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Tiger Woods' Double Bogey Derails Promising Round 3 at 2019 Memorial Tournament
June 1, 2019
Tiger Woods made some progress in the third round of the Memorial Tournament on Saturday, but a double bogey prevented him from moving further up the leaderboard.
Woods shot a two-under 70 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, on Saturday and entered the clubhouse in a tie for 24th place at four under for the tournament, which put him eight strokes behind leader Kyoung-Hoon Lee.
Tiger appeared poised to make a huge run after a dominant front nine that saw him birdie four of the first seven holes, but a double bogey on No. 10 halted his momentum until later in the round.
The reigning Masters champion came roaring out of the gates on the par-four first by holing out from the bunker for birdie, which elicited a huge response from the crowd:
Tiger nearly repeated the feat on No. 2, but his bunker shot barely eluded the hole, which forced him to settle for par:
After that, Woods parlayed a gorgeous approach shot on the third into another birdie, and he was suddenly four under on the tournament after playing the first two rounds at just two under overall:
Tiger carded another birdie on the par-five fifth, and he was suddenly on the precipice of the top 10 and in position to potentially get close to the leaders.
At that point, Justin Ray of 15th Club noted that Woods was perhaps on the verge of doing something he hadn't accomplished in a decade:
Woods' strong play continued on the par-five seventh when he registered his fourth birdie of the day and worked his way inside the top 10:
Although strong bunker play helped carry Woods early in the round, the bunker was his undoing on the par-four 10th.
After making the turn at four under on the day, Tiger dropped two strokes on No. 10 when he was unable to blast his ball out of the sand. As a result, Woods fell to two under for the round and four under for the tournament.
Woods then scuffled to make par on the par-five 11th, prompting Jason Sobel of the Action Network to comment on the up-and-down nature of Tiger's day:
Another bogey on the par-four 14th erased nearly all the progress Woods made on the front nine, and it left him in a position where he desperately needed to make some birdie putts over the final few holes in order to be in the mix Sunday.
Despite trending in the wrong direction, Woods turned things around with a long birdie make on the par-five 15th to get a stroke back:
Tiger struck back with another birdie on the next hole, marking his sixth of the day. With that, he was on track once again and sitting at three under for the round:
On the heels of a par on No. 17, Woods ended up in the bunker again on the 18th, but he left himself with a tough par putt and had to settle for bogey to close out his round.
After shooting a 32 on the front nine, Woods followed that up with a 38 on the back and will enter the final round of the tournament well off the pace.
While winning the tournament is a virtual impossibility at this point, Woods still has a chance to get back inside the top 10 and record a solid finish if he can channel what he did on Saturday's front nine throughout Sunday's final round.
If that happens, Woods will give himself something to build on heading toward the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which runs from June 13-16.