Tiger Woods finds positives after improved third round at Memorial
Woods is a five-time winner at the Memorial Tournament; one win away from breaking record of most PGA Tour titles
Saturday 18 July 2020 18:54, UK
Tiger Woods found positive signs within his game after admitting he was "fortunate" to still be involved at the Memorial Tournament.
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The 15-time major champion birdied two of his last three holes on Friday to salvage a four-over 76, which was enough to sneak into the weekend on the cut-mark of three over, before making a small move up the leaderboard with a third-round 71 early on Saturday.
Woods showed no movement struggles like he had experienced the previous day at Muirfield Village, mixing four birdies with three bogeys in hot and humid conditions.
"I felt like I played well today, controlled the ball well," Woods said. "I hit one really bad shot there at three, but other than that, it was a pretty good, solid day.
"I was fortunate the cut came back. I made a little run at the end yesterday, and at times it was looking like it was going to be at two [over], but fortunately I snuck in at three.
"I was moving better today and felt like I did the first day, and consequently I could make the passes at the golf ball like I did the first day. Unfortunately, I didn't make any putts today, so hopefully I can make a few more tomorrow."
Playing alongside Brooks Koepka for the third day running, Woods bogeyed the third after finding the water with his approach and then needed to convert from six feet to save par at the next.
Woods rolled in an eight-footer from the fifth for the first of back-to-back birdies, only to drop a shot at the ninth after failing to get up and down from the front edge of the green.
A sublime bunker shot set up a close-range save at the 10th and Woods missed a nine-footer birdie chance at the 11th, but birdied the 14th and then drained another from nearly 20 feet after electing to lay up at the par-five 15th.
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Woods missed a five-footer to save par after finishing short of the green at the par-three 16th, before the former world No 1 closed his round with two-putt pars from inside 15 feet on each of the last two holes.
"It's tough. It's fast," Woods added about the course. "The golf course is right where they want it. Now that the wind has picked up just a touch, it's going to dry it out a little bit more.
"The ball is starting to run out on the greens. Some of the fairways are starting to chase, and you're starting to get like on two, if you carry that hill on the tee shot, you're getting 60, 70 yards of run.
"It's going to get to where Jack (Nicklaus) wanted to have it at the beginning of the week."
Watch the Memorial Tournament throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the final round begins on Sunday from 2pm on Sky Sports Golf.
