Webb Simpson stormed into a commanding lead at the halfway stage of The Players Championship as Rory McIlroy missed the cut at TPC Sawgrass.
Advertisement
It was just like the halcyon days of a previous era as Tiger Woods carded his best ever score at TPC Sawgrass, a seven-under-par 65, in the third round of the Players Championship on Saturday. He gave one back with a bogey at 14, but made amends with a brilliant shot to three feet of the hole at the par-3 17th hole, where he had made double-bogey the day before.
However, with a five-shot lead Simpson does surpass Day (four strokes) for the largest 36-hole lead in Players history.
Now Simpson will go for the all-time scoring record of 24-under 64 set by Greg Norman in 1994. Schniederjans finished his day tied for 75th at 2 over; Webb Simpson is in 1st at 19 under; Danny Lee is in 2nd at 12 under; and Dustin Johnson is in 3rd at 10 under.
His approach to the fourth got inside ten feet of the hole, and with Woods’ renowned putting stroke finally paying dividends, the Pete Dye layout didn’t stand a chance.
Harold Varner III, who is tied to ninth after a two-under 70, added: “I think we all should be surprised”.
“But there is still 18 holes to play and I’ve got a lot of work to do”. “I did not hit the shot the way I wanted to, but I didn’t feel like I hit it bad enough for it not to get to the front of the green or maybe even five steps on the front”. Lee shot a 31 on the back nine with a double bogey on the 11th hole.
T9. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Tiger Woods, Tommy Fleetwood, Harold Varner III, Ian Poulter, Matt Kuchar (-8): What a crew. But the island green at #17 is famous for a reason; obviously there’s some gimmickry there, but it’s also just a wedge for pros, and a great example of how psychology and the visual elements of a hole can wreak havoc on players. It got really windy out there in the afternoon, and it wasn’t anything like the morning guys’ golf in the afternoon.
The pressure is supposed to be a significant factor on moving day at The Players Championship, but Webb Simpson is apparently immune to that factor. I didn’t beat myself up and it is the first time in a while that I’ve realised that I can actually make three birdies anywhere in the world. – Sometimes, it is as simple as hitting a nice drive, seeing the ball go where you want it to go and getting that first putt to drop. But they made up only three shots on Simpson and were 11 shots behind.
It’s only a wedge shot to a pretty large target in the calm conditions that prevailed on this occasion but the fact the green is surrounded completely by water plays terrible tricks with the mind.
“[Simpson] may handle it a little bit differently to me”.
The psychology of holding a big lead is one that few golfers have solved. On the last hole we had 196 and it was just a nine-iron.
Advertisement
Simpson, who had dipped to 190th on the PGA Tour in putting two years ago, celebrated the one-year anniversary of going to a claw grip, with the right-hand low.
