Golfweek - Golf News Magazine

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• Martin: Beem making well-timed Wyndham rally

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By JOEDY McCREARY
Associated Press

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The pressure to follow a record round with an even better number got to Carl Pettersson. Just not enough to cost him the lead.

Pettersson topped the Sedgefield Country Club leaderboard for the second consecutive day, shooting a 4-under 66 on Saturday to follow his tournament-record 61 and take a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Wyndham Championship.

A local fan favorite who went to high school in Greensboro and is on the tournament’s board of directors, Pettersson had a 19-under 191 total. The Swede is in position to claim his third career PGA Tour victory and first since 2006 — even if he admitted that he occasionally tried too hard to outdo his second-round performance.

“Unless you get off to a really hot start, you kind of feel like you’re behind the 8-ball,” Pettersson said. “Sometimes you can start pressing too much, and in golf, pressing’s not really good to do. You’ve got to let the birdies happen, let the putts go in. You can’t really force them in. ... I think it’s easy to get agitated the day after you made everything.”

Scott McCarron was second. He holed a 45-yard sand shot on 18 for a 64. Briny Baird (62), Garrett Willis (69) and Kevin Streelman (67) were six strokes back.

Leading after 54 holes in Greensboro usually leads to a victory. From 1999-2006, every champion of this tournament had held or shared the third-round lead, a string broken last year when eventual PGA Tour rookie of the year Brandt Snedeker erased Jeff Overton’s three-stroke advantage across town at Forest Oaks.

Then again, with low scores commonplace all weekend at the original Donald Ross-designed course, no lead is safe.

“Where we are, and where Carl is, even if Carl stumbles and falls back, it’s still going to take a low number (Sunday) for somebody to win the tournament,” Baird said. “The golf course is set up for low numbers.”

This time, Pettersson had three birdies and an eagle, opening with four pars before his 3 on the 529-yard, par-5 fifth. He landed his approach 4 feet from the pin and sank that putt to eagle the hole for the second time in three days.

But he also bogeyed the course’s easiest hole — the par-5 15th — for the second day in a row. He sent his approach shot into the primary rough, recovered, then lipped out consecutive 4-foot putts to slip to 18 under.

“I had so many chances today, but I just didn’t convert the putts like I did yesterday,” Pettersson said. “I’ve played that hole terrible all week, so I’ll just keep the trend going.”

He regained that stroke two holes later with a birdie on the par-4 17th after landing his fairway shot 4 feet from the flagstick. On the 18th, he left his 20-foot birdie putt 4 inches short and tapped in for par.

McCarron, who entered trailing Pettersson by four strokes, was bogey-free and had three consecutive birdies on Nos. 2-4 to move to 14 under. He said he didn’t peek at the leaderboard until midway through his round, when he remained four strokes back.

“At that point, I got a sense that Carl was still putting the pedal to the metal,” McCarron said. “So I had to make some more birdies. ... I got back in the hunt.”

He finished strong with birdies on two of his final three holes — the par-3 16th, and then his spectacular, round-closing shot from a downhill lie in the bunker.

“I told my caddie if I made this, I would get in the bunker and do a snow angel,” McCarron said. “I chickened out.”

Baird had the best round of the day, a 62 that included seven birdies on the back nine and birdies on his final four holes. He began the round 10 strokes off the lead but could only hope that Pettersson would somehow self-destruct on his hometown course.

“I shot 28 on the back nine. He does something like that, the tournament is out of reach,” Baird said. “If he can be friendly and make a bunch of pars, it would leave a lot of people back in it.”

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Scores with relation to par from the third round of the Wyndham Championship, played Aug. 16 at the par-70, 7,117-yard Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. (Note: a-amateur):

1. Carl Pettersson	64-61-66--191			-19
2. Scott McCarron	65-64-64--193			-17
3. Briny Baird	67-68-62--197			-13
3. Kevin Streelman	66-64-67--197			-13
3. Garrett Willis	64-64-69--197			-13
6. Scott Sterling	64-71-64--199			-11
6. Kent Jones	66-68-65--199			-11
6. John Senden	66-66-67--199			-11
6. John Riegger	67-65-67--199			-11
6. Jerry Kelly	66-65-68--199			-11
6. Tim Clark	64-67-68--199			-11
6. Bob Sowards	65-66-68--199			-11
13. Rich Beem	70-67-63--200			-10
13. Eric Axley	67-69-64--200			-10
13. Vaughn Taylor	67-67-66--200			-10
13. Lucas Glover	66-68-66--200			-10
13. Lee Janzen	67-66-67--200			-10
13. Michael Letzig	67-66-67--200			-10
19. Martin Laird	63-74-64--201			-9
19. Brian Gay	67-68-66--201			-9
19. Jason Dufner	66-69-66--201			-9
19. Jay Williamson	67-67-67--201			-9
19. Danny Lee	68-66-67--201			-9
24. Patrick Sheehan	66-71-65--202			-8
24. Marc Turnesa	69-68-65--202			-8
24. Jon Mills	68-69-65--202			-8
24. Y.E. Yang	67-69-66--202			-8
24. J.J. Henry	70-66-66--202			-8
24. Shane Bertsch	67-68-67--202			-8
24. Mark Wilson	68-67-67--202			-8
24. Billy Andrade	66-69-67--202			-8
24. Justin Bolli	68-66-68--202			-8
24. Mark Brooks	68-66-68--202			-8
24. Charles Warren	67-66-69--202			-8
35. John Daly	70-67-66--203			-7
35. Charley Hoffman	68-69-66--203			-7
35. Paul Casey	70-66-67--203			-7
35. George McNeill	68-67-68--203			-7
35. Tom Pernice, Jr.	68-66-69--203			-7
35. Robert Garrigus	66-66-71--203			-7
41. Bob Estes	71-66-67--204			-6
41. Glen Day	66-69-69--204			-6
41. Bob Tway	70-65-69--204			-6
41. Tim Wilkinson	66-69-69--204			-6
41. Ben Crane	68-66-70--204			-6
41. Steve Marino	65-68-71--204			-6
47. Todd Demsey	69-68-68--205			-5
47. Tom Byrum	71-66-68--205			-5
47. Joe Ogilvie	69-68-68--205			-5
47. Brenden Pappas	69-67-69--205			-5
47. Zach Johnson	66-70-69--205			-5
47. David Lutterus	69-64-72--205			-5
47. Bo Van Pelt	67-66-72--205			-5
54. Stephen Poole	66-71-69--206			-4
54. Jason Gore	67-69-70--206			-4
54. Troy Matteson	69-67-70--206			-4
54. Mark Calcavecchia	67-69-70--206			-4
54. Joe Durant	67-69-70--206			-4
54. Jeff Maggert	66-70-70--206			-4
54. Kyle Thompson	68-67-71--206			-4
54. David Toms	68-67-71--206			-4
54. Billy Mayfair	67-68-71--206			-4
63. Doug LaBelle II	70-67-70--207			-3
63. Cody Freeman	70-67-70--207			-3
63. Nick Flanagan	68-69-70--207			-3
63. Frank Lickliter II	68-68-71--207			-3
63. Ken Duke	65-71-71--207			-3
63. Davis Love III	66-70-71--207			-3
63. Ted Purdy	68-68-71--207			-3
63. Bob Heintz	63-72-72--207			-3
63. Jeff Gove	68-66-73--207			-3
63. Mark Hensby	66-66-75--207			-3
73. Richard S. Johnson	67-70-71--208			-2
73. Dean Wilson	66-71-71--208			-2
73. Brandt Snedeker	66-68-74--208			-2
76. Ryuji Imada	68-68-73--209			-1
77. Peter Lonard	66-71-73--210			E
77. Mathias Gronberg	71-64-75--210			E
• • •
Missed the cut
79. Tag Ridings	74-64--138			-2
79. Bubba Watson	70-68--138			-2
79. Ron Whittaker	70-68--138			-2
79. Jason Allred	72-66--138			-2
79. Chris Riley	68-70--138			-2
79. Nick Watney	71-67--138			-2
79. Matt Jones	68-70--138			-2
79. Olin Browne	70-68--138			-2
79. Tom Scherrer	71-67--138			-2
79. Kevin Stadler	70-68--138			-2
79. Chris Stroud	67-71--138			-2
79. a-Drew Weaver	69-69--138			-2
79. Andrew McLardy	70-68--138			-2
92. Jim McGovern	70-69--139			-1
92. James Driscoll	69-70--139			-1
92. Robert Gamez	71-68--139			-1
92. Michael Bradley	70-69--139			-1
92. Cameron Beckman	70-69--139			-1
92. Brad Adamonis	70-69--139			-1
92. Ryan Moore	68-71--139			-1
99. J.P. Hayes	71-69--140			E
99. Brad Elder	72-68--140			E
99. Jin Park	69-71--140			E
99. Tim Petrovic	70-70--140			E
99. Corey Pavin	68-72--140			E
99. Jeff Overton	71-69--140			E
99. Neal Lancaster	71-69--140			E
99. Omar Uresti	72-68--140			E
99. Harrison Frazar	72-68--140			E
99. Brandt Jobe	70-70--140			E
99. Travis Perkins	71-69--140			E
99. Chad Collins	67-73--140			E
111. Kevin Na	70-71--141		+	1
111. Jay Delsing	68-73--141		+	1
111. Will MacKenzie	69-72--141		+	1
111. Todd Hamilton	71-70--141		+	1
111. Jason Day	71-70--141		+	1
111. Richard Johnson	72-69--141		+	1
111. Savio Nazareth	70-71--141		+	1
111. Vijay Singh	69-72--141		+	1
111. Kirk Triplett	68-73--141		+	1
111. Ian Leggatt	71-70--141		+	1
111. Tommy Gainey	70-71--141		+	1
122. Bill Haas	71-71--142		+	2
122. Paul Claxton	69-73--142		+	2
122. Jeev M. Singh	73-69--142		+	2
122. Tim Herron	68-74--142		+	2
122. Mathew Goggin	68-74--142		+	2
122. Carlos Franco	71-71--142		+	2
122. a-Cameron Peck	71-71--142		+	2
122. Kevin Chappell	72-70--142		+	2
130. Chris DiMarco	71-72--143		+	3
130. Steve Allan	71-72--143		+	3
130. Brett Rumford	68-75--143		+	3
130. Jimmy Walker	70-73--143		+	3
130. Dicky Pride	75-68--143		+	3
130. Larry Mize	72-71--143		+	3
130. Ryan Armour	71-72--143		+	3
137. John Rollins	74-70--144		+	4
137. Craig Kanada	70-74--144		+	4
137. Kelly Mitchum	75-69--144		+	4
137. Andrew Buckle	70-74--144		+	4
137. Gavin Coles	71-73--144		+	4
142. Trevor Dodds	76-69--145		+	5
142. Paul Stankowski	68-77--145		+	5
142. Ryan Palmer	73-72--145		+	5
145. David Duval	73-73--146		+	6
145. a-Jamie Lovemark	74-72--146		+	6
147. Kevin Sutherland	74-73--147		+	7
148. Nathan Green	71-78--149		+	9
149. Jay Woodson	72-78--150		+	10
150. Robin Smith	75-76--151		+	11
WD. Marco Dawson	67-WD
WD. Brian Davis	69-WD
WD. John Huston	70-WD
WD. Dustin Johnson	73-WD
WD. Brent Geiberger	70-WD
DQ. Jeff Quinney	70-74-DQ

Posted: 8/16/2008

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