ESPN.com - Golf Online - Woods a few putts from pressuring leaders

Associated Press
Saturday, July 8

LEMONT, Ill. -- Tiger Woods finished yet another frustrating day of struggling with his putter and stood atop a hill behind No. 18, watching the leaders finish.

"I think it will be a greater lead at the end of today," he said. "... If I play well tomorrow, obviously I have a chance of winning. If I don't play well, I'm so far behind, I have no chance. That's just the way it is."


	Tiger Woods could only laugh at his putting woes Saturday, which kept him from making a charge in the third round of the Western Open.

Not exactly. Brian Henninger and Steve Flesch both wasted chances to pull away from the rest of the field Saturday, finishing the day tied for the lead at 13-under-par 203 after 54 holes. Henninger bogeyed the 18th hole while Flesch had three bogeys on the last seven holes.

That leaves Wood just six strokes back at 7-under 209. A large deficit, perhaps, but certainly not impossible, especially for Woods. He dominated the rest of the field in the U.S. Open, winning it by a whopping 15 strokes.

And in his other tournament at Pebble Beach this year, he came back from seven strokes down with seven holes to go to win.

"I just need to go out there and take care of my own business, shoot a good, low round and see what happens," he said. "If I can just putt better, I'll be all right. If not, it's just one of those weeks and go on to the next tournament."

Lee Janzen is one stroke behind Flesch and Henninger after shooting a 66 -- tied for best round of the day. Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk and Nick Price, a two-time Western Open winner, are two strokes behind at 11-under 205.

For a while, both Flesch and Henninger looked as if they might make things tough on everybody else Sunday. Flesch was superb early, eagling the par-5 fifth and adding three more birdies on the front nine.

He moved to 14 under with a birdie on the par-5 11th and then things went haywire. He bogeyed two par-3s, the 12th and the 14th, then birdied the par-5 15th. He gave the stroke right back with a bogey on the par-4 17th.

He finished up with a birdie on No. 18 that looked like something out of "Caddyshack." His 12-foot putt rolled right to the edge of the cup and then hung there for almost three seconds before finally dropping in.

"Six birdies, one eagle and four bogeys. That's as erratic as you can get, isn't it?" he said. "I was just making everybody in the crowd feel good because I was playing like a lot of them do."

Henninger, who missed the cut in 11 of the first 18 tournaments he played this year, didn't play as well as he did Friday, when he tied the course record with a 63. But he held onto his new, more relaxed attitude and turned in a solid round.

A birdie on the par-3 14th put him at 14 under and gave him the lead by himself, but he dropped back into a tie with a bogey on 18.

"I played really solid really throughout the whole round until the last couple of holes," Henninger said. "I think tomorrow I'm going to have to step it up a little bit because, obviously, there's great players out there who are going to be shooting to make birdies."

He can count on Woods being one of them -- if he can make his putter work. He's had trouble with it all week, and Saturday was no different. His good putts lipped out and his bad putts, well, they weren't even close.

He's putting so poorly that when he finally made a 20-footer for a birdie on the par-4 eighth, he gave a smile of relief, licked two fingers and pretended to put a mark on a chalkboard.

"I need a Seeing Eye dog out there, basically. I'm putting so bad it's a joke," he said. "But the good news is putting terrible, I'm still seven-under par."

The course didn't give him any breaks, either. After his tee shot went into the rough on No. 9, he "caught a little squirter" and his second shot landed well short of the green, near a tree and behind a few bunkers.

His next shot hit a branch and went only about 50 yards forward, landing in the gallery. With another tree in his way, he hit a flop shot and landed in a trap right in front of the green.

He got close to the hole, but it rolled about 2 feet past and he settled for bogey.

"My game isn't quite as sharp as it has been in the past," he said. "But then again, it ain't that bad, either."

Divots

Dennis Paulson, who had several near-misses on the green Saturday, didn't fare much better throwing the ball. After finishing with a 71, leaving him seven strokes behind at 6-under 210, Paulson tossed his ball toward the lake. The ball took two hopes and then stopped dead in the grass.

Fred Couples, two shots off the lead after the second round, shot a 73 and dropped five strokes back.

Jimmy Green had the worst round of the day with an 82.