Tiger Woods posts third round 72, trails Lee Westwood by two shots at Muirfield
If Tiger Woods is going to win the 2013 British Open he will have to do something he's never done in his career; comeback with one round to play.
Tiger's third round 72 was very similar to the way he played on Friday, with a mix of great iron shots and few mistakes, with the biggest one coming at the par-5 17th.
Now Woods heads into Sunday trailing Lee Westwood by two shots, trying to win his 15th major championship on a golf course that isn't yielding low scores. Woods will be paired with Adam Scott on Sunday, one group ahead of Westwood and Hunter Mahan and will have the opportunity to set the pace if he can get some early birdies on a golf course that tends to play easier on the way out.
Woods had a chance late in his round to move closer to Westwood, especially over the last two holes.
After making all pars on the back nine, Tiger headed to the par-5 17th hoping to make a birdie and after an incredible tee shot Woods had a fairway wood that he hoped would race down the dried out fairways to the green. He ended up making one of his worst golf swings of the week, leaving his second shot in a cross bunker that forced him to just pitch his ball out.
From there Tiger pitched his ball to 25 feet and missed the par putt, making bogey while Westwood made birdie.
There are good bogeys at a major championship, like the one playing partner Lee Westwood made on the par-3 16th hole, and bad bogeys, which really kill your momentum and Tiger's six on the 17th was one of those mental error bogeys that lose you major championships.
His birdie putt on the 18th stopped a foot short, and Tiger was forced to sign for his first over par round of the week.
Now come the stats that follow Woods around at every major championship. When leading or co-leading after 54 holes he's 14-1 in his career, but 0-47 when trailing with one round to play.
The stat might prove to be meaningless considering how Muirfield is playing, but he will still need to post a round of even par or better on Sunday if he wants to leapfrog Westwood, a man who seems as confident on the greens as anyone in the field.
If nothing else, Sunday will definitely be an incredible day of golf with a packed leaderboard of big names and crazy storylines.
