Deutsche Bank Championship: Day 3
Luke Donald can still win the Deutsche Bank Championship after he ended with two shots from the lead on Sunday at the Boston TBC. After the third round, he was five-under 66 and was still struggling at the end of the third day.
Even though the first day of the event was hindered by hurricane Earl, the golfers only had to experience a breezy course on Day 3. This championship is the successor of the Barclays in the grand FedEx Cup. Along with winning the extravagant prize, players taking part in the Deutsche Bank want to be chosen as one of the wildcard picks of Captain Corey Pavin for the Ryder Cup.
Luke Donald scored six birdies which caused him to be 15 under overall. He was one shot behind Brandt Snedeker who scored a 67 and was two points behind Jason Day who led with a 66. It isn’t the first time that Day is leading in the FedEx Cup. Previously at the Barclays, at many points in the game, the Australian was leading as well. Donald on the other hand is two shots ahead of Steve Stricker who is in contention to replace Tiger Woods as the number one player. Stricker and Phil Mickelson were 13 and 12 under respectively. Both the players were easily ahead of Tiger Woods who is joint 23rd on seven under.
Mickelson who is competing in the tenth tournament of the year estimated that he has an opportunity to overtake Woods. Phil has had various opportunities to become the world’s best player. However, he hasn’t really been able to take advantage of that. It looks like he might need to end in just fourth place given that Tiger is out of the top 24 positions.
Mickelson says that he hasn’t really attended to what is going to happen with the ranking business but he is very excited to start the battle tomorrow and see if he can get a pleasant start and shoot some birdies.
Tiger Woods started with what seemed to be a good game. He came within four shots away from the leader. However, he could only score one birdie over the last eleven holes and shot a two-under 69. According to Woods, today was a struggle as he did play better than what the score indicated.
"I had a lot of putts that I didn't make today. I made a couple nice par putts, but boy, I missed a lot of birdie putts. I kept getting double breaking putts,” said Woods. “I had to really grind and stay committed to what I was doing out there. I did it for the most part.”
The Englishman, who has been playing professional gold since nine years, hasn’t been victorious on the PGA tour as yet. Even though he plays for the European Tour as well and is selected for the Ryder Cup, he has a fascination for the PGA tour. He was playing very steadily and calmly. This was the first tournament that Donald competed in after being named as Captain Colin Montgomery’s wildcard.
Jason Day initiated the day tied with Brandt Snedeker for the lead. There was only one bogey recorded at 16th which was a good display of skills owing to the wind Jason was competing in. Day says that he played good apart from one mistake. Overall, he was happy with all he did and he will try to play the same way next time.
As for other players, Fijan Vijay Singh tied for 13th after a round of 69. His play also consisted of rare albatross when he scored a 229-yard 5-iron at par-five. Brandt Snedeker is second after 54 holes after a 67 which followed an eagle at the fourth. The Irish Golfer Rory McIlroy scored a 69, due to which he is at four under. Paul Casey, who shot a 71, joins Rory there.
All in all, the second day of the Deutsche Bank championship was extremely competitive. With the day leading and others struggling, it’s a tough call to name the winner just as yet. We will have to wait and see how the top golfers take it from here.
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