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MIAMI, Florida: Australian Geoff Ogilvy clung to a two-stroke lead
while Tiger Woods was five strokes back on Sunday when darkness
halted the final round of the World Golf Championships CA
Championship.
With nine holes yet to play, Ogilvy stood on
17-under par, two ahead of Fiji’s Vijay Singh, who had nine to
play, and American Jim Furyk, who had eight remaining, with Woods
struggling in his bid to win his eighth event in a row.
“I’m sure he probably thinks he has a chance
and we’ve seen him do crazy things before,” Ogilvy said of
Woods. “But Jim and Vijay have won a fair few tournaments and
there are some pretty tough players right up there.”
After 61 players were forced to complete the
third round Sunday morning due to prior storms, golfers waited out a
2-hour 50min weather delay before darkness fell with 24 in the
clubhouse and 53 returning Monday morning for the finish.
“It was a long day,” Ogilvy said. “I
warmed up four times. It’s no fun. It’s a bit fatiguing going
out, warming up, getting in the van, driving all the way out, coming
all the way back, coming in, sitting around. It was frustrating.”
Ogilvy opened with a birdie and added another at
the sixth before taking his first bogey of the week at seven, ending
a run of 60 holes at par or better.
“Had my first bogey, which is disappointing,
but apart from that it wasn’t too bad,” Ogilvy said. “What are
you going to do? You’re going to make one at some point.”
Woods was 12-under par with seven holes
remaining, sharing eighth with Aussie Nick O’Hern, after four
birdies and three birdies on the front nine and two back-nine pars.
Top-ranked Woods, trying to match his best
last-round victory comeback from five back in 2000 at Pebble Beach,
seeks a fourth consecutive title at Doral and fifth consecutive
World Golf series triumph in his last Masters tune-up.
“He doesn’t only have to catch me. He has
got to catch me and pass Jim Furyk and Retief Goosen and Adam Scott.
It’s a pretty stellar leaderboard,” Ogilvy said. “I’ve got
my work cut out just beating any of those guys.”
Woods, a 13-time major winner chasing Jack
Nicklaus’ record 18 major titles, has 64 career wins to match Ben
Hogan for third on the all-time list behind Sam Snead’s 82 and 73
by Nicklaus.
Ogilvy plans on making an aggressive start,
hoping to slam the door shut before Woods or other rivals can close
the gap.
“I’m sure it’s in my control if I go out
and have three or four birdies early. It might discourage people,”
Ogilvy said. “But if I go out and par three or four holes in a row
then maybe they’re going to catch me because there’s so many
birdies out there.
“I guess it’s in my control, but in some
respects it’s not. There are some tough holes coming in but they
can still be birdied.”
Woods had the worst showing so far in the round
among the leaders after the worst third round of anyone in the top
30 when he made par on all seven holes Sunday morning to complete a
par-72 round.
Furyk was 3-under on the round with eight holes
remaining. He followed an opening birdie with two bogeys, then ran
off four birdies in a row starting at the fifth hole to put pressure
on Ogilvy, who led by four shots after 54 holes.
“I’m playing pretty good. I made a bunch of
birdies and kind of got myself back in the tournament,” Furyk
said. “If I want to win the golf tournament I’m going to have to
make a bunch of birdies again tomorrow.”
Singh birdied the fifth and ended his front nine
with back-to-back birdies just before the horn sounded. Players were
allowed to finish the holes they were playing if they wanted.
“We’ve still a lot of golf to go,” Singh
said. “I just hung in there. I’m looking forward to coming
tomorrow with good light and ready to go.”
England’s Graeme Storm and South African
Retief Goosen were at 14-under, three off the pace. Each was 2-under
for the round, Storm with nine holes to finish and Goosen with eight
remaining.
Steve Stricker was the clubhouse leader after a
stunning nine-under 63 to finish on 13-under 275. The American’s
bogey-free round matched the lowest of the week and proved there
were strokes to be gained despite the downpours.
Stricker opened both nines with birdies and
birdied the final five holes on the front side.
Aussie Adam Scott was 13-under after 10 holes,
making par at the 10th after his approach slammed off the top of the
cup and rolled off the green. He was 1-under on the round after
birdies at the first and sixth and a bogey at nine.
Ogilvy had stretched his lead to four strokes
after 54 holes Sunday morning, completing a 4-under 68 third round.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever played 54 holes in
a tournament without a bogey, definitely not the first 54 holes,”
Ogilvy said.
-- AFP
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