Tiger Woods Two Strokes behind Zack Johnson at the Quail Hollow Derby

Can Tiger finish strong and come from behind to win at Quail Hollow?

Recent history would say no.

Tiger bogeyed No. 18 for the second straight day along with No.17 today and No.16 on Friday. And don’t forget about the bogey-bogey finish at the Masters on Sunday.

No one is counting him out since he is only two strokes behind with only one person to catch- 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson who won earlier this year at the SONY Open.

Tiger has 65 career wins of which 63 have been in stroke-play and two have been WGC- Accenture Match Play. Of the 63 wins, he has come from behind after 54-holes to win 19 times. Five weeks ago he was five strokes behind Sean O’Hair entering the final-round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and won by one.

The third-round leader or co-leader has gone on to win 14 of 17 events on the PGA TOUR this season. That’s a whopping 82 percent of the time.

It’s was a topsy-turvy moving day at Quail Hollow which is playing Augusta like, Major like conditions.

George McNeill two-putts the par-5 7^th hole after deucing the difficult par-3 6^thhole to break out of a pack of four to take the lead at 10-under par. Right behind him at 9-under par was Tiger Woods, Brendon de Jonge and Zach Johnson.

After about four or five holes of play Tiger birdies the 12^thto get back into the led with McNeill. Lucas Glover birdies 16 to make it a three-way tie at 10-under. Then Johnson birdies the 12^th to get the foursome all to 10-under.

But then the finishes come over the Green Mile the three difficult finishing holes. Glover bogeys 18. Tiger birdies 15 but bogeys 17 and 18. Ditto for McNeill. Zack misjudged his lie and pitches into the 14^th green and the ball releases and runs down the bank into the water. He gets it up and down for bogey and then birdies 15 and 17 to finish strong with a two stroke lead going into the final round on Sunday.

Tiger is paired with O’Neill in the second pairing ahead of the final twosome of

Johnson and Glover. Tiger, O’Neill, and Glover are all T2 two strokes back.

As a reality check there are 16 golfers within five strokes of Johnson including the final Saturday twosome of Retief Goosen and Bubba Watson who both shot 72 and are three strokes back. Y.E. Yang who won the Honda Classic shot the best round of the day a 66 and is four strokes back along with David Toms (67) and Davis Love III (70). 2003 U.S. Open Champion Jim Furyk is one of the long shots five strokes back after shooting a 73 on Saturday to move in the wrong direction.

What was the success trigger in Zack Johnson’s masterful round of 68? “I remained patient, and I think that was the key for me the whole week but certainly today. The fairways are hard to hit, the greens are hard to control your spin, and you know, the greens are fast. It was patience, patience the whole way.”

Even though he missed the cut at the Masters Johnson’s head is in the right place going into Sunday in contention. “I'm very, very, very content with where I am. I mean, your rear-view mirror on this TOUR can be very big, and certainly he'd  (Tiger Woods) be the highlight of it, but the leader board is stacked. It doesn't really matter who's behind you.

Though the Tiger intimidation factor is there. “He makes a putt when he needs to make a putt.  Always. Whether it's light or dark out. That's just his nature and that's just the way he goes about it. It's just phenomenal. It's fun to watch.” Luckily Zach is not playing with Tiger so he can focus on his own game though he will see Tiger’s play unfold in the twosome ahead of his and Glover’s.

Tiger is focused as usual and unhappy with his nonTiger-like finish. “The last two holes (were) not very good there. I hit two 7-irons the last two holes to make two bogeys. That's not the way you want to finish. But I've got a shot going into tomorrow.”

And his golf swing kind of. “I found my golf swing a little bit. It was nice. I hit some good shots. I was able to control my flight. With the wind blowing like this, you have to be able to control your flight around here because it's blowing all over the place. You know, any kind of funky spin on it, it's going to get nailed.”

George McNeill who has one PGA TOUR win to his credit is playing his best golf of the season. “I played pretty well, kind of the same as I have the first couple days. I feel like I hit it a little better today than I did the first two days, but the scores obviously don't show that.
I made some putts, missed some putts, and obviously bogeying the last two holes isn't the way I wanted to finish off, but it happens. I'm not the only one that's going to do it. The beauty about golf is at any time somebody can step up and get it done.”

Though he will be intimidated by Tiger he does have a game plan going into the Sunday fray. “I'm trying to win a golf tournament, as well, but like I said, if I can stay either near him or ahead of him, I think I'll be doing just fine. Of course we've still got Zach Johnson to worry about who's got a two-shot lead. I'm not playing against necessarily Tiger, I'm playing against the golf course for one and Zach, as well.” Did he mean stay near him and beat him at the end?

McNeill was Johnson’s playing partner on Saturday and got outplayed 68 to 70. “Zach played great. He made a couple bogeys early, as you do in any tournament. And especially a major championship type field, you've got to stay patient, and that's what he did. All of a sudden he rattles off a couple birdies and an eagle and then a few more birdies, and next thing you know, he's in the lead.”

Lucas Glover also had an outstanding 68 on moving day and moved all the way up from T11 to T2. Will Tiger’s presence be felt on Sunday?

“Absolutely. You've got to look at the scoreboard tomorrow because if he gets hot you've got to start shooting at pins. We all know that. He's pretty well known to get off to a good start if he's on the lead or near the lead on Sunday. Yeah, we'll have to pay attention and try to match it. You know, it's kind of a foregone conclusion it's going to happen early.”

“That's awesome. But who doesn't know that, seriously? We all know that. He's not too bad on the lead or one back or six back or whatever. But it just speaks to his talent and his confidence more than anything. Mentally he's as good as he is physically. The right answer is there are 73 other guys playing. The thinking is you've got to beat him to win.”

“I’ve got to play tomorrow and see if that trend is gone or not. I'll say I've made fewer mistakes this week than I have in the past few weeks when I had those three out of four or two out of four or whatever. That's what you try to do, especially on a course like this, limit your mistakes and pick your opportunities and try to go get them. I'm going to try to break the trend tomorrow. We'll see.

Phil Mickelson shot 75 and is out of contention eight strokes back.

“Yeah, it's disappointing to play that round. I was playing much better than that. Again, I just got off to a poor start. I missed birdie putts on 1, 2 and 5 that were very makeable. Bogeyed 4 after hitting the pin on my third (shot), and I just didn't get it going. I thought with birdies on 7 and 8 I'd get it turned around.”

“My back nine I could go shoot 2-, 3-, 4-under, get right back in the mix and (the par-5 No.) 10 was the one that killed me. I had 5-iron in there, and if I just missed it left of the pin I should make 4. Instead I hit it in the bunker and make 7. That was where the turning point was. I felt like I tripled a hole and just didn't get it going from there.”

There was a one hour 12 minute weather delay late in the round and Johnson and McNeill had to come back out and finish the 18^thhole. During the delay the golfers watched TV and saw Mind That Bird a 50:1 long shot win the Kentucky Derby. Maybe tomorrow will be McNeill or Glover’s day to finish strong over the last Green Mile?

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]