Wi leads by one as Toms struggles
FORT WORTH, Texas – Ah, what a difference a day makes. David Toms, who raced to the lowest 36-hole score in tournament history, wasn’t quite so good on Saturday. His third-round at Colonial Country Club started well enough with a birdie at the par-5 first hole, but it was mostly downhill after that. He finished with a 4 over 74 and fell to second-place.Charlie Wi, who has not played great golf this season, has put together three great days and moved to 13 under 197, one shot better than Toms. He picked up eight shots on Toms, who had started the day seven clear of the field.
“You know, I told myself just get off to a good start, get out there, get my nerves in check,” Toms said of his approach to the day. “I had 2 perfect shots at No. 1, a so-so chip and a great putt and made birdie and then drove it perfect on No. 2. I had 90 yards to the hole, straight downwind. I'm like all I got to do is just make contact with a lob wedge, just perfect. And I'm imposing on it. It landed over the bunker and backed up into the bunker.
“So that's kind of the story of the day to be quite honest,” Toms added.
The misplay led to a bogey at the second and it was a momentum killer for Toms. He felt with a lob-wedge in his hand it was a perfect chance to go for the pin. But, he flew over the greenside bunker and spun the ball back into it and couldn’t get up-and-down to save his par.
He played 3, 4 and 5 at plus-1 and still felt good. His feeling changed when he sucked an approach into the sixth green off the putting surface and ended up with another bogey to go to 2 over on the round.
“All of a sudden I'm a couple over par after six holes and feel like I'm not playing really bad and the rest of the day it was just kind of a struggle,” he said.
By the 15th his seven-stroke lead had dwindled to one. A rain delay of 80 minutes didn’t help revive Toms’ game as he bogeyed the 16th when he came back out and lost his lead.
Wi, who has the first 54-hole lead of his career, was pleased with his 4 under 66 in trying conditions on Saturday.
“I have been putting really well the last couple of days, so my momentum, I kept riding that momentum today,” Wi said. “It's such a crazy game. I don't know what to say. I know I made some good par putts out there. I don't want to say too much because golf is such a fickle game. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow, so I don't want to say too much.”
What looked like it could have been a walk in the park for Toms to get his 13th tour victory is now looking like it will be a shootout. There are 10 players within six shots of Wi’s lead.
John Senden is alone in third at minus-9, Stuart Appleby, Paul Goydos and Mark Wilson are another shot back and D.J. Trahan, Brian Gay, Marc Leishman, Rory Sabbatini and Steven Bowditch round out the top-10 at 7 under, six off the pace.
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