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ATLANTA – Where he always seemed to be, Tiger Woods is able to win his 80th PGA Tour title Sunday at the Tour Championship.
Woods never managed to convert when he had such an advantage over three innings. But, of course, these are different times, Woods is a different golfer, and McIlroy and Rose have rarely, if at all, had to face him at his peak.
Still, a 65-and-under player, tied at the 36-hole East Lake for a three-time lead, produced vintage tricks in which Woods scored six of the first seven holes.
"I would like to be able to win this event," said Woods, 42, who plays for the 18th time in 2018 after missing most of the past two years due to multiple back surgeries. "Leaded lead I have a group of guys behind me who played well and who plays well.We will see what happens [Sunday]. & # 39; & # 39;
It should be fascinating. Rose, 38, is the highest ranked player in the world. She had a tremendous race in the last 12 months, winning four victories in the world and placing in the top 16 in the standings. In three previous rounds with Woods this year, Rose shot the top scorer, but was unable to hold on Saturday finishing with a 68 after starting the bogey-bogey.
Rose is still in the position to win the FedEx Cup, the point race of the season that also ends Sunday. Bryson DeChambeau, the championship leader, is tied for 21st. Rose would automatically win the title with a win and unless a big rally of DeChambeau, he could probably win the title with a third or fourth place.
The FedEx Cup winner receives a $ 10 million bonus and Woods has a chance to succeed if Rose fails. He has to grab the championship and get Rose into fifth or worse to have a chance to win his third FedEx title.
McIlroy, 29, won the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year – Woods was tied for fifth – but he was frustrated later, unable to get the most out of his game. He finished second at the Open, where Woods briefly led in the back, and will be paired with him for the second time only in a final round after scoring two of the last three holes for a 66.
"All I can do is worry for me," McIlroy said. "It does not matter who I play with – it's obviously exciting for the golf tournament – it's exciting for the general golf that it's up there." But for me, all I can do, it's to focus on myself.The game is quite difficult without looking at others.Go ahead, take care of my stuff and hopefully that will be enough.
For Woods, this will clearly be the mentality. He himself gave himself the cushion he dreamed of, the advantage of which he was apparently so unbeatable during his success.
Woods is 53-4 on the PGA Tour when he holds at least a 54-hole lead in advance. The last time he was in that position was when he won the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the last of his 79 wins on the PGA Tour.
His last 54-hole lead was a 2-shot advantage over YOU. Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship. Woods has never lost a lead of three or more strokes in 23 previous attempts.
"A simple calculation says that if I play a clean card, the guys behind me have to shoot 67 to get an extra," he said. "It helps, I do not need to shoot 63 or 64 and I hope to get help.It's a big difference.It's a place that I would prefer rather than four or five years.
And those are the biggest problems when Woods had a chance on his return. In addition to the Valspar Championship, where he was followed by another before the final and tied for second with Paul Casey by one shot, he fought back far behind in his first ten places.
The closest to his 54 holes was four shots at the Open and at the PGA Championship, where not even a 64th round was enough; he finished two backs Brooks Koepka.
Woods had a dream come true, making three assists on his first five holes and playing his first seven holes in six. At that time, he led by 5. His first boguey came in ninth by 3, and he made 30 points. 16th to make a bogey and fail at birdie the 18th. For the day, Woods had nine scores of 3 on his card. He was content with a 65, the lowest score of the day.
"The crowds were electric because of that," Rose said. "He was running the tables there, he was kicking and converting, but I also realized how much golf there was, so it was about me and What I had to do was the kind of day where if I dropped my attention or if I became frustrated or did something wrong, that was the kind of day that could unfold. "
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