“My pace, I felt like I could be aggressive”.
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Now he’ll spend Saturday enjoying with an unfamiliar rookie.
Whatever happens on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship, Woods has made it abundantly clear it’s all part of a larger plan, the often-referenced “process” from competitive struggles to something more than simply a curiosity. “What is it, or him?” No”, Woods said. “I didn’t realize the back surgery was going to take that much of a toll on me. “I don’t know. I’ve always done that”.
It turns out Davis Love III was right, that Sedgefield was the tonic for what ails Woods’ game.
Terry Pilkadaris of Australia (65) is in second.
The 30-year-old sits on 12-under while Peter Lawrie leads the Irish challenge five shots back after a 69.
For the third straight day, Woods got the rock star treatment at Sedgefield, where it seemed everyone on the course was with his group.
Woods, who last week missed the cut for a third successive Major, must win today to clinch a berth in the lucrative FedExCup play-off series that starts next week.
After which, enjoying beneath a scorching afternoon solar that sped up these undulating greens, Woods virtually matched it. “I didn’t quite hit it as well as yesterday”.
He capped that run of consecutive birdies with a 25-foot putt on the 13th that drew a mighty roar from the huge gallery.
He ran into trouble on No. 17, as his second shot fell victim to the false front of the green and dropped downhill back onto the fairway.
And as strong as his round was, it also easily could have been even better.
Woods’s chances effectively ended with a triple-bogey seven at the par-four 11th hole. He left a 10-foot birdie putt an inch from the opening on the ninth.
“What is it they say – your phone is blowing up?” he said, “Mine is in a meltdown”.
He tried to rally, making four birdies in the final six holes to finish at even-par for the day, but that was nowhere near good enough. The former North Carolina All-America, who will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2016, has twice won the tournament – both at Forest Oaks Country Club outside Greensboro. “Putt too hard, and then I pulled the putt [for 6] and made the 7th [shot], which was solid, right in the middle of the hole”. Like Woods, it’s a spot he hasn’t felt was that far away despite a season that’s included just a single top-10 finish.
“Was I prepared for it to take this long?”
Snedeker – who won the Wyndham in 2007, its last year at Forest Oaks – shot just the fifth 61 in the history of the event and the first since Tim Herron three years ago.
His only birdie on the back nine was an important one.
“I’m not looking at it that way, you know me, ” Woods said.
For some gamers, the precedence was to earn sufficient factors to qualify for the playoffs or hold their tour card for subsequent yr. Charl Schwartzel was the ultimate bubble golfer with a No. 125 ranking entering the tournament.
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Tiger Woods began his round on Saturday tied for the lead with Tom Hoge and went out in a 2-under 33 to maintain a share of the lead at -13 for the tournament.
