Third-round notebook:
Kelly nixes game plan; Clark zapped by penalty – WGC - Bridgestone Invitational
AKRON, Ohio – Jerry Kelly, who brushed off two of the toughest holes at Firestone South with birdies, figured his 1-under 69 Saturday was pretty sporty. It did leave him a solo third going into Sunday’s finale in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, five behind leader Padraig Harrington and two behind the ever-present Tiger Woods. He’s well on his way to his best finish ever in five visits to the event. Now, about a game plan.“I don’t think you can have a game plan,” Kelly said. “We’re supposed to have 20 [mph] consistent winds and 35 mile-and-hour gusts. It’s all up in the air for tomorrow.”
Kelly, at 5-under 205, made his day through the middle of a rainy round.
“Yeah, I made some good birdies,” he said – those coming at the eighth and ninth, two hard holes, and another at the 11th. “I actually looked like I knew what I was doing half the time.”
Kelly, 43, who struggled mightily earlier in his career, has three career wins – two in 2002 and the third in the Zurich Classic in April. He’s won over $2 million this year.
Kelly would have to blow sky-high not to have his best finish in the tournament. In four previous playings his best was a tie for 19th, his worst a solo 77th. The guy who took some pretty good hits as a hockey player didn’t seem tentative about facing the final round.
“I got real loose out there,” he said, speaking of a shaky stretch, “but I’m going to make sure I don’t work on it right now.”
HOW TO FAIL WITHOUT TRYING: Tim Clark, known as the best golfer never to have won a tournament, pretty well killed his chances of winning this one when he forgot to replace his ball at the 16th green and was hit with a two-stroke penalty after the round. And it was one he called on himself, leaving himself with a 73 and dropping himself out of contention at 3-under 207, seven behind leader Padraig Harrington.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Clark said. “What happened is that Padraig [his playing partner] asked me to move my ball on the last hole, and it got me to thinking that I may have forgotten to move it back on the 16th.” He checked with Harrington, and with both of their caddies, and still doubtful, he went to a rules official, to check the television tape.
“It showed that I never moved it back,” said Clark. “There is not much that you can do about a situation like that. The good thing about it is that I called it on myself. That is about the only good thing that I can take out of the situation.”
SMALL FAVORS – U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, on the 68 for a 206 total that left him six shots off the lead: “One bogey around there on a rainy day, Saturday of a tournament, I’ll take. I made some birdies but I left some putts out there. But I got a good break on 18 to make [par] 4, so I’m pretty pleased with 2-under.”
SMALL FAVORS II – Kenny Perry, after a 4-under 66 tied him at 206, six off the lead: “I had a goal of 5-under I needed to shoot today to give me a shot. If I could shoot this again tomorrow, I might could win the golf tournament.”
HOW HIGH CAN YOU GO? – Big-hitting J.B. Holmes, making a rare admission for a golfer, said that the 65 he posted Friday was the worst he could have shot, he was hitting it so well. “I felt I couldn’t shoot anything higher than what I did,” Holmes said. “Every iron shot I hit was right at the flag.” And interestingly enough, the key to his round, he said, was leaving his driver in the bag and using his 3-wood off the tee. “I’ve been hitting my driver terrible all week,” he said. “Yeah, I kept it in play a little bit more today, hitting the 3-wood.” He’d shot 70-72 in the first two rounds, and stood at 3-under 207 going into the fourth.
NO LONG DRIVE CONTEST --- Holmes brushed off any notion that he’s in some kind of contest with Alvaro Quiros, the long-hitting Spaniard, with whom he played in the first two rounds. “If you’re worried about who’s hitting it farther,” Holmes said, “you’re not going to be out here a long time.”
STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE – Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez (66-206), loves fast cars, wine and cigars. He left the first two at home, but brought a bunch of cigars with him, with respect to which he wanted no trouble. Someone wondered whether he knew of a good cigar store in Akron? “The only thing – you cannot sell Cuban cigars [in the U.S.],” he said, “and I bring my own personal cigars from home that I bring with my own humidor for my personal use.” The word “personal” was almost underlined in his conversation. No way did he want it to be suggested that he was peddling the Cubans. He has enough for two weeks, he said. Which should get him through the PGA Championship next week.
PRACTICE ALSO MAKES CRAZY – “If you had asked me 10 minutes before I teed off what I thought, I would have probably told you I was heading for an 87,” said England’s Ian Poulter. “I’d have to say it was one of the worst 45-minute practice sessions I have ever had. Everything was wrong – balls going right and left, everywhere. So Poulter went out and birdied the first two holes and shot 67. “Bizarre, really bizarre,” said Poulter, who will start the final round eight off the lead.
ODDS AND ENDS – Crowd-pleaser Prayad Marksaeng, three off the lead to start the day, stumbled slightly and shot 72, falling out of contention with a 208, eight off the lead going into the final round … Scott Verplank, in third place two behind to start the third round, ended his hopes with a crash of six bogeys in a nine-hole stretch from No. 3, three of them in a row from the 10th, and shot 75 … Steve Stricker, three off the lead to start, pulled back from disaster just in time. After a 1-under front nine, he started home with four straight bogeys. He caught himself with birdies at the 15th and 16th, and shot 71-207, seven off.
Return to Tournament Notebook archives