Tiger leaps into hunt at Doral with sizzling 66

Woods stood on one-under 215 after 54 holes, leaving him in a share of fourth after three rounds, three off the pace.

American Patrick Reed shot a 69 to lead on 212 with countrymen Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan two back and Woods and Welshman Jamie Donaldson another stroke adrift.

A week after pulling out of the final round of the US PGA Honda Classic with back spasms, Woods displayed the form that has made him a 14-time major winner but has been seen inconsistently of late.

“I played well,” Woods said. “I got off to a good start. I held it together and made some putts.”

But Woods, 38, admits he still fights twinges of back pain even in a good round.

“It’s a little bit better,” Woods said. “Each day it gets sore and progressively more sore as the day goes on.”

Woods, who has won the event at Doral’s Blue Monster seven times, did not play a practice round after days of treatment to ease his back pain, reduced only to chipping and putting practice and a walk of the course on Wednesday.

Given Woods’ record at Doral, that would not normally be a huge problem, but new owner Donald Trump spent the past year revamping the layout and many holes were completely new to Woods and the elite field.

Woods said “it is really hard” to know how to read the greens in only two days, but after an opening 76 and a 73 in round two, Woods mastered them.

 

Ariya finishes joint fourth

Resurgent Ariya Jutanugarn shot a finishing 71 to land joint fourth while world No 1 In-bee Park won her first title of the year in the US$500,000 Mission Hills World Ladies Championships at the par-73 6,206-yard Mission Hills Hainan’s Blackstone Course yesterday.

The Thai teenager swapped two birdies with two bogeys at the front nine before sinking two more birdies on the 10th and 12th holes and settled with a total 15-under-par 277 to take the fourth spot along with Australian amateur Minjee Lee who fired a back-to-back 69 for a total 277.

The fourth-place finish was the best result by the 19-year-old who was playing in her third tournament after an-eighth month break due to right shoulder injury. She earlier missed the cut in an LPGA event in Victoria and finished 51st in the home event in Pattaya last month.

World No 1 In-bee lifted her first title of the season after she sank a final 67 for a total 24-under-par 268 to beat world No 3 Suzann Pettersen by five strokes. Pettersen was struggling with her putts all day as she hit two birdies against a bogey for a 72 and a total 19-under-par 273. At lone third was South Korean So Yeon Ryu who carded a 276.

 In-bee also won the team event along with So Yeon Ru after they sank a total 40-under-par 544, followed by China represented by Shanshan Feng and Xi Yu Lin who hit a combined 12-under par 572. Ariya and Nontaya Srisawang finished third with a total 10-under-par 574.

“I didn’t play well today. My iron didn’t work. It was very windy and was raining a lot. I couldn’t find my rhythm. But I still hit the target by finishing in the top 5,” said Ariya who will defend her title in Morrocco this week.