Tiger surges to 5-under par after impressive Round 3
Tiger Woods posted his best round of the year Saturday, a 5-under-par 65, to climb back into contention in The Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. After just making the cut on the number, the top-ranked Woods fashioned seven birdies and two bogeys and improved to 17th place.
“It felt a lot better,” said Tiger, who has a 54-hole score of 5-under 205. “I didn’t hit the ball very well yesterday. Just kind of grinded it out. Today I struck the ball well and made some putts.”
Woods one-putted 11 times and used 23 for the round. For the second consecutive day, he also chipped in for a birdie.
Teeing off early in the second twosome of the day with Luke Guthrie, Tiger started quickly with a birdie at the par-4 first hole, where he spun back his approach shot 16 feet and buried the birdie putt. Woods followed with two pars, then hit a poor drive at the par-4 fourth that led to a bogey.
He bounced back with a 37-foot birdie putt at the 175-yard, par-4 fifth. After parring the sixth hole, Tiger rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt at the 233-yard, par-4 seventh.
Woods made a key par save at the 427-yard, par-4 eighth, where he drove into the left rough, hit his second shot into the left greenside bunker, blasted 15 feet from the pin and dropped the par putt. However, he bogeyed the 420-yard, par-4 ninth — a hole he had birdied in each of the first two rounds. Woods wound up missing an 11-foot par attempt and made the turn in 1-under 34.
Tiger was prowling on the back nine. He hit a nice approach shot eight feet from the pin at the par-4 10th and drained the birdie putt. At the par-4 11th, he missed the green left with his second shot, but chipped in for a birdie from 54 feet.
After parring the next two holes, Woods struck again by knocking his approach shot from 153 yards to within 12 feet of the cup at the par-4 14th and made the birdie putt. He made it two-in-a-row with a beautiful tee shot at the 161-yard, par-3 15th, the ball stopping six feet from the hole.
Tiger closed with three straight pars, but gave himself good birdie chances, missing from 16 feet at the par-4 16th, 13 feet at the par-3 17th and 14 feet at the par-5 18th.
For the day, Woods hit six fairways and 11 greens in regulation.
“Yesterday I didn’t have much of a swing,” he said. “Today I hit the ball solid, which was nice.”
Competing for the first time in nearly a month and playing in only his second PGA Tour event of the year, Tiger said he had no doubts his game would improve. Saturday’s good score was achieved without making birdie on either of the two par-5s.
“It’s going to turn around,” Woods said. “We are all going to have hot spells and we’re going to have cold spells, especially the longer we stay out here. I’ve had situations where it just seems like no matter what you do, nothing really goes your way.”
Tiger knows he’ll need the leaders to back up to have a realistic chance to challenge for his 80th career title on Sunday. Then again, two years ago, he fired a final-round 62 and nearly caught Rory McIlroy, tying for second, two strokes back.
“I’m up there as of now, but we’ll see what the guys do in the afternoon,” Woods said. “Five (under) is still in the ballgame.”
Tiger tees off from No. 1 at 12:23 p.m. ET with playing partner Luke Guthrie.
