Woods doesn't like way he hit ball, but still up by 1 after third-round 65

Tiger Woods drops his driver after his tee shot on the fifth hole during the third round of the Buick Open on Saturday.

Tiger Woods drove on adjacent fairways twice on the back nine, hit a cup of beer in a spectator’s hand, got rattled by a bug and was relegated to shaping some shots around trees and under branches.

He still managed to shoot a 7-under 65 on Saturday in the third round of the Buick Open, giving him a 17-under 199 total and a one-stroke lead when Michael Letzig (68) double bogeyed the last hole.

“The whole idea of the game is put the ball in the hole, and I did that,” Woods said. “But as far as controlling my ball, I didn’t do that.”

Woods opened his first tournament since missing the cut at the British Open with a 71 after what he said was probably his worst putting day.

When he was eight shots behind first-round leader Steve Lowery, Woods said he couldn’t make up ground in one day at Warwick Hills.

It took him two.

Woods roared back into contention with a 9-under 63 in the second round and took the lead with his 65 Saturday.

“Eight back, at a U.S. Open, you can make that up in one round,” he said. “You can’t make it up around here.”

He moved into a tie for the lead with Letzig at 17 under with a 33-foot birdie putt at No. 17.

Woods pumped his fist, shouted “Yeah!” and the traditionally rowdy gallery roared so loud he couldn’t communicate with caddie Steve Williams.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Woods, making his ninth Buick Open appearance. “The people here have been absolutely incredible, so supportive of this event over the years. That’s one of the reasons why we love coming here.”

Letzig hit a poor shot out of a greenside bunker at No. 18, barely clearing it and leaving him with a tricky lie. He fell to 16 under while Woods was on the practice range.

“I don’t care,” Letzig said when asked if it would be tough to forget what happened on the last hole. “I’m one shot out of the lead.”

Based on history, that’s probably an insurmountable deficit behind Woods.

The superstar has a 35-1 record on the PGA Tour when he has the outright lead after 54 holes. The lone loss in this situation came when he was 20 in his third tournament as a pro to Ed Fiori in the 1996 Quad City Classic.

Woods and Letzig will be in the final group on Sunday. They also played together in the final round at the Memorial in June, when Woods rallied from a four-shot deficit to win. Letzing shot 75 that day and wound up tied for 14th.

“I won’t be so scared, I’ll know what to expect,” Letzig insisted. “I’m playing good, that’s the bottom line.”

If Woods wins Sunday, it would be his third Buick Open title and 69th on the PGA Tour.

Letzig, meanwhile, is hoping to win for the first time in his 50th PGA Tour event. He’s coming off his first top-10 finish this year. His best showing in two seasons was a tie for second at the Ginn sur Mer Classic.

Woods has won every other tournament in his last four starts.

He missed the cut at the British Open two weeks ago after winning the AT&T National, tying for sixth at the U.S. Open and winning the Memorial. His first victory this season was the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his third tournament following an eight-month absence recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left knee.

Woods was nearly flawless in the second round at the Buick Open, then made enough clutch shots to make up for many poor ones in the third.

Woods three-putted from 55 feet on the par-5 first. He was still muttering and shaking his head about the missed opportunity on the second fairway as slammed his 3-wood into his bag and starting eating a peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwich.

At No. 5, he stepped out of his stance and kicked a bug that he later acknowledged led to him losing his concentration and sailing his tee shot to the right 237 yards away from the pin.

“I didn’t refocus on the shot,” Woods said. “I just got away with it.”

Woods cut a shot around one tree, over a towering one and reached the green to set up a two-putt from 53 feet for a birdie.

At No. 7, he pulled out his driver that stayed in his bag for much of the day and the tee shot caromed off a cup of beer that was in a fan’s hands and led to some friendly banter.

Woods hit his second shot under some tree branches and it finally landed about 300 yards away. A fantastic save out of sand set him up for another birdie.(NBCsports)

READ MORE - Golf News:Tiger not thrilled, but still roars into Buick lead

Sports and entertainment celebrities gather for the annual ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic. The event raised $950,000 for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. (L to R): actor Dave Annable, golfer Natalie Gulbis, basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving, ESPN President George Bodenheimer, V Foundation CEO Nick Valvano, former USC and now N.Y. Jets QB Mark Sanchez

The ninth annual ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic, a Team ESPN event held at the Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms in Industry Hills, Calif., raised $950,000 in net proceeds for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. The total was announced by George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN and ABC Sports, and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. Bodenheimer presented the check to Nick Valvano, Chief Executive Officer of The V Foundation and brother of the late Jim Valvano, former North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN commentator who co-founded The V Foundation with ESPN.

Among the athletes and celebrities in attendance were Dave Annable, Jim Boeheim, Billy Crudup, Julius Erving, Mike Eruzione, Natalie Gulbis, Evander Holyfield, Bruce Jenner, Joe Mantegna, Willis McGahee, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Ben Roethlisberger, Mark Sanchez, Barry Sanders, Wes Welker and many more.

“I’m especially proud that, in this challenging economic environment, nearly $1 million was raised for cancer research – all because of the commitment of our sponsors, celebrities and volunteers,” Bodenheimer said.

Valvano added, “We at The V Foundation are grateful to receive this significant donation that will go directly to cancer research.”

The ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic is part of a series of events tied to the 2009 ESPYs, to be held Wednesday, July 15 in Los Angeles. The 17th annual industry-wide sports celebration gathers top celebrities from sports and entertainment to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. The event will be televised Sunday, July 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN HD. Additionally, ESPN Radio’s Don’t Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction concludes Wednesday, July 15.

The V Foundation

The V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano, legendary North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN commentator. Since 1993, the Foundation has raised more than $80 million to fund cancer research grants nationwide. It awards 100 percent of all direct cash donations and net proceeds of events directly to cancer research and related programs. The Foundation, which has received five consecutive top 4-star ratings from Charity Navigator, awards grants through a competitive awards process strictly supervised by a Scientific Review Committee. For more information on The V Foundation or to make a donation, please visit www.jimmyv.org.

Team ESPN

Team ESPN encompasses ESPN’s multi-faceted corporate outreach initiatives, including volunteerism, corporate giving and cause marketing, while utilizing its diverse media assets. Through Team ESPN, ESPN employees and fans work together to make a difference in our world and the communities in which we live. Team ESPN… Fans Helping Fans. www.teamespn.com
Sports and entertainment celebrities gather for the annual ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic. The event raised $950,000 for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. (L to R): actor Dave Annable, golfer Natalie Gulbis, basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving, ESPN President George Bodenheimer, V Foundation CEO Nick Valvano, former USC and now N.Y. Jets QB Mark Sanchez

READ MORE - ESPY CELEBRITY GOLF CLASSIC RAISES $950,000 FOR THE V FOUNDATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH

READ MORE - Sexy Golf Girl with Hot Trick Shot

The girls are all more or less gorgeous, and it looks like a number of them can actually play the game. Others pose very seductively athletically in ultra-cute golf outfits, gripping gold-plated golf clubs.

They're contestants in the 2009 Miss Golf Contest, and they've got names like Markéta and Eliška and Taťána. Yep, you guessed it...or maybe not...this purposeful pageant takes place in the Czech Republic. As a result, the Miss Golf website is entirely in Czech, thus depriving us non-speakers of what I'm guessing are some fascinating factoids about the comely contestants. However pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words, and these are some pretty pictures.

It seems there's quite a bit of golf going on in the landlocked Central European country. Cherubic-looking WorldGolf travel writer Brandon Tucker often covers the golf courses... and malt beverages... of the Czech Republic, and has given both good reviews. Then there's the awesome Alex Čejka. He recently took a five-shot lead into the final round of the 2009 Players Championship after rounds of 66, 67, and 72. A final meltdown led to 79 and an eight-stroke loss to Henrik Stenson, however he definitely put himself on the map as the PGA poster-boy for Czech golf.

Back to Miss Golf though. The way I became aware of this quixotic contest was through the Miss Golf Group on Facebook. The funny thing is this group isn't exactly promoting the Miss Golf contest, but rather one of its contestants, who happens to be... the sister of the Facebook group's founder. The group description is as follows:

Some really unimportant miss competition in Czech republic. But, please, vote for my sister (or at least not for the others girl:)) Kamila Mačátová (i can make her have rendez-vous with you after:). Thanks a lot.

You can't make this stuff up. Posted by Patricia Hannigan

READ MORE - Miss Golf - A Beauty Contest for Golf Girls

Filed by Nick Sabloff
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he doesn't like his golf swing and the ball never goes where he wants.

Obama told Russian state-run Rossiya TV and ITAR-TASS news agency that he's been working on his golf game lately. However, he disclosed in the interview that he hasn't had much success.

The president, who has been playing golf most weekends with aides, says he thinks he should be good at the game. Yet his shots never seem to go straight.

Obama played a quick nine holes on Saturday before a Fourth of July picnic at the White House.

The White House released a transcript of his interview on Sunday hours before Obama head

READ MORE - Obama Bemoans Golf Swing To Russian Reporter

By CHRIS HINE

Published: July 11, 2009

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Alexis Thompson had spent three holes pounding her fist on her knee or flailing her arms in frustration as she tallied three consecutive bogeys. But as she heard “You’re my girl, Alexis” and “I’m in love with Alexis” coming from three young men in the gallery seemingly desperate for a date, she could not help but crack a smile.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Alexis Thompson, 14, began the third round five strokes behind the leader but shot a seven-over-par 78 and was tied for 36th.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Cristie Kerr on the 16th hole at the U.S. Women’s Open. Kerr shot a one-over-par 72 but held a two-stroke lead after three rounds.

It was hard to tell whether she found her young suitors creepy or funny, but over all, Thompson seemed to enjoy and appreciate the praise and encouragement she got from the crowd Saturday. And why not? Here she was, a 14-year-old amateur and an avid fan of “Hannah Montana” and MTV, playing in the third round at the United States Women’s Open — the youngest person to make the cut at the Open since Marlene Hagge did it in 1947 at 13. Thompson entered Saturday at Saucon Valley Country Club tied for ninth place, five shots behind the leader, Cristie Kerr.

But there were more moments that made Thompson want to bang her fist and shake her head than those that made her smile. She shot a seven-over-par 78 and is tied for 36th, 11 shots behind Kerr.

Kerr shot a 72 and is two-under par for the tournament, two shots ahead of Eun-Hee Ji headed into Sunday’s final round.

Chalk up Thompson’s round to youth, and to poor ball striking.

“I just didn’t hit it good at all,” Thompson said. “This golf course, if you’re not hitting it good, it’s just not going to go well.”

Thompson, who qualified for her first United States Open at age 12, had every intention of competing for a championship. She is a veteran now, playing in her third Open.

“I wasn’t just looking to make the cut,” Thompson said Friday. “I know I can contend if my game’s on out there.”

Thompson had nine bogeys and two birdies in her third round.

Morgan Pressel, who shot a two-under-par 69 and is tied for 11th, said: “I mean, there’s certainly something to be said for aggressiveness and for the way you played as a youngster, but there’s a reason people with experience usually prevail in these kinds of events.”

Pressel would know. Before Thompson broke her record, Pressel was the youngest person to qualify for a United States Open.

At 5-foot-9, Thompson looks and plays older than 14. This is the second time this year she has made the cut in a major. At the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Thompson finished two-over par, tied for 21st.

Although her round Saturday ended in disappointment, she did hit shots that wowed the gallery and showcased her potential.

On the 453-yard, par-4 seventh hole, Thompson pulled out an iron for her long approach to the green. Into a stiff wind, she put the ball within 10 feet of the hole on the front of the green.

“That’s just disgusting,” one spectator said.

Shots like that are why Thompson has been compared to Michelle Wie, the teenage phenomenon who has struggled with injuries. Wie did not qualify for this year’s United States Open.

“I know she was really good when she was young, too,” Thompson said. “So, I mean, I’m just going to try and keep on going the way I’m going, just take Junior Golf, and whenever I can go pro, I mean I don’t really know yet.”

Thompson exhibits a lot of emotion on the course. After a bad shot, she will walk with her head down and sometimes mumble to herself. But if she wanted to stay mad at herself Saturday, the crowd would not let her.

“It just helps you out, they’re like, ‘Keep it going, you’re doing great,’ ” Thompson said.

It appeared there was no consoling Paula Creamer on the 10th hole. Creamer was two-under for the tournament after 36 holes, one shot back of Kerr. She was hoping this year would erase 2008, when Creamer entered the final round of the Open in second place, but fired a 78.

However, on No. 10, a short par-4, Creamer pulled out her driver, hoping to get it on the green to try for an eagle. She landed in a bunker that guarded the green and pitched over and around it before finally making a triple bogey.

When the hole was over, it appeared that Creamer was in tears.

“No, I was standing there and, you know, looking at the hole and thinking, ‘How did you just hit it seven times on this hole?’ ” she said. She finished with a 79 and is tied for 17th.

Kerr, the 2007 Open winner, did not take such risks. She laid up and scored par. While others around her crumbled, Kerr remained steady. She was the only player under par after three days.

“I’m sure there’s going to be some nerves in the morning,” Kerr said. “But I’ve been there. I know I can handle it.”

READ MORE - 14-Year-Old Amateur Slips Back at the Open

Turnberry in Scotland, site of this year’s British Open, which starts Thursday.
By LARRY DORMAN

Published: July 11, 2009

TURNBERRY, Scotland — Since 1837 the iconic lighthouse has stood atop the ruins of the castle where the Scottish hero Robert the Bruce was born in 1274, not far from the remnants of runways where Royal Air Force fighter pilots trained for World Wars I and II. These facts alone separate the spectacular links course at Turnberry from any of the other 13 sites that have hosted the British Open, the world’s oldest golf championship.

But the unique nature of the site for the 138th Open, which begins Thursday, has more to do with the lineage of golfers who have won there than Turnberry’s misty history. Every champion golfer crowned at Turnberry — Tom Watson in 1977, Greg Norman in 1986 and Nick Price in 1994 — is a living member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The brevity of the list may give pause to some in the country where the 100-year-old course in St. Andrews is named the New Course. Although it is true that Turnberry has neither the cachet of the Old Course nor the magnificent mustiness of Muirfield, it has many other attributes.

On Saturday, five days before the Open, Turnberry glistened on the hill above the craggy Ailsa coast. It looked much as it did in 1977, when it produced drama, ebb and flow, ambience and all the necessities for some of the finest theater in Open history when Watson and Jack Nicklaus waged their unforgettable Duel in the Sun. Then Norman fought his way to his first major title as the only player in the field to shoot par over 72 holes in the howling winds. And Price’s eagle at the 71st hole rattled poor Jesper Parnevik into bogeying the last and losing by one.

When night fell on Price’s celebrating his victory by raising the claret jug, Turnberry was also the scene of one of the greatest golf moments that no one saw. That was the night Watson and Nicklaus had an after-dinner duel in the moonlight on the pitch-and-putt course that sits below the hotel.

Now Watson and Norman return to Turnberry for a curtain call, each arriving with his distinctive view.

Norman loves everything about the course, with good reason. In ’86, he led after Saturday’s round in all four majors, yet won only the Open at Turnberry. And he did it convincingly, by five strokes. He might have eclipsed that performance last year at Royal Birkdale had he been able to close out his memorable run with a victory at the age of 53.

“I think Turnberry, from a player standpoint, has it all,” Norman said. “You stay in the hotel, you walk down the hill, you get on the driving range, you never put a key in the ignition of your car. Makes it much more of a comfort zone for a player to go play. My memories are very good around there.”

For Watson, Turnberry runs the gamut, from his highest high with the ’77 victory over Nicklaus at his best, to his 1994 loss, which he says still stings.

All week he had been near the lead. Tied for fourth after opening with a 68, tied for third after a 65 in the second round, and one stroke behind the leaders Fuzzy Zoeller and Brad Faxon going into the fourth.

All week, he had taunted the bookmakers for listing him as a 66-to-1 shot.

“Those bookies are quaking now,” he said during the third round after making a late birdie putt. He could feel his fingers around his sixth claret jug.

But he missed a short putt on the sixth hole on Sunday, and admitted he let that miss seep into his head. He made two double bogeys on the front nine. The championship that would have tied Harry Vardon’s record of six Opens slipped away, and Watson has never again come that close to winning an Open.

“I have to admit, that was probably — it had to be in my top five most frustrating tournaments,” Watson said. “Because I was really hitting on all cylinders. I was driving the ball perfectly. My iron play was great. My putting just completely let me down.”

Turnberry giveth. Turnberry taketh. Watson was 44 then. Now, at 59, he is actually talking about having a chance. After what Norman did last year in taking a two-stroke lead into the final round, seniors everywhere are feeling younger. And when Watson sees the wind blowing sideways off the Firth of Clyde, and looks at the lighthouse that has kept ships clear of the Ailsa Craig for 172 years, he gets a gleam in his eye.

Turnberry has undergone some changes since Watson last played here. But Watson, the greatest links golfer the United States has produced, has not — at least in terms of his desire.

“Our primary objective is to go back there and play well against the kids,” Watson said. “I love playing links golf. Everything about it, all the bounces, good and bad.”

READ MORE - Turnberry Has Changed, but Desire to Challenge It Hasn’t