Tiger Woods at Wyndham Championship 2015: Saturday Leaderboard, Score, Reaction
Tiger Woods started Saturday's third round tied for the lead at the 2015 Wyndham Championship, but he ended the day tied for second and two shots behind leader Jason Gore.
Even though Woods' position fell slightly, it wasn't because he played poorly. He fared well with a two-under 68, only to see Gore and Jonas Blixt, who is now tied with Woods, play a lights-out round with matching scores of 62.
"Jason and I go back 30 years. It's going to be fun for both of us to go out there and duke it out," Woods said about facing off with Gore, per the Golf Channel.
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The 14-time major champion will go into the final round with a chance to win the event as well as make the FedEx Cup playoff field.
Considering where Woods has been in 2015, including missing the cut at last week's PGA Championship, this is a fantastic weekend already with one more chapter to be written before the book is closed.
Round 3 Scorecard
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 33 |
| Overall | -12 | -12 | -12 | -12 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -13 | - |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 35 |
| Overall | -13 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -14 | -14 | -13 | - |
Current Leaderboard
Day 3 Recap
It's easy to see why excitement has been building around Woods thus far. He's not only playing well, but his track record for winning when leading after 36 holes—which he was heading into Saturday's third round—has been strong, per ESPN Stats & Info:
The good news is Woods didn't do anything to hurt himself on Saturday. When he's made it to the weekend in recent events, the third round has really been difficult:
| Quicken Loans National | 74 (+3) | -5 |
| The Greenbrier Classic | 71 (+1) | -4 |
| The Memorial Tournament | 85 (+13) | +12 |
| The Players Championship | 75 (+3) | +3 |
Those scores may also play some role in Woods' mindset, especially with the putter, as this quote from Thursday (via ESPN.com's Jason Sobel) speaks volumes about his round on Saturday:
"I just never felt like I was going to miss any of them. I took a rip at them, and some I made, some I didn't," Woods said about his putting, per the Golf Channel.
It's unusual to hear a once-great athlete feel so energized about hitting par on a hole, but that could mean he was able to salvage something that didn't work. Birdies are easy to figure out, because it often means everything with your swing and approach is going well.
Today was a day for Woods to celebrate those par putts, at least after he started with birdies on Nos. 1 and 5. With so many players reaching low scores—six players shot a 65 or better—the 39-year-old couldn't make mistakes if he wanted to stay in the hunt.
Woods did find another birdie late in the round, on hole 16, that brought him within one shot of Gore for first place, via PGA Tour:
That was a huge moment for Woods. He needed to hit a shot and get out of the par "rut" that seemed like it would define his third round. The only negative from his round was a bogey on the 18th hole that dropped him out of sole possession of second place into the next-to-last pairing on Sunday.
"It was a grind today. Like yesterday, I kept leaving myself above the hole. ... I had to putt so defensively because of it," Woods said, per the Golf Channel. "It's not a golf course in which you can sit and make a bunch of pars and expect to win. You got to go get it."
Losing that shot does drastically alter Woods' odds of winnings based on his history, as noted by Golf Channel's Justin Ray:
Even though Ray isn't pulling from a huge sample size, Woods didn't put up the kind of low score other players did today to maintain or take advantage of his spot atop the leaderboard entering the third round.
Being able to rebound after letting an opportunity get away has been huge for Woods this weekend, as he missed a simple birdie putt on No. 15. Comedian/social media golf recapper Norm Macdonald was enthusiastic about the response from Woods on 16:
"Remember the old days when Tiger missed a putt. Remember what he would do next hole. Expect that NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) August 22, 2015"
No. 18 did take away some of the shine from Woods, but it's hard to get hung up on the one negative hole he had when there were 17 solid holes played before that and three strong rounds thus far.
However, Woods' position in the standings may not be enough to get him in the FedEx Cup playoff as originally thought.
Sobel noted late in Woods' third round that his spot on the leaderboard currently leaves him just outside the top 125:
Not that Woods needs more incentive to go for the win on Sunday, but sometimes backing an athlete into a corner can result in a great performance.
It's been so long since Woods was a threat to win a championship that seeing him continue to play well on a Saturday was the best thing he could do. Golf is better and more interesting when he's putting up good scores each week, so this is definitive proof there is still some gas left in the tank.
Given the low scores put up by fellow contenders like Gore, Blixt and Scott Brown (66) today, Woods will likely have to reach the low numbers he put up on Thursday or Friday to get his first win in two years.
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