinari each handled the scorching heat on the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm and shared the lead going into the final round.
Ancer birdied two of his last three holes for the lowest score of his career, an 8-under 62, giving the 27-year-old Mexican his best shot at a first PGA Tour victory. Ancer has never been in the top 10 going into the final round in 22 previous starts.
Molinari also is going for his first official PGA Tour victory, though that comes with an asterisk. He won a World Golf Championship in Shanghai in 2010, though the PGA Tour did not recognize the HSBC Champions as an official win until a year later.
They were at 13-under 197, two shots clear of Ryan Armour (68) and Zac Blair (66).
Woods was six shots behind, the seventh straight tournament he has been at least five shots behind going into the final round. It sure didn’t sound that way, and for most of the round, it didn’t look that way.
With his fifth birdie of the front nine, Woods was two shots out of the lead. And then he opened the back nine with a pair of birdie chances just inside 10 feet and missed them both. He never really regained his momentum, finished with another bogey and shot 68.
“It was frustrating because I played better than what my score indicates,” Woods said. “I thought that 10 under would have been a good score for me to end up at for the day, and I could have easily gotten that today on the back nine.”
He didn’t, and now has more ground to make up.
The nine players ahead of him have combined for just five (official) PGA Tour victories.
LPGA: So Yeon Ryu broke away on the closing holes at Kemper Lakes to take a three-stroke lead in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The 28-year-old South Korean star birdied the 14th and 15th holes to jump ahead of Canadian Brooke Henderson and finished with a birdie on 18. She shot a 5-under 67 on another scorching afternoon to get to 11-under 205 and move a step closer to her third major victory. Henderson was second. She bogeyed Nos. 14 and 16 in a 70. South Korea’s Sung Hyun Park was 7 under after a 71, and American Angel Yin had a 68 to get to 6 under. Ryu won the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open and 2017 ANA Inspiration for her major victories.
PGA Tour Champions: Jerry Kelly squandered the lead, then regained it, and will head into the final day of the U.S. Senior Open with a one-shot advantage over David Toms. Kelly shot 1-over 71 to finish at 4 under. He three-putted from inside of two feet on the 12th hole for a double bogey that briefly cost him the lead. Toms shot a bogey-free 66.
European PGA: Marcus Kinhult of Sweden carded a 4-under 67 and maintained his two-shot lead going into the final day of the French Open. Kinhult had five birdies in a row just before the turn to get to 10 under.