Date: March 23, 2008
Author:

Ogilvy sets the pace

Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott have outplayed, or at least outputted, Tiger Woods – who is seeking to extend his seven-tournament winning streak – before bad weather halted play for the day during the third round at the CA Championship. Ogilvy led at 14 under, one stroke ahead of Scott, with Woods equal third on 11 under – all three players completing 11 holes before approaching thunderstorms stopped play. The world number one putted uncharacteristically poorly to fall three strokes off the lead. Woods started the day one stroke behind halfway leader Ogilvy – and given his recent form, it seemed almost a formality that he would quickly charge to the front. Fiji&aposs Vijay Singh (16 holes) and South African Tim Clark (15 holes) were also 11 under – with Englishman Graeme Storm (15 holes) and American Jim Furyk (13 holes) 10 under. Play is scheduled to resume at 8.30am tomorrow (US time), with the final round to follow shortly afterwards. “I was scoring okay but I didn&apost hit the ball very well off the tee the first 11 holes,” said Ogilvy, the 2006 United States Open champion who expects Woods to come roaring back tomorrow. “He&aposs hitting it very well. He just didn&apost putt like he normally putts. He had a weird three-putt on the second; after that, he hit good putt after good putt – and they just didn&apost go in.” “It&aposs just one of those stretches that&aposs probably frustrating the hell out of him, but he&aposs playing fine. Tiger was getting frustrated with his putter; I was getting frustrated with my ball striking.” Woods, the only contender not under par on the day, concurred. “I need to hit the ball a touch better but more importantly make some putts,” he said, after making just one birdie – slim pickings in benign conditions. “To three-putt the first two holes right out of the gate is never a good thing. I&aposm still right there – a lot of holes to be played, and I hope I can get it going and get hot for the rest of the day.” Woods was out of sorts from the very start, pulling his drive at the par-five first, but he found his path to the green unobstructed and managed to get an iron to the back fringe – 50 feet from the hole. From five feet, his next putt lipped out – catching the left side of the hole but failing to drop and he missed from inside four feet at the next. Scott on the other hand started with a 15-foot eagle at the par-five first – followed by a birdie at the third to pull level with Ogilvy – before taking the lead two holes later. Woods has owned this World Golf Championships event with six wins in eight tries – but for one day at least, he showed himself to be human. Third Round of the World Golf Championships (Par 72) Play suspended: -14: Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 65 67 -13: Adam Scott (Australia) 67 68 -11: Vijay Singh 73 68, Tim Clark 71 69, Tiger Woods 67 66 -10: Graeme Storm 71 70, Jim Furyk 69 71 -9: Retief Goosen 71 69 -8: Zach Johnson 69 72, K J Choi 70 70, Anders Hansen 67 71 -7: Nick O Hern (Australia) 67 75 67, Mike Weir 73 69, Stephen Ames 73 68, Mark Calcavecchia 68 71, Jeev Singh 68 70 -6: Gregory Havret 68 75 68, Robert Allenby (Australia) 69 75 66 Also: -4: Stuart Appleby (Australia) 73 71 68 -3: Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 69 74 70 +1: Paul Sheehan (Australia) 72 73, Richard Green (Australia) 74 72 +2: Brendan Jones (Australia) 76 75 +4: Craig Parry (Australia) 73 75 +7: Mark Brown (New Zealand) 73 74