Tune in at 2:00 PM ET on Saturday for third round coverage of the Tour Championship. Gino Bottero will be liveblogging for your enjoyment.
Welcome everyone! I'll be live blogging the third round of the TOUR Championship.
The event is being held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.
Par: 70 | Yardage: 7319
Since 1998, the TOUR Championship has donated more than $13 million to charity, both locally in the metro Atlanta area, and nationwide.
Purse: $8,000,000
Winning Share: $1,440,000
FedExCup Points: 2,500
Past Champions:
2011: Bill Haas
2010: Jim Furyk
2009: Phil Mickelson
2008: Camilo Villegas
2007: Tiger Woods
This week's field consists of the top-30 players in the FedExCup points standings.
Round 1 Recap: 18 of the 30 players in the field shot par or better on 30. Of the top-5 players who would claim the FedExCup unconditionally with a win, only Nick Watney shot over par, carding a 75 which held up as the worst round of the day. Looking for his third FedExCup, Tiger Woods shot the day's low round, carding an opening 66. Tiger shot back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16. Justin Rose equalled Tiger's 66 thanks to a long birdie putt on 18. Matt Kuchar, Scott Piercy, Steve Stricker, and Bo Van Pelt each carded rounds of 67. Piercy was at 5-under, but closed with a double bogey on 18. Rory McIlroy played alongside Tiger on Thursday and shot an opening round 69. Phil Mickelson opened with a 69 as well.
Round 2 Recap: Jim Furyk was white-hot on the front nine, beginning his day with seven consecutive 3s en route to carding a 6-under 29. He'd claim the 36-hole lead at 7-under after a round of 64. Justin Rose played the front in 1-over, but bounced back, playing the back in 3-under for a round of 68. That moved him into solo 2nd at 6-under. Masters Champion Bubba Watson made four birdies on the back nine for a round 66, moving him to 5-under. Rory McIlroy got to 3-under with a round of 68 on Friday. McIlroy made his only bogey of the day on 13, but answered right back with an eagle on 14. Five bogeys and a double bogey on Tiger Woods' card in the second round. He fell back to 1-under after a round of 73. Phil Mickelson shot a 71.
Jim Furyk and Justin Rose make up today's final pairing. Bubba Watson and Bo Van Pelt are playing in front of them.
TOUR Championship Leaderboard:
1. J. Furyk -7
2. J. Rose -6
T3. B. Watson -5
T3. B. Van Pelt -5
5. M. Kuchar -4
Let's pick up play on the 1st tee with the final pairing.
424 yard Par 4 1st: Jim Furyk cut his tee shot slightly and that kept it inside the left side of the fairway. Justin Rose is in good shape as well along the right side of the fairway.
Dustin Johnson bogeyed the first and that dropped him back to 3-under and into a tie for 6th with Rory McIlroy and Zach Johnson who are both even through 3.
219 yard Par 3 2nd: Bubba Watson's tee shot reaches the back of the green and rolled back towards the front, ending about pin high but well right of the flagstick.
Par 4 1st: Jim Furyk reaches the center of the green with his approach shot. He needs to be more aggressive than that if he hopes to maintain his lead.
Par 4 7th: Tiger Woods makes his third from the greenside bunker. He lands his shot to the left of the hole and spins it right to leave himself a good chance to save par.
Tiger Woods is 1-under on the day. He's within 5 of the lead.
Par 4 7th: A left-to-right break on Tiger's par attempt and he expected it to break more to the right than it did as his putt burns the left edge and stays out. He'll tap in for bogey and fall back to 1-under.
Par 4 1st: Jim Furyk rolled his long birdie attempt well past the hole. Not an easy par putt but he was able to sneak it inside the left side of the cup.
As we saw from Furyk's putt there, these greens are playing very fast today.
536 yard Par 4 5th: Rory McIlroy with a bomb off the tee down the left side of the fairway.
219 yard Par 3 2nd: Jim Furyk with a solid tee shot that rolls in pin high and leaves him a good look for birdie. Justin Rose reached the center of the green, well below the flagstick.
Par 3 2nd: Justin Rose with a great line to the hole but he left his ball about a foot short. He'll tap in for par. Jim Furyk with an uphill attempt. He read the break correctly but left his ball well short.
Par 4 3rd: Bubba Watson with a solid second shot out of the rough and he kept it just inside the right side of the green. He rolled that short putt in to get to 6-under.
600 yard Par 5 9th: Tiger Woods' tee shot stayed just inside the right side of the fairway. Looked like he didn't get all of that one.
Par 4 3rd: Jim Fuyk makes his second shot from the fairway bunker off the left side. He just cleared the front of the green from there. Justin Rose back in the rough for his second shot and the slope of the green kept his ball from rolling off the left side of the putting surface.
153 yard Par 3 6th: Rory Mcilroy did as much as h could with his tee shot considering today's precarious pin placement, keeping his ball inside the back-right corner of the green.
Par 4 3rd: A good lag by Jim Furyk and he made his short par putt to remain at 7-under.
Par 5 9th: Tiger Woods cut his second shot more than he wanted to and it hooked right of the green and into the sand.
Par 3 6th: Rory McIlroy tapped in for par to remain at 3-under.
#TourChampionship Garrigus birdies, what if he comes back to join the lead today ? Jim Furik is about ti start with Justin Rose ? We'll seeby afndiaye via twitter 9/22/2012 6:03:03 PM
Why is shot of day always a big save after a horrid shot? Seems like could be a good solid first shot. #pga #tourchampionshipby BBlaw via twitter 9/22/2012 6:03:11 PM
wish I was at the #TourChampionship at East Lake. Had a blast there 3 years ago! #FedExCup #fbby PaulWhoTweets via twitter 9/22/2012 6:03:19 PM
Fully expecting Jim Furyk to pull another "Furyk". Blowing another weekend lead at a big event. That's been his year in a nutshell #PGATourby NickKayal975 via twitter 9/22/2012 6:13:55 PM
hot afternoon in Atlanta.by iaincartergolf via twitter 9/22/2012 6:14:52 PM
Jim Furyk needs a 50 hour energyby jbagge via twitter 9/22/2012 6:15:19 PM
Jim Furyk opened with seven straight 3s yesterday. Just started with a 4 today. Slacker.by Jason Sobel via twitter 9/22/2012 6:18:42 PM
The Pin Positions look the toughest all week #TourChampionshipby Golf_Guru_ via twitter 9/22/2012 6:20:13 PM
+10? Lee Westwood should just bow out #tourchampionship #pga #fedexcupby FaiFai86 via twitter 9/22/2012 6:20:18 PM
Can't help but think what Bobby Jones would think of Tiger's 337-yard bomb at the 5th.by heanjob via twitter 9/22/2012 6:26:29 PM
If conditions remain this tough (-8) or (-9) will probably win the #TourChampionship.by golfwerkz via twitter 9/22/2012 6:32:30 PM
Mcilroy has this in the bagby Kirkpower via twitter 9/22/2012 6:38:18 PM
I love watching Mcilroy play golf. Not sure why. Cannot wait to see him tear it up in the Ryder Cup #Europeby flashman444 via twitter 9/22/2012 6:38:39 PM
