McIlroy, who finished his second round in the morning, surprisingly struggled for the first time in seven rounds into his comeback from a three-month layoff, and was 1-over par at the turn in the third round in the United Arab Emirates.
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He grabbed the first of his three birdies at the par-five sixth, where he fired his tee shot 308 yards down the middle of the fairway.
Noren, who had a one-shot lead at the start of the final round, closed with a 73. They left after Woods finished his round. Noren appeared to have the steadiest game until he pulled his tee shot into the hazard on the 14th hole and did well to escape with bogey.
Noren has won nine times on the European Tour – six in the last three seasons – and will continue to chase his first PGA Tour title when play resumes on Monday.
Holmes joined him with the bogey-bogey effort.
Unfortunately, Noren’s adrenaline got the best of him.
While the leaders attracted a modest gallery, thousands tracked every step with Woods, including three men in red baseball caps displaying the words “Make Tiger Great Again” – a play on words of U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
The Swede was unlucky.
And it still includes Jon Rahm, who hit into the water front the green on the par-5 closing hole and took double bogey for a 75.
Leishman has twice been runner-up at the Farmers Insurance Open and also has another top-10 to his name when T9 in 2011.
After backing off numerous times, Holmes made a decision to lay-up.
He was unapologetic when talking with the Golf Channel saying he was still trying to win.
An irked Woods took an unplayable lie, then missed the green.
“In the end it was very tough”, Noren said. Day slid in a 7-footer he knew he needed. “I hit a lot of solid putts, just speed was off pretty bad I thought for a while there”. Noren’s from a mile didn’t fall.
The first was Adam Scott for a total of 11 weeks, then Rory McIlroy for 93, Jordan Spieth for 26, Jason Day for 51, and the current number one Dustin Johnson for 49 weeks. He missed a 3-foot putt on the last, one of his few mistakes in a tournament in which he led the field with 10.464 strokes gained in putting.
Palmer created a three-man playoff by sinking a 17-inch putt for a birdie on the 18th hole, completing his round at par.
“Alex is playing some tremendous golf”.
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“I couldn’t even see the flag, ” said Day afterward. “Hit it really good all day, got some putts to go, and within range I feel like of the lead heading into tomorrow, so feel good about today”, Kim said.
