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'This is awesome' Mike Weir continues his hot streak
Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 06:37 PM
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Mike Weir bounced back from finishing the front nine with two bogeys by making birdies on five of the first six holes of the back side in a 3-under 68 Saturday that gave him a one-shot lead after three rounds of the Michelob Championship. Notah Begay shot a 69 and was tied for second with second-round leader Tom Byrum, who had three birdies and two bogeys in an uneventful 70. "This is awesome," said the left-handed Weir, who six weeks ago won for the first time with a closing 64 in the Air Canada Championship. "I love being in this position. I worked very hard for seven years to be in this position." Weir can also feel good about his play on the back nine. After shooting a 3-over 38 there the first day, he had a 29 Friday and a 31 Saturday. Overall, he's 10 under on the nine the last two rounds, but 1 over on the par-36 front side. "The front nine sets up well for me," he said. "I don't know why I haven't been playing better." For the third straight round, the deep tangled rough and hard greens of the River Course at Kingsmill gave the field fits, one bad shot often leading to more. Begay, who has been in the lead or within a shot throughout, was in front at 9 under until he double-bogeyed the par-5 15th, a reachable 506-yard hole where many tee off thinking eagle or birdie but sometimes end up paying dearly. "That hole puts you in a mindset that you want to make an easy birdie," said Begay, who tried to lob a shot from hardpan next to the green and bladed it into woods behind the hole. He took a drop, chipped to 8 feet and two-putted. "I'm a very aggressive player, but it bites you now and again," he said. Lee Janzen was 6 under when he got to 15 and hit a solid drive down the left side of the fairway. Going for it, his second shot banked off a hill in the fairway and rolled into a deeply sloped pit about 60 yards short of the green. From there, his full-swing pitch from the fluffy, tangled rough was short and when he chipped to about 8 feet and missed the putt, he had dropped a shot. "I just really misjudged the hill," Janzen said. "I couldn't believe it." The two-time U.S. Open champion recovered with a 45-foot birdie putt on No. 18 - his eighth birdie of the day - and his 65 left him alone in fourth place at 207. "The last two days, the mistakes, I didn't concentrate well the whole way through," Janzen said. "I just challenged myself to concentrate on every shot today. That sounds pretty simple, but I have not been able to do that." Four others were at 208, including Jay Delsing, whose 65 tied Janzen for the round of the day on the 6,853-yard layout, Scott Verplank, who shot a 68 despite a bogey at No. 18, Tom Scherrer, who had a 66, and Kenny Perry, who shot a 67. Two-time defending champion David Duval followed two straight 70s with a 69 and remained within a hot wedge and putter of a third straight victory. He was in a tie for ninth with six others, most notably Dennis Paulson, who shot a 66. Divots: Peter Jacobsen remained one of the hottest players in the tournament. Since starting with a 43 on his first nine, Jacobsen's scorecard reads 32, 33, 32, 36 and 33. He's in the group four shots off the lead. ... Larry Rinker had a round Saturday that was much like what his younger brother did Friday. Larry had seven birdies over the first 16 holes to go from 3 over to 4 under, then double-bogeyed the par-3 17th and bogeyed the par-4 18th. In the second round, Lee Rinker was at 5 under after 17 holes before hitting two out of bounds and scoring an 8.
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