Tiger struggles in Round 3 of PGA Championship
Tiger Woods’ run at a 15th major title ended Saturday at breezy Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Needing a low round to climb back into contention in the 95th PGA Championship, the four-time winner struggled to a 3-over-par 73.
Woods has a 54-hole score of 4-over 214 and sits tied for 48th heading into Sunday’s final round. He trails leader Jim Furyk by 13 shots.
“I didn’t play very well today,” Woods said. “I didn’t hit it very good, didn’t make anything, kept blocking every putt. So it was a tough day.”
Paired with Keegan Bradley for the third straight day, Tiger got off to another slow start by making bogey at the par-4 first hole. Woods missed the fairway for the third round in a row, then slashed his second shot left but received a good bounce into the fairway. He punched a wedge 20 feet and two-putted for a bogey.
Tiger failed to hit the fairway with an iron off the tee for the second day in a row at the par-4 second. However, Woods muscled a 3-iron onto the green and nearly sunk a 30-foot birdie putt, but the ball burned the right edge of the cup.
At the 220-yard, par-3 third hole, Woods came up just short of the green with a 4-iron, as the ball rolled back into the intermediate rough. Tiger chipped 10 feet past the pin and two-putted for a bogey.
Woods pushed a driver way right at the 576-yard, par-5 fourth hole and then nicked a tree with his lay-up shot, winding up in the first cut of the right rough. From there, he hit a nice third shot 12 feet under the hole and missed his birdie attempt.
Tiger found his first fairway off the tee at the par-4 fifth. His approach shot from 157 yards finished 17 feet right of the cup, and he nearly holed his birdie try, flirting with the right edge.
At the 182-yard, par-3 sixth, Woods hit a 7-iron 30 feet short of the hole and again burned the edge of the cup. He came even closer at the 463-yard, par-4 seventh, where he knocked his approach 15 feet left of the pin and lipped out his birdie putt, with the ball disappearing halfway down the cup but refusing to drop.
Tiger made a nice two-putt par from long range at the par-4 eighth. At the par-4 ninth, Woods hooked a driver into the left trees and then threaded a fairway wood from heavy rough through the green. He then hit a wonderful sand wedge three feet from the hole and saved par to make the turn at 2-over 37. On the side, he only managed to hit three of seven fairways.
On the 424-yard, par-4 10th, Woods flushed his drive down the center of the fairway and flagged a wedge from 128 yards seven feet behind the hole, but was unable to convert. At the 234-yard, par-3 11th, Tiger fashioned his best swing of the day, nestling a 3-iron eight feet past the cup and rolled in his only birdie of the round.
Tiger gave himself anther great birdie chance at the 384-yard, par-4 12th, where he punched his approach shot from 151 yards about five feet left of the hole. He hit a poor putt, however, and settled for a par.
Woods was unable to birdie the 591-yard, par-5 13th, two-putting from just over 20 feet. At the 318-yard, par-4 14th, which he drove and three-putted for a par on Friday, Tiger pulled a driver into the left trees, hit a low punch over the green and then made a nice chip to save par.
Following a par at the short par-3 15th, Woods recorded back-to-back bogeys at the par-4 16th and 17th holes. At 16, he hit a poor drive in the right rough, slashed his second shot into a greenside bunker, caught his long sand shot heavy and two-putted from 30 feet.
At the 504-yard 17th, the toughest hole on the course, Woods hooked his driver into the left trees, hit his second shot into a bunker short-right of the green and wound up two-putting.
Woods narrowly averted another bogey at the 472-yard, par-4 18th. Tiger hit his tee shot into the right fairway bunker and had to use a lofted club to clear the lip, coming up 30 yards short of the green. He nearly holed out his blind, uphill third shot from the rough as the ball slid eight feet above the cup. Woods converted to save par.
Tiger’s weakness the last two days has been his driving. After finding seven of 14 fairways on Friday, Woods hit only five on Saturday and went 0-for-4 with his driver. As a result, he found himself in scramble mode much of the day, no easy proposition with deep, wet rough to contend with.
Woods did hit 11 greens in regulation, but couldn’t get untracked with his putter. As was the case Friday, Tiger had several near-misses and never seemed comfortable.
“That’s golf,” said Woods, who romped to a seven-stroke victory last week in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. “We don’t play well every week.”
Tiger said he is aware of what he is doing wrong and tried to fix his swing Friday night on the range with coach Sean Foley.
“I just haven’t got my takeaway right; it’s off,” Woods said. “Consequently, the whole patterning is off. Just one of those weeks where it’s just a fraction off, add a fraction off on a setup like this, it’s going to cost me.”
Asked if he was pressing, Woods said, “Yeah, at times when I’m underneath the trees and I’m in bunkers and trying to get up-and-down, yeah.”
Tiger has no complaints about Oak Hill or the setup.
“It’s a fantastic course,” he said. “Unfortunately, I just haven’t put it together at the right time.”
Woods will play with Brooks Koepka on Sunday. The duo tees off at 10:45 a.m. ET.
