Vaughn Taylor was losing ground and trying not to lose his temper when he saw a leaderboard on the sixth tee that showed him seven shots behind in the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday.
Imagine his surprise when he walked off the 18th with a hard-earned par and a two-shot lead.
On a wild day of shifting weather and changing fortunes, Taylor shot a 3-under 67 to seize control and set himself up for a chance to win a tournament where all the stars have come out to play.
The tough part is that most of them are still in the mix.
Ben Curtis, the former British Open champion who usually wins whenever he gets near the lead, had a 69 and was due to play with Taylor in the final group yesterday. Another shot back were Vijay Singh (67) and Tom Lehman (69), the former Ryder Cup captain who benched Taylor the first day of matches and now has to try to chase him down.
Fifteen players were within five shots of the lead, a group that includes Tiger Woods.
As badly as he played on Friday, Woods thought he had no business being in contention. As well as he hit the ball on Saturday, he figured there was no way he shouldn't have been around the lead. He had to settle for 16 pars and a 70, leaving him five shots back and facing odds of having never won at Arnie's place when he wasn't in the lead.
Taylor was at 8-under 202 and will have to overcome two glaring statistics. He ranks 166th on the US PGA Tour in final-round scoring average, and his only two victories came at the Reno-Tahoe Open, the same week the top players were gathered at Firestone for a World Golf Championship.
"I've just got to play like I've been playing the last few days, and hope things go my way," Taylor said.
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