Scott happy after revising his Firestone goals

Scott happy after revising his Firestone goals

Mark Lamport-Stokes August 3, 2013







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Adam Scott of Australia watches his tee shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the WGC-Bridgestone …


By Mark Lamport-Stokes

AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - Having lowered his sights on a second-place finish at this week's Bridgestone Invitational where Tiger Woods is running away with the tournament, Adam Scott was happy with his progress in Saturday's third round.

Masters champion Scott, winner here in 2011, fired a sparkling four-under-par 66 on another warm, blustery day at Firestone Country Club to finish at three-under 207.

Though that left the Australian a distant 12 strokes behind the pacesetting Woods, he was a more respectable five adrift of Swede Henrik Stenson in the battle for runner-up honors in the elite World Golf Championships event.

"I'm going to have to be really hot tomorrow, but it was a good round out there today," world number five Scott told reporters after mixing five birdies with a lone bogey at the challenging par-four last.


"Anything in the sixties is a good score around here no matter what the conditions are. There's always plenty of trouble. My game is sharpening up to where I want it to be, so I'm happy about that so far."

After seven-times Firestone champion Woods had spread-eagled the field with a scorching 61 in Friday's second round, Scott instantly revised his goal for the week.

"I'd like to have a very hot weekend and maybe finish second," Scott, 33, said with a broad grin.

So far, so good for the nine-times PGA Tour winner, who is also building momentum for next week's PGA Championship, the year's final major.

"It'll be nice to play another solid round tomorrow," Scott said. "I was nearly bogey-free today, just dropped that one on the last, and that's good golf around here.

"It's also good to get those rounds in before a major next week where dropped shots are so costly."

Asked to assess how well his preparations had gone for the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Scott replied: "I think I've done what I needed to do the last couple days.

"I'm going to go and hit some more balls tonight and keep the good feelings. I've been driving it a little better since Thursday, and I feel it's getting to where I would like it to be. I think by next Thursday I can be really sharp."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Gene Cherry)

Golf-WGC-Bridgestone Invitational scores

Golf-WGC-Bridgestone Invitational scores

August 3, 2013








Aug 3 (Infostrada Sports) - Scores from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at the par-70 course on Saturday in Akron, Ohio

195 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 66 61 68

202 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 65 70 67

203 Jason Dufner (U.S.) 67 69 67

204 Luke Donald (Britain) 67 69 68

Bill Haas (U.S.) 67 68 69

Chris Wood (Britain) 66 68 70

205 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 71 69 65

Keegan Bradley (U.S.) 66 68 71

207 Adam Scott (Australia) 73 68 66

Zach Johnson (U.S.) 69 70 68

208 Steve Stricker (U.S.) 71 67 70

Rickie Fowler (U.S.) 67 71 70

Richard Sterne (South Africa) 70 68 70

John Merrick (U.S.) 72 66 70

Bubba Watson (U.S.) 67 69 72

Jim Furyk (U.S.) 67 69 72

210 Phil Mickelson (U.S.) 72 71 67

Ian Poulter (Britain) 69 72 69

Justin Rose (Britain) 69 72 69

Martin Kaymer (Germany) 74 67 69

Rory McIlroy (Britain) 70 71 69

Ryan Moore (U.S.) 66 74 70

Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 72 68 70

Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 72 68 70

Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 70 69 71

Harris English (U.S.) 70 68 72

Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand) 69 68 73

212 Peter Hanson (Sweden) 70 72 70

Matt Kuchar (U.S.) 72 71 69

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 70 74 68

Paul Lawrie (Britain) 69 72 71

Bo Van Pelt (U.S.) 71 73 68

Francesco Molinari (Italy) 70 70 72

Webb Simpson (U.S.) 64 75 73

Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 74 74 64

213 Brandt Snedeker (U.S.) 72 70 71


Graeme McDowell (Britain) 71 71 71

Lee Westwood (Britain) 71 71 71

Ernie Els (South Africa) 71 72 70

Michael Thompson (U.S.) 72 71 70

Boo Weekley (U.S.) 73 70 70

Nick Watney (U.S.) 71 72 70

Paul Casey (Britain) 70 70 73

214 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 73 69 72

215 Richie Ramsay (Britain) 73 69 73

Matteo Manassero (Italy) 71 70 74

Branden Grace (South Africa) 70 75 70

Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 74 74 67

216 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 72 70 74

Russell Henley (U.S.) 72 69 75

Dustin Johnson (U.S.) 72 69 75

Bae Sang-Moon (South Korea) 73 73 70

217 Brian Gay (U.S.) 72 70 75

D.A. Points (U.S.) 73 69 75

David Lynn (Britain) 71 73 73

Sergio Garcia (Spain) 71 76 70

218 Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 72 73 73

Jonas Blixt (Sweden) 70 75 73

Ken Duke (U.S.) 70 75 73

Jason Day (Australia) 74 72 72

Martin Laird (Britain) 77 70 71

Shane Lowry (Ireland) 72 76 70

219 Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 73 73 73

220 Satoshi Kodaira (Japan) 70 74 76

Scott Piercy (U.S.) 68 77 75

Billy Horschel (U.S.) 74 74 72

Derek Ernst (U.S.) 73 76 71

Kevin Streelman (U.S.) 76 73 71

221 Tommy Gainey (U.S.) 74 71 76

222 Brett Rumford (Australia) 76 74 72

227 Toru Taniguchi (Japan) 75 73 79

232 Daniel Popovic (Australia) 79 77 76

233 Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa) 73 82 78

DNS Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa)

Woods stays in charge at Firestone

Woods stays in charge at Firestone

Mark Lamport-Stokes August 3, 2013







.

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Tiger Woods of the U.S. hits his second shot from the sand on the 14th hole during the third round of …


By Mark Lamport-Stokes

AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - Tiger Woods failed to replicate the sizzling form he produced on Friday but remained in imperious command with a seven-shot lead after Saturday's third round at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

In pursuit of his fifth PGA Tour victory of the season, Woods "grinded" out a two-under-par 68 on a warm, breezy day at Firestone Country Club to maintain his overnight lead.

The American world number one, winner of a record seven World Golf Championships (WGC) titles here, struggled at times for accuracy off the tee as he mixed five birdies with three bogeys for a 15-under total of 195.

Woods had distanced himself from the field with a stunning 61 on Friday and will head into Sunday's final round with an intimidating record, having triumphed 52 of 56 times on thePGA Tour when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead.

"I feel pretty good," the 14-times major champion told reporters. "Today was a day that I didn't quite have it, but I scored. And that's the name of the game is posting a number, and I did today. I grinded my way around that golf course.

"It was playing a little blustery. As smooth as yesterday was, as difficult as today was, it's just one of those things where I was just trying to build on my lead somehow. And for most of the day I was doing that.

"Ended up being a dead push for the day, but that's not too bad, either. Hopefully I can seal the deal tomorrow and get ready for the PGA (Championship) at Oak Hill," he added, referring to the year's final major next week.

Woods' closest challenger going into the final round is Swede Henrik Stenson, who fired a 67 to leave him at eight under.

"I'm just going to try and play my game, and I'm excited to go out and play with him tomorrow (in the final pairing)," said Stenson. "He's obviously playing great, and it'll be a good test, a good measurement.

"We might just be there for watching the final victory lap. We'll see tomorrow. But I can only do so much. I can play my game and see where that takes me."

FOUR-BIRDIE START


Jason Dufner, who birdied his first four holes on the way to a 67, was alone in third at seven under, a stroke better than fellow American Bill Haas (69) and Englishmen Luke Donald (68) and Chris Wood (70).

British Open champion Phil Mickelson, who by his own admission struggled for focus in his opening round, carded a 67 to finish at even-par 210, level with U.S. Open winner Justin Rose (69) and world number three Rory McIlroy (69) among others.

Woods made an ideal start, hitting a superb approach to 12 feet above the hole at the par-four first and coolly sinking the birdie putt.

He also birdied the par-five second after reaching the green in two and two-putting but his lead slipped back to seven when playing partner Keegan Bradley drained a 40-foot eagle putt.

Woods parred the next six holes before bogeying the ninth after hitting his tee shot into a poor lie in a fairway bunker from where he could advance his second shot only 87 yards.

After hitting his approach to nine feet, he missed the par putt to end a run of 37 consecutive holes without a bogey, reaching the turn in one-under 34 with a seven-stroke lead.

However Woods immediately recovered, sinking an eight-footer to birdie the 10th and regain an eight-stroke cushion at 15 under.

Another birdie followed in unexpected fashion at the par-four 13th where he chipped in from an uphill lie in thick rough below the green, his ball popping up before tracking toward the cup some 40 feet away.

Woods failed to capitalize, though, as he recorded bogeys at the par-four 14th and the par-five 16th after finding fairway bunkers off the tee on both holes.

He birdied the par-four 17th, sinking a curling eight-footer to regain a seven-stroke advantage, and salvaged par at the last, despite missing his sixth fairway of the day off the tee.

Woods has dominated the elite WGC events since they were introduced in 1999, winning 17 of them in 41 starts.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Steve Keating/Gene Cherry)