Tiger Woods had two putts lip out on the front nine Saturday and missed a putt he expected to make on the par 3 No. 11, but still held together his round to shoot a 67, leaving himself four shots off the lead at the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Woods trails Brandt Snedeker and Justin Rose, who share the lead at 8-under. Playing under a beautiful and nearly cloudless sky, the 30 golfers embraced pristine conditions as they vie for the $10 million fprize for the Fed Ex Cup championship.
After a 3-over 73 on Friday, Woods rebounded by holding his game together Saturday. He had only one bogey on the day, on the par 4 N0. 7. Beyond that, he was relatively sharp. He went out in 34 after a blast from the bunker left him about four feet for his birdie, which he made.
He parred 10 and 11, and made birdie on No. 12, a par 4. After pars on the next two holes, Woods made birdie after he bombed his tee shot on the par 5 15h, giving him birdies on both the pristine course’s par 5s. It was vintage Woods when he saved par on No. 16 after a drive into the woods that required a pitch out to the fairway to get back into the hole.
He then hit his approach shot to within eight feet and made the par putt that merited a fist pump from the 14 major champion. He had reasonable birdie chances on Nos. 17 and 18 but did not get the birdie putts to drop.
It was different for Snedeker, who finished the day with a 6-under 74 to move up the leaderboard.
“My first goal for this week is achieved, and that is to have a chance going into Sunday,” Snedeker said. “I think something like 90 something percent of the PGA TOUR winners come from the last two groups, and that’s where I want to be in those last two groups.
“So I know get I get a chance to do that tomorrow, and it should be a lot of fun.”