WGC Workday: Carlos Ortiz leaps up the leaderboard on Sunday

One of the perks in playing at the WGC Workday is that there is not cut line. You can start poorly and still finish strong, earning yourself needed points and a nice paycheck along the way. That’s exactly what Carlos Ortiz did over the weekend.

Throughout his first two rounds, he had shot 73-72 and was +1 heading into Saturday’s round. It’s not a place that anyone wants to be, sitting so far outside the lead, but still having to show up and play throughout the weekend. It tells you a lot about the character of a player watching them to see if they are able to stay focused, and redeem themselves a little bit along the way. Some men falter, while others shine.

Carlos Ortiz shot 69-66 over the weekend and totally redeemed himself.

The 69 on Saturday was a nice stepping stone, getting Carlos Ortiz into the middle of the leaderboard. Sitting in the mid 30’s, we was well out of the conversation for being able to win the tournament, but with a good round on Sunday, would still be able to post a respectable finish.

He would come out, and at least by noon pacific, post the best round of the day with a -6 66. It would be a slow and steady build throughout the round, capped off with a spectacular finish en route to posting what is likely to be at least a tie for the best round of the day.

He would birdie the 3rd, 5th, and 7th hole, before bogeying the 9th, to make the turn at -3 for the day. Nothing crazy happened on any of his birdies, but it’s possible he was just saving the excitement for the end.

Back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th would be a bit marred by the bogey on the 14th. -3 was a nice showing, and it seemed like that would be about his finish for the round and he approached the 17th tee box at that number.

The 606 yard par-5 is a bit intimidating, having to bomb a drive, and the carry the water onto the green in order to have a look at eagle. He was able to do the first two parts, although his approach rolled a bit further than he likely wanted, and he was around 40 feet away from the cup, sitting on the fringe. Who needs to be on the green though, when you can just knock it in from there for eagle, which is exactly what Ortiz would do.

If you think a 40-footer is an impressive make, it pales in comparison to the shot that Ortiz would make to finish out his day. At nearly 83 feet, Ortiz was literally as far away from the hole as you could be while still being on the green. Showing off to everyone watching, he would drain it from there for birdie, getting him to -6 66 for the day, and -8 for the tournament.

Although it was too little too late, it was still a great finish for Carlos Ortiz, who provided ample excitement for those watching early at the WGC Workday.