May. 2, 2009
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Zach Johnson had the slightest feeling of panic Saturday when he saw his 7-iron hug the left side of the 17th green, wondering for a moment whether he would stumble for the second day in a row along a three-hole stretch called the "Green Mile."
Relief set in when he saw his ball on green grass, and the 12-foot birdie that followed made a world of difference.
Tiger Woods faltered on the final holes for the second consecutive day with two bogeys. George McNeill did the same. And when a storm system cleared, and the third round finally finished, Johnson had a two-shot lead at the Quail Hollow Championship.
Now comes the hard part.
"I've got a two-shot lead. I'm happy to be there," Johnson said. "At the same time, on this golf course, that's a matter of one hole. Maybe even one shot."
Johnson's par-birdie-par finish -- one day after he went bogey-bogey-bogey -- gave him a 4-under 68 and a two-shot lead over Woods, McNeill and Lucas Glover, all of whom dropped at least one shot over one of the toughest closing stretches on the PGA TOUR.
Johnson was at 11-under 205 and in position to win for the second time this year.
The final two groups, including Johnson and McNeill, had to wait out a 1 hour, 12-minute storm delay before finishing the 18th hole. PGA TOUR officials blew the horn to stop play right after Woods staggered to the finish line with a 70.
Woods birdied all the par 5s, including a two-putt from 12 feet on the 15th hole that put him in the outright lead at 11-under par for the first time in a third round that featured seven players atop the leaderboard at some point.
That he would drop two shots at the end was not terribly shocking, given the difficulty of the holes.
What bothered Woods was that he had a 7-iron in his hand both times -- a poor approach to the 17th that led to a three-putt from 60 feet, and a slight shift in the wind that kept his ball right of the green on the 18th, followed by a poor chip to 6 feet and failure to save par.
"That's not the way you want to finish," Woods said. "But I've got a shot going into tomorrow."
He's not alone.
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GLOVER LOOKING TO CLOSE THE DEAL IN CHARLOTTE
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Lucas Glover will be the first to tell you he's been in what he calls the "three-round mode" most of this year.
GloverGlover will be playing well, but he always seems to throw in that 73 or 74 when everyone else is shooting 67 or 68. Another top 10 -- or more importantly, that elusive second PGA TOUR win -- vanishes in the process.
Glover's had his three solid rounds again this week at the Quail Hollow Championship. He flirted with the top of the leaderboard throughout Saturday's third round, making three birdies, an eagle and dropping just one shot to par on the final hole in that 68.
At 9 under, Glover will start the final 18 holes tied with Tiger Woods and George McNeill, two strokes off the lead held by Zach Johnson. He's cautiously optimistic that he can break out of that pesky "three-round mode" and anxious to see what happens.
"I'll say I've made less mistakes this week than I have in the past few weeks when I had those three out of four or two out of four or whatever," Glover said. "That's what you try to do, especially on a course like this, limit your mistakes and pick your opportunities and try to go get them.
"I'm going to try to break the trend tomorrow."
