Jason Day overcomes 'toughest day' of career to lead Players Championship
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The teeth of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass finally showed up at The Players Championship.
And they were razor sharp.
Even world No. 1 Jason Day got bit, he of the course record-tying 63 in the first round and the record start of 129 through 36 holes.
After the course was pummeled by the world’s best players in the first two rounds of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, the full fury of the Stadium Course was unleashed in Saturday’s third round. With a lethal combination of maddening pin placements, high winds and greens that sped up as if in the Diamond Lane, the course’s sharp edges left plenty of scars and carnage.
“It was crazy tough,” said Hideki Matsuyama, whose 5-under-par 67 was one of only three scores in the 60s among the 76 players who made the cut. There were 7 scores in the 80s.
The only thing as quick as the greens was the change in the course. The field averaged 71.01 the first round, 71.11 the second. With one night’s passage, the field averaged 75.59 in the third round. And the difference left the players shocked and awed.
“There were massive changes,” Adam Scott said after his 75. “It wasn’t subtle. The players were shocked at how vastly different the course was and that throws you off. I don’t know if I’ve putted on greens that slick this year. … You have to hit it so softly, and then it’s in the lap of the Gods where the ball ends up. If the greens get any faster, we’ll be skating tomorrow.”
When you consider the following stats from Round 3, remember, these are the best players in the world. There were 149 three-putts or worse, a record for any round at TPC Sawgrass. There were 319 bogeys, 69 double-bogeys and 17 of those dreaded others. Sixty players made at least one double bogey or worse. No one went bogey-free.
“Felt like I was putting on dance floors out there,” Billy Horschel said after signing for a 75. “We all did. I've never seen putts that quick before. Augusta is probably the quickest greens we play all year, and I'm sorry, Sawgrass made those greens look like 8s on the Stimpmeter.
“I've never seen them this quick, and I'm not sure I've ever seen any greens on the PGA Tour this quick.”
World No. 3 Rory McIlroy said it felt like a U.S. Open.
“I can't really describe it any other way,” he said after a 75 left him nine shots out of the lead. “It got to the point where when you're grounding your putter, you can't square it up because the surfaces are so shiny and so slippery. … To have such a drastic speed change in the greens from when we played yesterday to today, I just found I had a really difficult time to adjust to them. That was borderline unfair on a few holes. A few pin positions were on crowns, and you dribble a putt by, all of a sudden it's six feet by. There was a few pins out there that I felt were just a little too much on the edge.”
But at day’s end, Day was where he started the day – at the top of the leaderboard. Despite a four-putt on the sixth hole, the Aussie shot 73 to finished 54 holes at 14 under. He’s four shots clear of Matsuyama, Alex Cejka (72) and Ken Duke, who made five birdies in a row and six in seven holes to close out a 65.
Francesco Molinari (72) is alone at 9 under. Kevin Chappell and Retief Goosen are 8 under after each shot 70. Among three players who are at 7 is Colt Knost, who followed his record-tying course record 63 with a 74.
"The green speeds kind of took me by surprise. It was just such a drastic change from Thursday to Friday to now, this afternoon. I mean, the front nine was a bit borderline in my honest opinion, but I think a lot of the players probably think that, as well,” said Day, who has won six of his last 16 worldwide starts. “It was a little frustrating on how quick the greens got. I said it earlier that I've never played golf where I'm trying to lag 10-foot putts just to get around the hole. A 10-foot putt felt like it was 60 feet away.”
Day has often said he loves the grind of the game’s toughest course setups. But Saturday was a bit much.
“I want to say this was the toughest day I've ever had to play in my life,” he said. “I’m sitting four shots in front. I just got to try and be patient with myself tomorrow. It's going to be interesting. I'm really interested to see how they set the golf course up, how fast the greens are going to be, and then I'll be able to make my decisions on what I need to do from there.”
Duke has one top-50 finish in nine starts this season and hasn't made a cut here since 2008. He broke his wrist in September but said in explanation of his 65 that it’s just golf. Oh, and he’s one of the rare players who said he wants conditions like Saturday’s to show up for the final round Sunday.
“You have to respect the whole golf course,” Duke said. “I think in a championship like this, I think we should set it up like a U.S. Open. This is our championship and it should be set up as difficult as possible. You have to play your best golf around here.”
Not many did on Saturday.