Masters invite in the balance
Kang holds three-stroke lead after three rounds; rain threatens final day
Sung Kang retains the lead heading into the final day.
For the last two days, there have been two Rickie Fowlers, the swashbuckling Masters-bound superstar with a bag full of magic wands who has mastered the first 14 holes of the Golf Club of Houston with a deft mix of brute force and lovely nuance and the bumbling hacker who can’t get out of his own way thereafter.
Through three rounds of the Shell Houston Open, Fowler is 19 under on the former and 5 over on the latter. Added together, that means he’s three strokes behind Sung Kang going into their Sunday morning showdown.
That’s right, Sunday morning. Kang, who is trying to punch a ticket to Augusta National for the first time by winning his first PGA Tour event, won’t have much time to overthink his tantalizing, possibly terrifying perch. He and Fowler, along with Russell Henley, will tee off at 9:05 a.m. with tournament officials desperate to crown the final SHO champion — Shell’s sponsorship of the Houston Open is ending after 26 years — before the course is inundated by possibly severe thunderstorms the PGA’s own on-site meteorologist described as “a when, not an if.”
At least Fowler should be prepared. The world’s ninth-ranked golfer, and the only top-10 player in the mix, finished Saturday like he had been struck by lightning, erasing much of what he had accomplished with a pair of birdie-birdie-birdie runs — the first on seven through nine, the second on 12 through 14 — with a backto-back bogey finish.
After shanking his tee shot to the right of the cart path at 18, he four-putted, the last three from five feet.
“Yeah, unfortunate,” he said. “Just got funky on the greens on the last two holes.”
Fowler, a 28-year-old Californian and former world junior kingpin who is seeking his first major pro title, was upbeat nonetheless.
After all, having begun the round seven strokes back, he cut his deficit by more than half with what became a round of 67.
Kang had led the secondplace duo of Henley and Hudson Swafford by six.
“We moved in the right direction,” Fowler said. “It would be nice to be tied or in the lead or having a smaller deficit, but we’re in a position to win the golf tournament.” Henley pleased
If he does, it would be his fifth PGA Tour title and his second in his last four starts.
Kang, 29, a South Korean who lives in Dallas, never has placed higher than third in six seasons.
Henley, who birdied the final two holes, stayed in the hunt with a 69 that left him four shots behind at 13 under; Swafford stumbled to a 75, falling 10 strokes behind Kang.
“I love how I finished,” Henley said. “I hit great shots coming in, right on my targets. Making the two birdies was good for me. Hopefully I can continue that. I’ve got to stay patient. There are probably going to be tough conditions again tomorrow.”
The day’s star was Luke List with a 7-under 65 that left him five strokes behind Kang.
“It was tricky,” List said of the blustery conditions. “I backed off a lot of shots, which normally I don’t do. Fortunately I caught the wind right a number of times and we had some good clubs.”
Kang didn’t come across as being overly confident while contemplating what could be a career-defining juncture.
Should he prevail, he will become the third SHO champion in four years to make the Masters field on the last possible day, joining Matt Jones (2014) and Jim Herman last year.
“I’m so tired right now I have no power to think about anything,” Kang said after his 71, which included three birdies and four bogeys.
He insisted he would try to relax and let the chips fall as they may. He had survived this day largely unscathed despite hearing lots of raucous cheering for Fowler, playing one hole ahead of him.
“I didn’t know who was making birdies,” Kang said. “On 15 or 16, I looked at the leader board and all of a sudden Rickie was at like 8 under for the day. It was real impressive. But I was still playing OK. I still have a three-stroke lead. I’ll be trying to start out good tomorrow like today because there are some birdie holes on the first five holes. Hopefully, I can make a couple birdies early and that will (extend) the lead a little bit … We’ll see. I really don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ll do my best. I’ll play my game.”
“Today, I tried to play way safer, like trying to hit the fairway instead of going for the middle of the green or the flag. The wind was murder … It was blowing so hard. And the greens got a lot firmer because we were playing in the afternoon.”
Which likely won’t be a problem Sunday.
Wade Stettner, the PGA meteorologist, said conditions are ripe for at least an inch of rain with hail a possibility, too, after 1 p.m.
Kang has navigated the first four holes in 7 under par, birdieing No. 1 twice and No. 4 all three days. He also had birdies on five and six Thursday, when he reeled off five in a row en route to a 65. He chased that with tournament course record-tying 63 on Friday that included five front-nine birdies and sent him on his way to 16 under through 36 holes — a record for any of the tournament’s courses over 70 years. Match-play scenario
But Fowler is 4 under on the first four holes so, in theory, how they start could go a long way toward determining how they finish, although it hasn’t been an accurate barometer for him.
“It will be a match-play situation,” he said. “I’m starting the day three back and I like the challenge of coming from behind, then potentially being able to put pressure on the guy. The thing is, I have to get off to a nice start. I have to go out and not make mistakes early … make some birdies because, being behind, you don’t have the cushion to make any mistakes.”