Only fog could slow down Tiger Woods' quest for his seventh title at the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday. Under somewhat sunny skies on Sunday, his dominance on one of the courses he knows so well was crystal clear.
Woods racked up five birdies during his third round en route to a 69, and followed that up by shooting three under par on the first seven holes of his Final Round. He sits at -17.
When asked after his round, he said he didn't know what part of his game is working the best, but is happy with all of it.
"I think it's probably the whole package," Woods said. "I've driven the ball well, I've hit my irons well, and I've chipped and putted well. Well, I've hit good putts. They all haven't gone in."
Nick Watney, who won the annual tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course in 2009, and started Sunday at -7, finished his third round in third place. He shot a 71 in Rd. 3 and shot -3 through eight holes in the final round to get to -11. Watney came out smoldering during his final round, with three birdies in four holes.
Watney knows he has an uphill battle on Monday to try and catch Woods.
"All I can do is I'm going to try to make as many birdies as I can," said Watney. "I've got 11 and 12 that are tough, and hopefully, maybe he can help me out a little bit, I don't know. But I can't just hand it to [Tiger], as a competitor."
Defending champion Brandt Snedeker had a stellar Sunday. He carded a 3-under 69 in his third round, and ripped off three birdies in his first six holes to get to -10. He finished -4 during 13 holes in his Final Round to finish -11, six shots back of Woods, and tied with Watney in 2nd place.
Despite going -7 through 31 holes on Sunday, he still knows he has a long way to go to repeat.
"I've got to make some more birdies. I've got a guy at the top of the leaderboard that doesn't like giving up leads, so I have to go catch him," said Snedeker. "I did a great job today of staying patient and playing good golf. Just need to go out there tomorrow morning and finish with three or four birdies."
Brad Fritsch finished his third round at -10, four shots back of Woods.
After his third round, Fritsch said of chasing Tiger, "It would be a really interesting tournament if he wasn't here in terms of the scoring (laughing). But, I've just got to go out and play how I can play. I go point A to point B, don't try to do too much on each shot. If the putts fall, great. If they don't, I'm still having a great tournament."
Woods began the third round Sunday with a two-stroke lead over Billy Horschel. While Woods was able to keep up his under par pace, Horschel, like many other players on their initial pairing with Tiger, collapsed en route to a 4-over par 76.
Woods picked up right where he left when he teed off for his final round at 3:10 p.m. Despite missing five consecutive fairways, he was still able to birdie two out of his first four holes, including a beautiful chip-in on the 4th.
"Yeah, it was a long day. I mean, we played most of the day, and I played well today," he said. "Overall, I'm very pleased that I was able to build on my lead. As of right now, I think I've got a six‑shot lead, so that's a positive."
Woods will look to close out the tournament on Monday, and claim his 75th career victory on the PGA Tour. Final rounds will be continued, where the players left off Sunday, beginning at 11:10 a.m. Tournament officials are offering free admission to the tournament on Monday. Parking will also be free at the Gliderport in La Jolla.
Shuttles will run from Del Mar (Solana Gate) and UTC executive lots for $15.
“We felt with it was the right thing to do, because of the recent weather issues. We welcome all golf fans to come out to Torrey Pines on Monday, to watch the world’s best players,” said Peter Ripa, executive director for the Farmers Insurance Open.
