Power versus precision is the contest as the WGC Cadillac championship in Florida reaches what should be a thrilling climax today. Dustin Johnson, one of the mightiest hitters among the young American brigade, holds a slender advantage at 13 under par, but Luke Donald, who relies on deadly accuracy and a cool head is only two shots behind him, playing just as impressively in his own very different fashion.
Several contenders are at hand, including Hunter Mahan, the overnight leader who hung on to the lead for the best part of three days and may come again despite a bogey at the last which left him three adrift on 10 under. Another is Nick Watney, another power merchant, who enjoyed the lead himself until he made a critical error at the end of the day to finish 11 under. Also flying the flag for the shorter hitters are Matt Kuchar and Francesco Molinari at 11 and 10 under par.
Johnson, who can claim to be just about the longest hitter in the professional game, and one of the straightest, wrestled with the fearsome Blue Monster course and overpowered it. The back nine is harder than the front but Johnson took it apart in 31 strokes, five better than par. His 65, a seven-under score, was the round of the day.
Watney was all fireworks as well, right from the first hole where he made an eagle, but when he had a share of the lead on the 18th he drove into the lake and dropped two strokes, shooting 68.
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The manner of Donald’s ascent was hardly surprising. By hitting his iron shots close and making most of the putts he should have holed, he recorded six birdies over the first 11 holes. That was Donald playing just as well as he had when he won the most recent WGC championship, the match-play event in Arizona.
On the 14th, however, the plodding perfectionist seemed to have exchanged personas with someone like Seve Ballesteros. After a poor drive into a fairway bunker, he was faced with a most daunting shot from close to the lip but hit it so cleanly and well that he managed to make the green and holed the eight-foot putt for yet another birdie.
That piece of flair took Donald to 12 under par. Donald’s playing companion, Ernie Els, the defending champion, could only stand and admire as he struggled with his own game.
Alas, Donald’s only other mistake was costly. A blocked drive on the 18th gave approach to seven feet but missed the putt by a fraction. There must have been a tinge of regret when he signed for a superb 66.
After two years spent trying to improve an already excellent game by changing his swing, Padraig Harrington is at last beginning to show that it might make sense. He played beautifully over the front nine, with birdies on the first, fifth and eighth holes and no dropped shots. The only blemish in an excellent 68 which put him at nine under par was a bogey on the par-three 15th. Harrington has always been a man who thrives on the hardest courses, where others come to grief. That was why he won three Major championships with his old game, and why he may win more with the new one.
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Rory McIlroy had an up-and-down day that ended on the up, birdies on the last two holes bringing him to 10 under. It was good to see him fighting to the last. The surprise was that while a host of players made progress, with more than a dozen in contention, Martin Kaymer, the world No 1 was heading downwards.
While the overnight leaders were setting out, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson completed rounds which emphasised the degree to which they are both struggling to remember just how well they can play.
Woods managed to break par with a 70 that left him at two under and too far behind to contemplate victory. It was a scrappy round in which his driving was errant, his approach play ordinary and his scrambling decent. Mickelson should have been able to motivate himself in Woods’s company, but he was even more out of sorts and shot 72.
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