England’s Justin Rose knew he was playing well, even though the 71 he shot in the second round of the Bridgestone Invitational didn’t exactly reflect it. But he stayed patient, and things evened out when Rose fired a 63 that propelled him into a tie for the lead with Jim Furyk.
A day earlier Rose couldn’t make one birdie but that changed on day three with seven birdies.
Rose’s round of 7 under was one of two 63s posted Saturday. He was particularly satisfied to be just the second player this week to go bogey-free, and the 2013 U.S. Open champ finished with four birdies in his final six holes.
“Suddenly, the cameras are out there. The atmosphere changes a little bit,” Rose said. “So you kind of have to maybe focus up just a little bit harder. It was nice to continue to make the birdies as the atmosphere around the round changed. As we got towards the business end of things, it was nice to finish strong.”
Justin Rose couldn’t make one birdie on day two yet on day three he grabs seven birdies. (Photo – www.pgatour.con)
In his last seven starts, Rose has one win, two runner-up finishes and two more in the top-six. Now that he’s gotten himself back in the hunt again, don’t look for Rose to back down.
“I think my game’s in good shape, for sure,” Rose said. “If I look at my results of late, I’ve just been missing a hot round, or maybe the putting has been great one day, not so good the next day, or something like that. Just looking for that tiny bit more of consistency through the week.
“But I’m giving myself opportunities, and that’s all you really want.”
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2. Fairways and greens are normally the strength of Jim Furyk’s game, and for nine holes Saturday, that was the case. He only hit two fairways on the back, though, and when Furyk hit it “right down the tube” at No. 18, he couldn’t believe where the ball ended up.
“I’m licking my chops to get down there, knowing I’m going to have a short iron in my hand,” he said. “Not only was I in a divot, it was a pretty bad lie. I felt like there was a little raised sand behind the ball. I felt like if it I tried to hit a full shot, I was going to hit it fat for sure.”
So Furyk took an 8-iron and tried to run the ball up on the green. He came up short and pitched 11 feet past the hole but made the putt for his first par of the week there, along with a healthy dose of momentum.
The round of 69 enabled Furyk, who had started the day ahead by four, to maintain a share of the lead with Rose. On Sunday he’ll be looking to win the Bridgestone Invitational for the first time after posting two runner-up finishes at Firestone among his nine top-10s.
“I really just kind of gutted it out and ground it out and made the best I could of the back nine,” Furyk said. “… Where it felt like maybe I could have got a little more out of the front, I got a lot out of the back, and it probably all evened out in the long run.”
3. Jordan Spieth has been a fixture on PGA TOUR leaderboards entering the final round this year. Not this week at Firestone, though.
Of course, the man who won the first two majors of 2015 doesn’t generally make two 6s in his final three holes. But that’s exactly what happened Saturday and the resulting 72 left Spieth nine strokes behind the leaders.
“It was a poor performance,” the 22-year-old said. “… I’m going to need to look for some answers tomorrow and into next week.”
Spieth struggled off the tee, hitting just five of 14 fairways for the second straight day. He only hit 7 of 18 greens in regulation, too, which left him in arrears at -2.752 in strokes gained: tee to green.
“(The fairways are) very hard to hit out here, but at the same time, you have to be in them in order to play this golf course,” Spieth said. “That wasn’t there today. So I’m going to look to drive the ball better tomorrow.”
4. Steven Bowditch acknowledged he was still a bit rattled by the 83 he shot last Sunday at the Quicken Loans National after starting the final round three shots off the lead.
“My confidence is so far down, I had to simplify it this week,” the Aussie said.
The strategy worked wonders on Saturday at Firestone. Bowditch closed the gap on the leaders with a 63 that included eight birdies and just one bogey — and matched Rose for the low round of the week by two strokes.
Not only did the round put Bowditch in contention for his third TOUR victory, it certainly had to catch the eye of Nick Price, who is the captain of the International Team for the Presidents Cup which will be played in South Korea in October.
Bowditch currently ranks 12th in the standings behind Byeong-Hun An and in front of Danny Lee. The top 10 at the end of the Deutsche Bank Championship make the team automatically and Price has two Captain’s Picks.
“We all know what we’ve got to do,” Bowditch said. “We’ve got to finish inside that top 10, and it’s basically in our own hands.
“It’s something that I really want to do. It will be a dream of mine. I haven’t had too many.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m right where I want to be going into tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. Big event, a chance of going out there and doing something special. Looking forward to it.” – Shane Lowry, alone in third after 54 holes.
