Toms, Couples, Sluman, Bryant share Memorial lead
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) – David Toms put a week’s worth of excitement into one round Saturday. He had a hole-in-one, made another eagle the conventional way with a brilliant 3-iron into 12 feet and saved par at the end with a 6-iron that smacked into a pine tree after he made contact. It gave him an 8-under 64 and left him in a four-way tie for the lead at the Memorial.
And now he might have to do it again.
“I put myself in position today, and that’s all I did,” Toms said. “I’m not going to be able to make pars and hope it’s good enough. There are too many guys who can do what I did today.”
Some of them already did, or at least came close enough so that the leaderboard is littered with contenders.
Fred Couples nearly had an ace, picked up an eagle on the 15th and closed with an 18-foot birdie putt for a 66 that enabled him to join Toms, Jeff Sluman (68) and Bart Bryant (66) at 12-under 204, the first time the Memorial has ever had a four-way tie at the top going into the final round.
The third round usually sorts out the leaderboard. All this did was rearrange the names.
“Saturday is moving day, and a lot of guys made big moves out there,” Sluman said. “It’ll probably be a little bit of a free-for-all.”
Ten other players were within four shots of the lead – including Tiger Woods, one of the few who got stuck in neutral – to set up what figures to be a shootout Sunday at Muirfield Village.
“You’ve got to shoot what everyone else is shooting,” Couples said, who will play in the final group at the Memorial for the second straight year. “I have just as good a chance as eight or 10 guys.”
Bryant recovered from a double bogey at No. 2 when he hit his approach into the creek, making five birdies on the back nine, including a 9-iron that stopped just inches behind the cup at the difficult 17th.
Sluman, who started the day with a one-shot lead, had a chance to finish it that way until a 40-foot birdie putt that he ran up over the fringe slid just below the cup.
What will take it Sunday?
“It’s one of those questions you really can’t answer,” said Sluman, who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption. “You can shoot 64 and somebody shoots 63, and then you say, ‘I never thought a 64 would be enough.”‘
It could have been even more crowded at the top, but Jonathan Kaye (68) and Woody Austin (65) each made bogey on the final hole to finish at 11-under 205. Woods made three bogeys in his round of 71 and was at 8-under 208.
Toms closed with a 63 a week ago at the St. Jude Classic and nearly won when Justin Leonard began to stumble. At least this time, he gets one more day on his side.
He shot into contention on the front nine, starting with a 5-iron on the 201-yard fourth hole that he figured was headed for the back bunker until it knocked against the pin and dropped into the cup.
“I thought maybe this was going to be my day,” Toms said.
He wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Couples is a surprising contender, despite having won the Memorial in 1998 and contending last year. He hasn’t played since the Masters because of a troubled back, but began wearing a brace that fits like a body suit from about 8 inches above his knees extending to his lower back.
Couples made up ground on the back nine, starting with his wedge that pun back to 16 inches on the par-3 12th. His birdie putt on the final hole put him in good shape to win for the first time in two years.
“These days are few and far between,” Couples said. “But I still feel I know how to play golf.”
The leaders certainly knew what to expect before they started.
Toms was on the practice green when he heard a roar below him and watched Jim Furyk save par on the 18th for a 64. Next came Brad Faxon, who made eight birdies in a round of 67, followed by Bill Haas at 66.
“It gets in your mind that it’s obviously there if you can play well,” Toms said.
Woods was among the few who couldn’t take advantage.
He three-putted for bogey on the second hole, and he never got it going. The three-time Memorial champion is still in range, but only because of a 20-foot par save on the ninth and another from 10 feet on No. 10.
“I had to shoot something in the 60s, and I just didn’t do it,” Woods said. “I’m going to have to shoot what these guys shot early today and hope I can post it, and hope that it’ll be enough.”
Toms played the first two rounds with tournament host Jack Nicklaus, and while he played well, he got nothing out of either round and finished up Friday with a messy double bogey.
He only came close to a bogey on two occasions Saturday.
Toms was in deep rough next to a tree on the 18th, and his swing was limited. The club hit the tree after impact, and the ball somehow stayed near the front of the green instead of rolling down the slope, setting up an easy par.
On the par-5 11th, his ball was in rough so thick that Toms thought his clubface would close on impact, so he aimed a little more to the right. To his surprise, the ball shot out toward the right and went into the creek. Facing a bogey, he took a drop and hit wedge into 8 feet, saving his par and keeping momentum in his favor.
“That putt was as big as anything that happened today,” he said.
That’s saying a lot, because Muirfield Village was hardly void of action in the third round. And based on the leaderboard, it might not be any different Sunday.