Woods Trails Dubai Leaders By One Shot
Tiger Woods had a tough time at Torrey Pines, but appears more relaxed at Dubai. Going into the final round on Sunday, Woods is just one shot behind the leaders.
Tiger Woods endured a poor start and gale force winds to post an even-par 72 and trail Rory McIlroy and the other two leaders by one shot on Saturday going into the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic.
On a day when winds reached 28 mph and dusty conditions played havoc with the leaderboard -- about two-thirds of the field didn't break par -- Woods showed an uncanny ability to repeatedly come back at Emirates Golf Club.
He ended the third round with a total of 7-under 209 in a seven-way tie for fourth. Only one shot ahead were second-round leader McIlroy (75), Denmark's Anders Hansen (71) and South Africa's Thomas Aiken (74) on 8 under.
Woods shouldn't even be in contention going into Sunday. But the tough conditions took their toll on most of the top players, with McIlroy finishing at 3 over and Sergio Garcia -- who was eight shots ahead of Woods after nine holes -- finishing at 3 over and tied with Woods and five other players.
"The fact I was able to battle from 4-over par and put myself with a chance going into tomorrow, I'm proud of that," said Woods, who had an eagle and four birdies but also four bogeys and a double bogey. "Hopefully I can build on that."
Woods started badly with bogeys on the first two holes, mostly due to errant drives that went well left of the fairway. He pulled a shot back on the third with a birdie. But he bogeyed the eighth and ended up with a double bogey on the ninth after his approach shot got caught up in the wind, dropped just short of the green and rolled in the water.
But at the turn, Woods showed some of his trademark magic. He responded with an eagle on the 10th, chipping in from 35 feet, and a birdie on the 11th that seemed to settle him down. But after running off several pars, his putting woes returned with a bogey on No. 16 - prompting Woods to swear before ending with "Come on Tiger."
He pulled out on all the stops on the 359-yard 17th hole, driving to the back edge of the green. But his chip ran past the hole and he missed an easy birdie putt. That left him the 18th where he played it cautiously, choosing to lay up rather than drive the green. It paid off when he managed to curl in a 30-foot putt, prompting him to pump his fist as the crowd cheered wildly.
"I just had to stay patient," Woods said. "I made two mistakes with two bad swings at 8 and 9 that cost me four shots right there. I had three par 5s and 17 drivable. So I figured the back nine, I could make up some ground and hope the leaders did not pull away. If they were at the time 9 [under] or 10 [under] and they play the same four holes well and post 14 [under], then it's a different ball game."
Woods, who won here in 2006 and 2008, is seeking his first tournament victory since late 1999.
McIlroy, who won his only European Tour event here in 2009, also had a dreadful start. He had three straight bogeys to hand the lead to Garcia, including a drive on the second that landed in sandy scrub and one on the third that ended in the bunker.
Like Woods, McIlroy was able to turn his game around on the back nine with a birdie and a string of pars.
"There's been a few rounds that I let get away from me ... and I didn't let that happen today which was a positive sign," McIlroy said. "And I'm still, you know in the lead, tied for the lead ... I'm still in there with a great chance. It's just very bunched at the moment and now a lot of guys have a chance to win."
Of all the contenders, Garcia had the most dramatic change of fortunes. After opening with a bogey, the Spaniard made a run with two birdies over his next four holes to take sole possession of the lead.
But Garcia fell apart on the back nine, carding two bogeys and a double bogey on the 17th after his drive hit a tree and he had to drop a ball. That handed the lead back to McIlroy and several others for good going into Sunday's final round.
Garcia said his failure to hold the lead was "unfortunate" but insisted he played as well as he could in the conditions.
"I didn't play the back nine that badly. I hit a couple of bad shots, but I was holding it nicely," Garcia said.
Top-ranked Lee Westwood sits in a tie for 13th at 5 under while No. 2-ranked Martin Kaymer was eight shots adrift of the leaders after carding a 4-over 76.
There was still a small chance that the tournament results could see a changing of the guard at the top.
Westwood could lose the top ranking if Kaymer wins and he finishes lower than second, and if Kaymer finishes second and Westwood is out of the top 10. Woods could move ahead of Kaymer if he wins and Kaymer finishes outside the top five.
A winner of 14 majors and 82 tournaments worldwide, Woods appears more relaxed than he has in some time, and ready to put behind him a year of disappointing results, including his worst start to a season last month in San Diego (tie for 44th). A win on Sunday would also allow him to finally shift the attention back to the golf course and away from the string of affairs and subsequent divorce that dominated the news for much of 2010.
"Well, we have a bunched leaderboard," Woods said. "There's a bunch of guys with a chance to win tomorrow. Sergio and Rory didn't pull away. So it gave everyone a chance to win tomorrow and as of right now, 10 guys are within two or three shots of the lead so it will be interesting tomorrow."
Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
