Saturday is moving day on the PGA Tour but the only player making a significant move was Webb Simpson, who entered the round with a five stroke lead and lengthened that lead by two strokes. He finished seven shots ahead of his closest competitor, Danny Lee.
There were a couple of other great rounds early on, two 65’s recorded by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. Yet these gents started the round 14 shots behind the leader and now stand 8-under par, a whopping eleven stokes back of Simpson. Woods and Spieth gave the early morning spectators at TPC Sawgrass plenty to cheer about, especially Woods, who was 8-under through twelve holes. A course record seemed to be in the offing, yet it was not to be, as Tiger lost his momentum with bogey five at the par 4 fourteenth hole, and then ran out the string with four closing pars.
Teeing off in the final pairing at 2:40, it didn’t take long for Simpson to assert himself by splitting the fairway on #1, flagging his approach to a back left pin, then calmly rolling in the ten foot birdie putt.
Simpson’s ball striking has been superb all week, only surpassed by his extraordinary putting, but his most potent weapon might be his golfing mind. This was best illustrated by his play at the par 5 second hole where he lost his three wood approach among the pine straw and short and right of the green. The pin was tucked back right, only three yards from the edge with steep runoffs both back and right. Webster chose to play away from the hole, pitching to the left front of the green, leaving a 60 foot putt for bird up the hill which he rolled to 5 feet and saved par.
He followed up with a wedge to kick-in birdie distance on the tough 4th hole and then got out of jail with a deft pitch from short of the 5th green and a lovely stroke on a 10 foot breaking par putt.
He was cruising and didn’t run into any trouble until the 237 yard 8th hole, a monster par three with the wind pushing right to left. His tee ball was predictably left, his pitch a bit short and his par putt just missed on the high side for his first bogey.
After his tee ball on #9, I left the Simpson-Schwartzel group in search of libation, some shade and a place to set my weary bones. Although I had watched several groups early in the day play the marvelous par 5 eleventh hole, I wasn’t there for Simpson’s improbable bunker shot from back of the green that flew out softly then, as if on command, ran into the hole for eagle 3!
Simpson came to the island hole #17 at 18-under par and calmly striped his wedge to the crest of the hill and we watched it curl ever so slowly back down the hill. His 3 foot birdie putt gave him that 19-under par tally that he held after holing a 14 footer for par on #18.
Eighty other players were on the course Saturday but none came close to mounting a threat to the leader. Simpson is on the verge of history with a chance to set the championship scoring record, held by Greg Norman at 24-under par. He’s on the verge of climbing redemption mountain, an obstacle put in his path by the golf powers that be when they banned the anchored putting stroke that Webb had used his entire life. He also is facing the pressure of winning a major tournament when he is expected to win.
No player in the history of the PGA Tour has lost a seven shot lead after 54 holes.
Here’s hoping that type of history isn’t made Sunday.
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