After blowing a chance to win on the 72nd hole last week at TPC Boston, Billy Horschel is showing no signs of a letdown. Here’s how things stand after three rounds at the BMW Championship, where Horschel holds a three-shot lead:
Leaderboard: Billy Horschel (-13), Ryan Palmer (-10), Martin Kaymer (-8), Bubba Watson (-8), Rickie Fowler (-7), Sergio Garcia (-6), Jordan Spieth (-5), Jim Furyk (-5)
What it means: Horschel has only one career win, but he is known to get hot for weeks at a time and has carried his momentum from last week’s runner-up at the Deutsche Bank Championship to this week at Cherry Hills. He’ll take the role of leader into the final round, while Palmer – another player in contention a week ago – will look to chase him down, as both seek their first win of the season.
Round of the day: Morgan Hoffmann barely snuck into the field this week at No. 68 in the FedEx Cup standings, but he made a big move up the leaderboard with an 8-under 62. Hoffmann briefly scared golf’s magic number of 59, but even after playing his last six holes in even par he moved up 43 spots in the standings and gave himself a chance to make the Tour Championship after starting the playoffs at No. 124 in the points race.
Best of the rest: Horschel made it around Cherry Hills without a bogey, notching birdies on Nos. 1 and 8 before making three circles across four holes on Nos. 14-17 to move into the lead. He added a final birdie on the home hole, draining a putt from 32 feet, to shoot a 7-under 63 and take command of the event with one round to go.
Biggest disappointment: Garcia entered the day with a one-shot lead, but he now faces a seven-shot deficit after shooting a 2-over 72. Garcia needed only 21 putts in the second round, but his magic ran out on the greens at Cherry Hills, as the Spaniard missed four putts inside 5 feet. (Dis)honorable mention goes to Rory McIlroy, whose 72 included a four-putt triple bogey on No. 12.
Main storyline heading into Sunday: After a flawless third round, this appears to be Horschel’s event to lose, as he leads the elite field in putting just a few days after his chances to win at TPC Boston disappeared into the hazard on the final hole. Should Horschel stumble again, Watson has the length to conquer Cherry Hills, while Palmer is eager to show captain Tom Watson that he should have been considered for the Ryder Cup squad.
Shot of the day: Horschel appeared ready to polish off a 64 with a two-putt par before dropping a final bomb on the 18th hole to briefly extend his lead to four shots. It was his seventh birdie of the day, and third made putt of more than 20 feet.
Quote of the day: “You can’t dwell on it. There’s bigger things in life than hitting a fat 6-iron into the hazard.” – Horschel, on his 72nd-hole approach shot last week at TPC Boston.
from Caddysview.com News http://ift.tt/WriVFT
