Moving day turned into disaster day for a lot of contenders Saturday at the Honda Classic.
Yes, Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia are the new co-leaders, but they had to fight to get there.
The biggest single-hole disaster hit Scott, who was cruising. He was seven-under par through 14 holes and looking every bit like he’d run away from the field. Then the par three 15th happened.
It was there that Scott’s six-iron tee-shot found the water right. From the drop area, his third sailed over the green then trickled into the water behind the green. “I was trying to get a ball dry — I did, it was my fifth,” Scott said after his round of 66, keeping his wits about him. It took him five to get in play then a missed eight-footer left him with a quadruple-bogey seven and he went from three shots ahead of playing partner Garcia to one behind.
Scott regained the lead with a birdie at the 17th and a bogey by Garcia. The Spaniard then finished the round with a birdie at 18 and the two held the 54-hole lead at nine-under.
“The Bear Trap got me,” Scott admitted, looking back to the first hole of the dreaded three-hole stretch that plays incredibly tough. “I’m playing great. The way I played today was beautiful.” Indeed it was, for 17 holes, at least.
Garcia avoided the big numbers but two back nine bogeys cost him. His 67 put him in the final pairing with Scott for Sunday’s finale.
“They were playing tough today,” Garcia said of the Bear Trap holes, 15, 16 and 17. “I was happy with the way I played.”
There were plenty of disasters to go around.
Overnight leader Rickie Fowler, who played the first two days without a bogey, found three on the front nine and never recovered. His 74 dropped him five shots behind the leaders.
Fowler’s playing partner, Jimmy Walker, had it worse. It started on the first tee when the starter announced him as “Jimmy Fowler.” Things went downhill after that. Going to the 18th hole, Walker was 10-over for the day and a birdie there saved him the embarrassment of shooting 80 but his 79 squashed his title hopes.
The closest player to the leaders is Blayne Barber at five-under par. But Barber has no credentials to indicate he can contend on Sunday. He has only one career top 10 finish on the PGA Tour.
