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Something to Shout About
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Where to begin on the demolition derby front? How about Phil Mickelson making a quadruple-bogey 9 at the 539-yard 13th hole from a perfect lie in the fairway, with three consecutive wedges that went up to the elevated green, only to spin back down the hill? A few hours later, Ernie Els (74) had two shots at the same hole that mimicked Mickelson's comical script, but at least Els was able to make a 15-footer to save bogey.
"I've had a nine on 13 before," Mickelson said. "I was eight years old."
What about 36-hole leader Stuart Appleby making a four-putt double bogey at the 453-yard No. 5 and playing his first six holes in 5 over, just as Karlsson did after starting the day a shot off the lead. Then Appleby, notorious for his weekend fades, three-putted from three feet at No. 9 to turn a certain birdie into an ugly bogey.
Woods began badly on the 448-yard first hole for the third straight day, with a drive into the right rough, a second shot short of the green into the left rough, and a third shot to the fringe, 40 feet from the flag. He slightly chunked his chip, leaving it 12 feet from the hole, and two putts later had a double-bogey 6 that pushed him back to even par for the tournament. He had also doubled the same hole in the first round Thursday.
But Woods got back to even par for the week when he made an 18-foot birdie putt at the 461-yard No. 7, and then played his final 14 holes in 4 under, including the eagle at 13 where he thought his second shot was headed for a back bunker. Instead, it stayed on the putting surface, and he used Karlsson's ball marker as a target for his 70-foot putt.
"I had a 5-iron in there," Woods said. "It landed on the green and actually stopped. Robert's mark was out there far enough where Stevie [Williams, his caddie] and I were reading it. I said if I come out on the high side of that mark, I should be able to get it inside three feet. Luckily, it went in."
Mickelson, who started the day seven off the 36-hole lead, had finally seemed to come to his senses by putting a driver back in his bag after playing the first two rounds without it. But he still struggled to find the fairway, hitting only 6 of 14 for the third straight day, and lost any hope of contending on Sunday after his 9 at the 13th.
"What can you do?" he said. "It was really one hole that hurt the round. I was one over for the day and just played okay. If I make birdie there, I shoot even par for the day and I'd be within striking distance. Unfortunately it happens. It sucks. But it happens."
