Reed has Tiger lurking behind at Doral
Reed has Tiger lurking behind at Doral
DORAL, Fla. — Patrick Reed turned his game around in four holes Saturday and wound up with a 3-under 69 in much tamer conditions at Doral, giving him a two-shot lead at the Cadillac Championship going into a final round that will prominently feature Tiger Woods for the first time this year.
Reed rolled in a 40-foot eagle putt on No. 8, and started the back nine with consecutive birdies. He drove the green on the par-4 16th for a two-putt birdie and wound up with a two-shot lead over PGA champion Jason Dufner (68) and Hunter Mahan, who bogeyed his last hole for a 71.
Woods delivered the low round of the tournament and his best round of the year.
He made three birdie putts of about 15 feet or longer on the back nine, including a 35-footer down the slope on the par-5 15th, and had a 6-under 66. His goal was to get back to even par for the tournament and hope to be within five shots of the leader.
It turned out much better.
Woods was one of five players who were under par, and he goes into Sunday only three shots behind as he tries to win at Doral for the fifth time. Jamie Donaldson escaped from the palm trees right of the 18th and made par for a 71 to share fourth place with Woods.
Reed will be going for his third win in his last 14 starts dating to the Wyndham Championship in August. He was at 4-under 212, the highest score to lead after 54 holes at Doral since a three-way tie at 212 in 1985. Reed also won the Humana Challenge in January.
Hadley leads after 3rd round in Puerto Rico
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Chesson Hadley took the third-round lead in the Puerto Rico Open, shooting a 5-under 67 in windy conditions at Trump International.
Making his 13th PGA Tour start, the 26-year-old Hadley had four birdies in an early five-hole stretch and also birdied the par-4 14th in wind gusting to 25 mph. He had a 16-under 200 total.
Danny Lee was a stroke back after a 66.
Hadley won twice last year on the Web.com Tour, taking the Rex Hospital Open in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C., and the season-ending Web.com Tour Championship. In Raleigh, he began the final round five strokes behind Lee and rallied to beat the New Zealand player by two strokes with a 64.
Federer, Murray advance at Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Roger Federer and Andy Murray won their opening matches and top-seeded Li Na beat Chinese countrywoman Zheng Jie 6-1, 7-5 on Saturday in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Federer, the four-time champion seeded seventh, beat French qualifier Pail-Henri Mathieu, and the fifth-seeded Murray regrouped to top Lukas Rosol 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Kevin Anderson and Tommy Haas also moved into the third round. Anderson spoiled two-time tournament champion Lleyton Hewitt’s bid for his 600th career match win, topping the Australian 7-6 (5), 6-4. Haas, who will be 36 on April 3, rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jeremy Chardy.
Mikhail Youzhny, seeded 14th, withdrew because of a back injury.
Murray reached the final in 2009, but has mostly struggled in the event.
“I think it’s important sometimes to think about it, because when you’re not expecting it to happen and then it does, that’s when it can kind of take you by surprise and you might panic a little bit or worry,” Murray said.
By wire sources