The International
Leader Craig Barlow already hears footsteps CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) – Moments after seizing the third-round lead in The International on Saturday, Craig Barlow could already hear the footsteps.
Mark Brooks, Sergio Garcia, Greg Norman and British Open champion Ernie Els were among the heavy hitters poised to catch the unheralded Barlow in Sunday’s final round. And he knew it.
“Yes, those guys have great records and they are big names,” Barlow said. “But I’ve got to worry about me, not them.”
One advantage Barlow might have is his refusal to look at the leaderboard.
“I won’t watch the leaderboard until the end,” he said. “I’ll have my caddie watch it because there’s a time when you need to know where you’re at.
“I’ll be nervous, but it’s something I can handle. I’m just going to play golf, try to be smart and be aggressive when I need to be.
“The beauty of this format is you’re going to have a bunch of guys firing low numbers and jumping up the leaderboard if they’re making eagle. I have to think there’s going to be a lot of guys shooting low (Sunday) if the weather holds up.”
Barlow birdied the last three holes to inch ahead of Steve Lowery and set up an intriguing Sunday showdown.
Barlow’s short birdie putt on the 18th hole gave him 11 points for the round and 28 points for the tournament under the modified Stableford scoring system used in this event.
Moments earlier, Lowery, playing in the same group, also birdied No. 18 to go to 27.
Brooks was at 26 and Rich Beem 25. Garcia stood at 21.
Garcia made the most noise in the third round, carding an eagle and eight birdies to storm the leaderboard. He moved momentarily into first place and found himself in fifth by the end of the day.
The scoring system awards 5 points for eagle, 2 for birdie, zero for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse.
The field was cut again Saturday to the top 36 players and ties for Sunday’s final round at Castle Pines Golf Club.
Players enjoyed favorable weather conditions Saturday after battling winds that gusted as high as 40 mph during the first two rounds and dampened scores.
On Saturday, scoring improved dramatically. Garcia’s 19 points represented the best round of the day – just one off the tournament record. Norman and Steve Stricker each had 16-point rounds, and Beem had 15.
“The course was playing rather benign compared to the first two days,” Beem said.
Norman and Stricker had 20-point totals, along with Els. Ian Leggatt and Geoff Ogilvy stood at 18.
Barlow, 199th on the money list and in need of a good finish to avoid losing his Tour card for the third time in five years, closed strong. He birdied five of his last six holes to move from plus-18 to plus-28.
Lowery, the second-round leader with 21 points, faltered early but made four birdies on his back nine.
“I have to be more aggressive – like I played the first two days – to have a chance to win,” said Lowery, who won this event in 1994.
Brooks, winner of the 1996 PGA championship as well as six other tournaments, also flirted with the lead but couldn’t match the final-hole birdies by Barlow and Lowery.
Garcia was in danger of missing the cut after two mediocre rounds to open the tournament, but he regrouped Saturday.
Garcia, starting on the back nine, was quiet for seven holes before an eagle at the par-5 17th hole, a green he reached in two.
That pushed his total to 8 points, and he added 13 more on the second nine in which he had seven birdies and a bogey.
Garcia sank a 50-foot birdie putt at No. 3 but needed to make mere 2-footers for birdies at Nos. 1 and 4. He finished his flurry with four straight birdies, including a 16-foot curling putt on the ninth hole that left him twirling his index finger in the air to the cheers of the crowd.
“It was just a day where things were going my way,” Garcia said. “I was hitting the ball great, and I finally got it going with the putter.”