Henrik Stenson leads at the Tour Championship as the rain brings everyone together

ATLANTA - By the end of the day's play at East Lake Golf Club, which came shortly before 2 p.m. ET, the rain was blowing sideways. The fairways were soggy and the greens were soaked. Indeed, there wasn't a surface anywhere outdoors at the Tour Championship that was anything close to dry.

Even so, Henrik Stenson, veteran of pelting-rain British Opens, called this just a "five out of 10" on the severe-weather scale. "This is kids' stuff, compared at least to the Saturday round at the British Open at St. George's. If I remember, that was like playing in a car wash."

[Related: Tiger Woods still mired far down the leaderboard]

Even so, the weather had its inexorable way with Stenson and the rest of the field. At the turn, Stenson was leading the tournament by nine strokes and looking like he was in complete control of the FedEx Cup. Nine holes later, his lead had dwindled to four, and his chances of taking home the Tour Championship weren't quite so bright.

"I'll choose to look at it from the bright side even though the weather is not that bright at the moment," he said. "Started the day with a four-shot lead, and I still got it. So that's all that matters, really."

After carding just two bogeys the first 45 rounds of the tournament, Stenson bogeyed four of the final nine holes. Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson was putting together a string of birdies, including three over the final six, to pull within four of Stenson.

"It was just a good solid stretch of golf," Johnson said of his round. "If I can keep driving it straight, then I'm going to give [Stenson] a run [Sunday]." The largest come-from-behind win at the Tour Championship was five strokes by Camilo Villegas in 2008.

[Related: Adam Scott drops out of contention after falling ill]

Stenson's 69 was the worst of his week by far, following Friday's 66 and Thursday's 64. Strangely enough, this is the first time that Stenson has ever held or shared a third-round lead. With a victory on Sunday, he's assured of winning the FedEx Cup. He could still win the Cup without winning the tournament, provided Tiger Woods finishes low enough.

Weather on Sunday is expected to return to "playable," which means the leaders will tee off at 1:55 p.m. ET. Stenson and Johnson will be paired together. As nobody else is within five strokes of the lead, the competition will be afoot right from the first tee.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Naked Pics Of Holly Sonders. The Big News To Emerge From The 2013 PGA Show

Image
The media centre at the 2013 PGA Show was buzzing yesterday.  Not because of anything that happened at the show.  God forbid! When I rocked in, several men (and one woman) were gathered around an iphone ogling and sharing  two pics of who they claimed were Holly Sonders naked. Now I have to hold my hands up and say, I had to google her to find out she’s from The Golf Channel. I don’t watch the Golf Channel because I don’t have an erectile dysfunction problem or need to rent a car from National.  I’m told adverts for both are all that’s on that channel. How they knew for certain it was her, I dont know.  Unless the cheeks of her ass were on her passport photo and they recognized them from there, but I doubt it. The First Pic The first pic is taken from behind. No pun intended.  The media guys say it was taken by her fiancee (?) and shows Holly in a white thong which has disappeared a dangerously long ways into the bummage.  I’m talking t...
Read more

Sarah Stirk Nipple Gate: Navy Top Leaves Viewers Disappointed

Image
London: Sky Sports management this morning issued a statement  apologizing to subscribers after Sarah Stirk wore a navy dress live on air.  It is believed up to 60,000 horny golfers were left limp after they tuned in to final round coverage of the Valero Texas Open in the hope of getting a glimpse of the legendary Stirk starter buttons. “I pay my subscription, I’m bloody well entitled to see Sarah’s Wimbledon strawberries” said factory worker Paul Manning 52 from Hereford. “I even missed the ten minute freeview, coz my mate Derek tweeted that Stirk was going into the shot centre for ten minutes at 11pm”. The Sky statement read: We apologize unreservedly for the navy dress Sarah wore during last nights broadcast, through which no nipples were visible. This was due to a wardrobe malfunction. However we do intend to rectify this during our US Masters coverage and assure viewers that plenty of bridge rivets will be on show, both from Sarah and special guest Colin M...
Read more

Holly Sonders Quits Golf Channel After Contract Talks Fail. Moves To Fox.

Image
Tissues at the ready guys as this will come as a shock to you all that Holly Sonders , the female face of the Golf Channel, has quit and reportedly taken a job with Fox Sports. According to  reports Sonders, who appeared regularly on “Morning Drive” since 2011, could not come to an agreement on a new contract deal with the Golf Channel and was quickly snapped up by Fox Sports where she is expected to work on golf and NFL. Related: Holly Sonders Does The Ice Bucket Challenge We've had some fun with Holly over the last few years ( was that really her in those nudie pics? ) but now it looks like we'll be crying into those tissues. Join the GolfCentralDaily community on Twitter for loads more comment on and off the course. Follow @golfcentraldoc
Read more