Moving Day: Justin Rose makes Saturday move
After Thursday and Friday we kept talking about how on point Justin Rose was from tee-to-green. His driving and his irons were spot on. The only thing that was lagging behind was his putting.
We said that if he could just sink a few putts he’d be right in the thick of things. After Saturday’s performance he is indeed right in the thick of things.
Rose continued to strike the ball beautifully all day and after three rounds he has hit over 70% of fairways and greens. But, he was finally able to take advantage on the greens and sink some birdie putts. After three rounds Rose’s Strokes Gained: Putting is -0.012.
That isn’t terribly impressive on the surface, but considering Rose’s Strokes Gained: Putting was -1.425 after Friday, Saturday’s putting was a significant improvement.
All in all, Rose went out and shot a bogey-free 7-under 63 to propel himself up the leaderboard and into a share of the lead at 9-under par for the tournament.
Jim Furyk didn’t play bad, but he didn’t play great either. Furyk shot 1-under on Saturday to move to 9-under for the tournament which is still good enough to hold a share of the lead.
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Playing with Furyk was Shane Lowry who had a great day brewing until back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14 took a little wind out of his sails. Still, Lowry shot 3-under for the round and sits just two shots back heading into the final round.
Steven Bowditch finished up pretty early in the day and he had the most impressive round at the time. Bowditch shot a 7-under 63 to shoot up 30 spots and into a tie for 4th at 5-under par for the tournament.
Ian Poulter made a move on Saturday as well as he moved up 16 spots. Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson are both tied for 4th, as well.
At 4-under par and in a tie for 8th are Robert Streb, Brooks Koepka, and Graeme McDowell. All three didn’t have flashy days, but very rock solid days to keep the steady pace they’ve shown all tournament long.
David Lingmerth shot 4-under for the day to get to 3-under for the tournament, while Danny Lee shot even for the round to stay at 3-under and in a tie for 1tth.
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Keegan Bradley putting woes continued as he rode the elevator on the back-nine. He alternated bogeys and birdies from holes ten to thirteen and sixteen to seventeen.
All in all, Bradley shot 1-under for the round, he’s 2-under for the tournament and in a tie for 13th with Jason Day.
Day was unusually cold with the putter on Thursday, but he quickly got things back on track today to have a 1.636 Strokes Gained: Putting. What killed Day’s round was a triple bogey on sixteen which wiped away his good work up to that point.
In a tie for 15th at 1-under par is Branden Grace and Rickie Fowler.
A number of golfers sit at even for the tournament including Jordan Spieth who, surprisingly enough, backed up two shots today.
Dustin Johnson shot a 75 on Saturday. Does that sound familiar? Yep, Johnson bogeyed and birded to start off his round and that was the last birdie he would make.
Johnson bogeyed seven, doubled nine, bogeyed thirteen, and fifteen. Johnson basically had the worse round of the day. Only Matt Every had a worse round as he shot a 76, but he wasn’t in contention like Johnson was. So, not nearly as significant.
Sunday’s going to be an interesting day. Only Lowry is within two shots of Rose and Furyk. You have to think one of those three will win, but you never know.
However, my money is on Rose. I picked him to win this week and I don’t see any reason to waver on that heading into Sunday with a share of the lead.
Next: Rory Practices, Confirms PGA Championship Status
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