Phil Mickelson Eagles His Way to One Shot Under Putting Machine Lee Westwood, Tiger Lurks at 4 Shots Back
Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 at 5:09 pm by bbryan in PGA Golf
Phil Mickelson stormed to the top of the leadboard with eagles on 13 and 14, and came within inches of an unprecidented third straight eagle on 15 to finish the 11 under par after the 3rd round of The Masters. He’s one shot behind Lee Westwood who was magnificent with the putter today and finished at 12 under. Tiger was just the opposite with the flat stick, in fact he was down right horrid. But in typical Tiger fashion he grinded his way to a 2 under 70 for the day, putting him at 8 under for the tournament. Lets take a look at the contenders heading into tomorrows final round.
Phil Mickelson – 45% chance: Already with two hideous green jackets, Phil has to be the favorite to get his third. His 3-hole run at 13, 14 and 15 was flat out sick. His career score of minus 54 at the 13th hole is flat out sick. He’s obviously playing very well and he has a 3 shot lead on Tiger Woods. Although with Phil you never know when the blow up will come. It wouldn’t surprise me if he shot a 67, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if he bogeys the 13th, a hole he hasn’t bogeyed at The Masters since 1993 (another sick stat).
Lee Westwood – 35% chance: It’s hard to imagine Westwood putting on another display with the flat stick like he did today. Anything within 20 feet was a gimmie. Par probably won’t be good enough to win it tomorrow, and I don’t think the chances are great that he’s on fire again. But 35% is still respectable.
Tiger Woods – 12% chance: Tiger was extremely shaky around and on the greens today, not surprising since he hasn’t played a competitive tournament in 5 months. But he’s still Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer ever. He’ll have to shoot 67-69 to have a chance to win, but does anyone doubt he can do it? You know he’ll give himself chances, and if he can get it going with the flat stick we may be talking about one of the greatest golfing performances since his ridiculous run at the US Open in 2000.
KC Choi – 7% chance: Choi is solid, but I have a harder time seeing him shooting a 67 to win it than I do Tiger Woods. I’m guessing he’ll shoot around 70, good enough for a top 5, but not good enough to win. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
The Field – 1% chance: Hard to see anyone else taking this thing. Couples? There’s a better chance his back breaks than he actually win. Although that shouldn’t take away from the sweet run he’s had so far. Barnes? Poulter? Maybe, they both have the game to shoot a 66-67 if everything breaks their way, but they are also prone to disaster holes. And just one disaster hole would put anyone in this group out of contention.
Hopefully Tiger Woods can get it going early so we get some great Sunday drama. Nothing would be better than to see Tiger and Lefty battle it out for another hideous green jacket.
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11. Apr, 2010
Skip Bayless move! Buildin’ Phil up to break him down harder if he falters!