Long ball gives Daly slim lead
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – John Daly hit one ball so far that it sailed over the green and led to double bogey. He hit another one so far that he had only an 8-iron into the 552-yard 10th hole for an eagle. As a windswept and wild day was ending Saturday in the American Express Championship, Daly looked into the blue sky behind the 18th green at Harding Park and saw the vapor trail from a Blue Angels exhibition that went up and down with a couple of loop-de-loops in between.
How fitting.
Despite a bogey-par-double bogey start, Daly wound up with a 3-under 67 and a one-shot lead over Colin Montgomerie, riding his prodigious tee shots to a 31 on the back nine – the tougher of the two nines – to position himself for his first victory in 19 months.
“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s stressful,” Daly said. “It’s great to be in this position, but it’s not the easiest thing to do.”
Montgomerie at least put himself in the final group by bouncing his approach off the mesh skirt of the grandstand on the 18th into deep rough, and following with a deft chip to save par for his 69.
“John and I come from different ends of the scales in a lot of ways,” Monty said. “He’s a good lad, and he did very today. I did particularly well to par the last 10 holes, so I’m quite proud of what I did out there to beat par and to stay in contention. That’s what one always does come Saturday night, to give oneself an opportunity to win. And I’ve done that, and we’ll see what happens.”
Too bad Tiger Woods’ scorecard didn’t have a few sketches of the places he saw Saturday at Harding Park. He was in the trees, under a car and hit his last tee shot so far to the right with the wind at his back that it flew over the rough, bounced off a cart path and went over a 25-foot hospitality tent. It might have gone all the way into the parking lot, except that it bounced off a fan and settled onto the stairs.
From that, he faced a 15-foot birdie putt that made a horseshoe around the cup and gave him 68. He was two shots out of the lead with Sergio Garcia, who had a bland round – 15 pars, three birdies, the only guy without a bogey.
“Pretty much saw most of Harding Park,” Woods said.
Graeme McDowell saw too much of the 18th hole. He was tied for the lead when he stepped to the tee, and after bouncing through the cypress trees, he wound up with a quadruple-bogey 8.
This test at San Francisco’s municipal gem was simply riveting, and the best might be still to come.
Daly was at 9-under 201, and while he doesn’t have a ton of experience with a 54-hole lead, he’s pretty good when he’s there. Daly has won his last four times from this spot, most recently at Torrey Pines last year when he closed with a 75 and won with an up-and-down from 100 feet in the bunker.
Montgomerie, who only last week ended his 19-month victory drought, hasn’t heard this much noise since he outplayed Woods in the third round of the British Open at St. Andrews. This time, it wasn’t for him, but that was fine.
“The crowd is boisterous, which is positive in every way,” he said. “Having won last week, I’m relaxed. I’ve got nothing to lose.”
He’ll get one more day with Daly, and he knows what to expect – not so much the cheering from the partisan crowd, but the lack of chatter between them created by the very different ways they play golf.
“I hit it 250 yards, and he hits it 400s yards,” Montgomerie said. “We weren’t talking that much because he’s that far ahead, or waiting on the tee and I’ve begun forward.”