Phil Mickelson continued to bully the Blue Monster with a 6-under 66 and Tiger Woods put on a dynamic charge with a 9-under 63 Saturday to leave him only two shots behind after the third round of the Ford Championship.
The performances by two of golf's most popular players will pit the pair against one another in the final group on Sunday, their first head-to-head showdown in two years.
"We both know we're going to have to make a bunch of birdies," Woods said.
Woods overwhelmed the back nine with his power, no shot more memorable than when he drove the green on the 347-yard 16th, ending 45 feet from the pin for a two-putt birdie.
Mickelson was at 20-under 196, the 10th consecutive round in stroke play he has been atop the leaderboard.
Zach Johnson, who had to pull out of the pro-am with a bad back, shot a 64 and was six shots behind at 14-under 202, along with James Driscoll (67) and defending champion Craig Parry (67).
Vijay Singh couldn't keep pace with a 68 and was seven shots behind, joined by two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal (70) and former US Open champion Jim Furyk (67).
But the attention was on Woods and Mickelson, who last played in the final group at the 2003 Buick Invitational. Woods went on to win by four, with Mickelson six shots behind.
On Saturday, Woods had six birdies, finishing his round with an 8-footer on the 18th and in a television interview wished happy birthday to his father, Earl, who turned 73 on Saturday.
With blue skies, warm sunshine and leaderboard packed with the best players in golf, the galleries packed the Doral Golf Resort and Spa-Blue Course, standing six deep at the putting green.
They were rewarded with play such as Mickelson's perfectly judged a wedge out of the rough that hopped forward to 6 feet for birdie on No. 5, the start of three in a row. Mickelson led between four and five shots for much of the round.
Woods became a big part of it with tremendous shots along the back nine.
He hammered his 3-wood about 270 yards just over the flag, setting up an easy up-and-down for birdie from just off the green at 10. With another big 3-wood, this one from 262 yards into a stiff breeze, Woods became the first player all week to reach the 603-yard 12th hole in two for another birdie.
Then came the 16th, where the tees were moved up 25 yards to tempt players to drive the green.
Woods didn't realize he reached the green until he was halfway up the fairway.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the