World No. 1 Tiger Woods, seeking his eighth career victory at the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational, fired a two-under 68 on Saturday to keep a seven-stroke lead after 54 holes.
One day after matching the lowest round of his career and the Firestone Country Club course record with a 61, Woods maintained the same gap he had opened on the field on Friday, with a three-round total of 15-under 195.
“I feel pretty good,” Woods said. “Today was a day that I didn’t quite have it, but I scored, and the name of the game is posting a number and I did, grinded my way around that golf course. I was just trying to build on my lead somehow, just trying to build on it, 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.”
Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, was in a commanding position to claim his fifth victory of the season and has sent a message that he is in top form entering this week’s PGA Championship, the final major of the year.
“Any time you can go into a major tournament or any tournament with a win under your belt, it’s nice,” Woods said. “It validates what you’re working on and you have some nice momentum going in there, and hopefully I can seal the deal tomorrow and get ready for the PGA at Oak Hill.”
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson fired a 67 to stand second on 202, one stroke in front of Jason Dufner of the US, who also shot a 67 on Saturday.
England’s Luke Donald and Chris Wood, and Bill Haas of the US shared fourth on 204, with Keegan Bradley of the US and Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez on 205.
Woods opened with back-to-back birdies, then closed the front nine with a bogey, only to answer with a birdie at the 10th. Woods birdied the 13th, but took a bogey at the next hole and continued the up-and-down run with a bogey at the par-five 16th followed by a birdie at the par-four 17th.
“All in all, two-under-par is not too bad,” Woods said. “I birdied the first two right out of the gate, and I figured if I could somehow just keep the card clean and not make any bogeys, and maybe throw a couple more in there, it would be a pretty good day.”
Woods is 52-4 when leading or sharing the 54-hole lead. He has won nine times in PGA events by eight or more shots and his current lead in the largest in a PGA Tour event since Rory McIlroy led by eight after three rounds of the 2011 US Open.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS