Round 3, AT&T National (PGATOUR.com)
July 4, 2009
SCORING SLOWED … SORT OF (3:25 p.m.): It may seem like the scoring here at Congressional has slowed considerably since the first two rounds, but that's not really the case. The current scoring average here in Round 3 is 70.881. That's only slightly higher than each of the first two rounds (70.619 in Round 2 and 70.790 in Round 1).
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The difference today is that no one at the top of the leaderboard is making any kind of move—Anthony Kim is just 1 under, while Rod Pampling is even and Tiger Woods 1 over. Both Kim and Woods talked about liking a course that plays around par. Well, they certainly are getting that here.—Brian Wacker
CLIMBING INTO CONTENTION (2:55 p.m.): While working on a future story for PGATOUR.COM, I ran into Ryuji Imada in the gym here at Congressional Country Club, where there is no fitness trailer for players this week because of the aforementioned and state of the art brand new facility. He was putting in some pretty serious work, as he has been for a couple of years now, and the effort seems to be paying off.
Imada has one of the best rounds of the day going at 4 under with a couple of holes left. Imada has two bogeys today, but he also has six birdies, including two on his last three holes. Imada has six top-25s this year and is looking for his first victory since last year's … AT&T Classic (not to be confused with this week's AT&T National, of course).—Brian Wacker
BACK AND FORTH (2:35 p.m.): Well, it seems at least from the early going that we're not going to see quite the low numbers that Tiger Woods, Rod Pampling and Anthony Kim put up at various points in this tournament.
Woods and Pampling are tied again at 9 under after a bogey by Pampling at No. 4. Kim is just one shot back, playing in the group right in front of them at even par.
While the course is still a little soft, it's clear that it's finally starting to firm up. Woods said that's exactly how he likes a course—fast and firm. So far, though, he hasn't been able to much on it.—Brian Wacker
BOGEY START FOR WOODS (2:15 p.m.): After finding the left trees off the first tee, Tiger Woods couldn't get out of the woods to save par, making a bogey on the opening hole at Congressional for the first time all week—he birdied it each of his previous two rounds. Meanwhile, playing partner Rod Pampling just birdied the third hole to get to 10 under and in the lead by himself.—Brian Wacker
LAST GROUP OFF (1:50 p.m.): Tiger Woods and Rod Pampling just teed off in the day's final pairing and it was a somewhat conspicuous start for Woods, who pulled his tee shot into the tree line left of the fairway on No. 1 at Congressional. You can follow Woods and Pampling shot-by-shot live with Shot Tracker by .—Brian Wacker
DANNY LEE'S DAY? (1:40 p.m.): Former amateur star Danny Lee could be looking at his best finish since turning professional after the Masters.
Lee, who opened with rounds of 68-67 here at Congressional, is already 2 under on his round today with birdies on two of his first three holes to get to 7 under for the week. That has him just three shots off the lead.
Prior to this week, Lee had missed 3 of 6 cuts since turning professional with a season-best finish of T13 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Lee also missed the cut in his last two events, the Travelers Championship and the Memorial Tournament, failing to break 73 in any of his four rounds.—Brian Wacker
MORE NUMBERS (1:30 p.m.): With Rod Pampling and Tiger Woods on the practice range preparing to tee off in 20 minutes from now, and in all due fairness to the most overlooked guy in that twosome, here's a look at some key stats for Pampling this week. He said yesterday that he really enjoys a course you have to think you're way around. Judging by the numbers below, he's obviously done that pretty well so far.—Brian Wacker
Rod Pampling Key Stats Stat Value Rank Field YTD Greens in regulation 83.33% T2nd 65.38% 65.76% Fairway proximity 24 feet, 6 inches 7th 30 feet, 3 inches 31 feet, 4 inches Putting Inside 10 feet 93.94% 7th 85.12% 86.76% Putting from 20-25 feet 60.00% 2nd 13.04% 14.29%
KEY STATS (1:10 p.m.): With Tiger Woods set to tee off in less than an hour from now, let's take a look at some key stats on Woods for this week. Pay particular attention to Woods' driving, putting and greens in regulation stats. When he puts up those kind of numbers, he doesn't lose. And when Woods holds the 36-hole lead—which he's done 37 times in his career prior to this week—he's gone on to win 31 times.—Brian Wacker
Tiger Woods Key Stats Stat Value Rank Field YTD Rough Tendency 14.29% T5th 27.09% 29.93% Total Driving 23 T3rd n/a 131 Greens in regulation 77.78% T7th 65.38% 65.67% Ball striking 10 4th n/a 97 Scrambling 75.00% T8th 53.55% 64.74% Total putting 27.9 4th n/a 144.4 Putting average 1.61 3rd 1.8 1.76 Putting Inside 10 feet 94.12% T5th 85.12% 89.50% Birdie or better 42.86% 3rd 25.79% 33.64%
EARLY MOVERS (12:55 p.m.): If Nathan Green's round today is any indication of what to expect at Congressional, it should be another day of good scoring.
Green just wrapped up a bogey-free round of 66, which included birdies on each of the last three holes. For the week, though, Green is just 2 under.—Brian Wacker
UNLUCKY 7s (12:25 p.m.): Jeff Maggert, who just made the cut after opening with rounds of 72-70, fared a bit worse today. He's in with a third-round 77 that featured six bogeys and a double bogey. His 13 bogeys for the week is tied for the second most in the field.
The last month has not been a good one for Maggert, who has battled injury in the past. Since finishing in a tie for eighth at the HP Byron Nelson Championship he's missed two cuts and withdrew from another event.—Brian Wacker
HOW TIGER DOESN'T SPEND HIS DOWN TIME (12:15 p.m.): Ever wonder how Tiger Woods spends his off time? Uh, not playing golf, that's for sure.
"I'm not anywhere near in the same league as Arnold [Palmer] when it comes to playing golf," Woods said. "I love playing, but when I'm at home it's more of preparing. I rarely ever go out and just play. Arnold used to do that all the time and still does."
With that in mind, you might be surprised at some of the courses Tiger hasn't played—Pine Valley, Seminole, Merion (which will host the U.S. Open in 2013) and Turnberry (this year's British Open venue) among them.
"I don't play golf on my vacations," Woods said. "I'd never have a golfing vacation because it's not interesting for me to go out there and do that."—Brian Wacker
SIGHTS FROM THE RANGE (12 p.m.): Vijay Singh, who just teed off with Hunter Mahan 10 minutes ago, seems to be having some tempo issues this morning. Arguably the PGA TOUR's biggest range rat, Singh was pounding hybrids on the range before teeing off. He and his caddie were talking about being a little too quick with his hands at times.
Singh has had an up and down year—after struggling in his return from knee surgery early in the season, Singh strung together three straight top-16 finishes. Since then, however, his best result was a T27 in three events. This week, he barely made the cut with rounds of 70-68.
Another player battling injury is Boo Weekley. He was on the green in front of the clubhouse this morning trying to figure out his other problem—the putter. Weekley ranked 175th in putts per round coming into this week and is averaging a mediocre 30 here at Congressional.
Still, Weekley, who is 4 under through two rounds and will tee off at 12:50 p.m. today, is happy with the way he's been able to fight through some shoulder problems. "The last week I played solid," he said. "I'm just hoping I can carry it over."—Brian Wacker
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (11:40 a.m.): Tiger Woods wasn't the only one with a record performance through the first two rounds here. Rod Pampling, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR who is just one stroke back of Woods, recorded his second-best two-day total at 131 (also a record here at the AT&T National).
The only two-round total better than that for Pampling was his 130 total during the 2006 Bank of America Colonial, where he finished third. Let's see what Pampling does playing with the tournament host and world's No. 1 player, though. Yesterday, Pampling made three putts over 20 feet on his way to a 64. If he does that today, he'll obviously be able to hang with Woods. That's a big if, of course.—Brian Wacker
GOYDOS STRUGGLING (11:15 a.m.): Paul Goydos seems to be struggling under the weight of leading the mini money list to get into the British Open. So far, Goydos is 4 over through his first eight holes today. That doesn't exactly bode well for his chances of earning a trip to Turnberry.
The AT&T National is the sixth event in a six-tournament series where the top two money-winners, not previously exempt, earn British Open exemptions. Below is a look at the list of non-exempt players, their current position on the list and the money they have earned in five of the six events.—Brian Wacker
Player Position Money Scores Position 1. Paul Goydos 8 $759,467 73-68 T48 2. Ricky Barnes 11 $588,762 70-72 T63 3. John Mallinger 12 $584,319 70-74 MC 4. Kevin Na 13 $584,150 71-79 MC 5. Bryce Molder 15 $568,100 64-70 T5 6. Ben Crane 17 $441,950 DNP 7. Ryan Moore 18 $421,600 69-66 T8
TIGER ON TOP (11 a.m.): We're a couple of hours away from Tiger Woods teeing it up in today's final pairing at the AT&T National, where his 36-hole lead at 10 under is the sixth-best 36-hole total of his career. It's also the lowest 36-hole in tournament history.
A big part of why Woods is in the lead is that he's successfully converted 47.22 percent of his one-putt opportunities. In his career, Woods has a one-putt percentage better than 47.22 percent 27 times. A dozen of those times he has gone on to win. You see what we're getting at here.—Brian Wacker
Groups We're Watching Tee time Players 1:50 p.m. ET No. 1 
Tiger Woods, Rod PamplingIn 2004, Pampling started showing up to play early morning practice rounds with Woods at the majors. He shouldn't buckle under the pressure of playing with Woods. 1:40 p.m. ET No. 1 
Anthony Kim, Jim FurykFuryk hasn't won since 2007. Kim hasn't won since this event last year. Both are anxious to end those winless droughts this week. 1:10 p.m. ET No. 1 
Lucas Glover, Danny LeeGlover's the reigning U.S. Open champ, Lee is the reigning U.S. Amateur winner. These two young stars should attract plenty of attention on Saturday. Live Essentials 
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