Palmer leads by one over Garcia – Byron Nelson Championship
IRVING, Texas – Ryan Palmer leads by one over Sergio Garcia after the third round of the Byron Nelson Championship after surviving a tough test on Saturday. Strong winds that gusted to 39 miles-per-hour made conditions treacherous leading to Palmer’s 3 over 73 which left him at 5 under 205 for the tournament. Garcia had a 74 and finished one back, while Ryuji Imada (70) and Arjun Atwal (67) shared third, two off the pace.A 34-year-old native of Amarillo, TX, Palmer is one of the local favorites this week at the TPC Four Seasons Resort and has typically struggled here. In seven previous starts, Palmer owns just one made cut (T73 – 2006). His 65 on Thursday topped his previous-best round of 67 in 2005 (missed the cut). He shot 67 on Friday.
“Obviously the scores show how hard it was, but the front nine I was actually cruising along, not letting the wind bother me, going through the front 10 holes,” Palmer said.
“It got tougher and tougher,” he added. “You never could figure out the gusts; that was the hard part. It would gust and then it would stop and gust and then stop. But it's hard enough on this golf course on a calm day. But the wind, we talked about it we chalked it up as a hard day of golf, a 15-round battle, and if you had told me Thursday I was going to have a 1-shot lead I would have called you a liar and said whatever. But my bad round is out of way, I think, and I still lead by one.’
Garcia has had much better success in this event than his playing partner, Palmer, for the final two rounds this week. He won this event in 2004, posting a 10-under 270 total after entering the final round with a two-stroke lead over Jerry Kelly and eventually topping Dudley Hart and Robert Damron in a playoff.
Garcia is playing his 11th Nelson, but first since 2008. He has made the cut in seven of his previous 10 tries with a win in 2004 to go along with a T3 (1999) and a T8 (2001).
Garcia is seeking his eighth title and first on tour since the 2008 Players Championship. He, too, commented on how tough a day it was.
“It was definitely hard,” said Garcia. “At the same time I have to say I got nothing out of my round. I could not shoot one shot higher than I did today. So if you look at it that way, and I'm only one shot back behind Ryan, and I have tomorrow, I think it's pretty positive. I made a soft bogey on 16.
“Then, you know, where I probably would have had a good chance at making birdie on 11, unfortunately, things didn't happen. But there is still tomorrow. We know it's going to be hard again, it's going to be similar to today. The good thing is I felt like I was patient out there, just waiting for my moments. Unfortunately, things didn't want to happen, but we have a shot.”
Imada and Atwal certainly have legitimate shots as well.
“I thought the wind blew hard yesterday but today was a whole other level of wind,” Imada said.
Because of the conditions, Imada was simply thinking about making pars.
“Yeah, that's pretty much it,” he said. “I'm just thinking about the safe shots on the fairways and the greens and I'm always trying to make pars and I did a pretty good job of it today.”
He has missed the cut in three of his last four starts by only a shot or two. The reason for his recent angst has been a balky putter, but a ball-striking tip from his good friend, Jason Dufner, seems to be helping him this week.
Atwal had the best round on Saturday, making a move similar to what he did a year ago when he posted a 64 in the third round on his way to a tie for seventh. The 100-degree temperature and 50% humidity may have bothered some in the field, but Atwal was not one of them.
“This is a cold day in Calcutta, come on,” said the native of India. “This is nothing, seriously. If we had weather like this in the summer, people would be out there in sweaters.”
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