Harrington one shot off as trio share lead
07/09/2009 - 00:00:21Steve Stricker fired a third-round 65 to share the lead with Retief Goosen and Sean O’Hair going into the final day of the Deutsche Bank Championship.
The trio finished the day on 13 under par to lead another three players – Kevin Na, Padraig Harrington and Scott Verplank – by a shot.
American Stricker bounced back from his 72 yesterday which dropped him down the leaderboard to move back to the top.
An eagle at the par-five 18th hole was the highlight of Stricker’s round, while he also carded seven birdies, three in his first four holes, and three bogeys.
South African Goosen shot a 68 with four birdies and a bogey, while O’Hair had to make do with a 70, birdies at the 16th and 18th helping give him an under-par round.
Na shot his second straight 66, Verplank his second straight 68 and Harrington his third 67 in a row.
Two more Americans, Jerry Kelly and Kevin Sutherland, were a shot further back on 11 under.
Stricker was pleased to recover from yesterday’s round.
He told www.pgatour.com: “I was disappointed after yesterday’s round, very disappointed.
“That one, I was going along fine, I made a couple of birdies on the front at seven and eight, and then didn’t get it up and down on nine. I putted from the fringe and hit a terrible putt, which was fine. You’re going to make bogeys. I don’t know if I lost focus or what. I got tired, I felt tired at the end of the round. But I just didn’t make any putts yesterday. I think I had 32 putts.
“So the emphasis today was grind a little bit harder on my putting and concentrate a little bit harder on my putting and make some good strokes, and I did today, which was very satisfying.
“Yesterday stung a little bit and it was nice to come back with a good, solid round today.”
Jim Furyk slipped down the leaderboard, a two-over 73 dropping him back to 10 under. Two birdies on his last two holes, though, limited the damage and kept him in contention.
Tiger Woods’ chances of staging a victory charge tomorrow looked slim, however. A 72 left him four under, nine shots off the pace. It would have been even worse for the world number one but for a birdie on the 18th.
Brian Davis was the best placed of the Britons, a 73 leaving him on three under.
Greg Owen also shot a 73 and was two under.
Luke Donald completed his third round in 72 and was level par for the tournament, while Justin Rose could only manage a 77 to lie three over.
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