A brilliant display of putting in a five-under-par round of 65 took Zach Johnson to the head of the field at nine under par after three rounds of the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron Ohio.
Johnson shares the lead with big-hitting Thomas Pieters of Belgium, who led the tournament for most of the day but wasted several strokes before sinking a long birdie putt of his own on the final hole to ensure his dinner tasted a little better.
An early and unlikely challenge came from Scott Hend of Australia, who began his round almost two hours before the leaders but made giant forward strides with a seven-under-par 63 that took him to eight under par overall. Hend’s explanation was simple: “I had a fantastic day on the greens.” Pieters, the strapping lad with boundless talent, started like a train, reaping the rewards of the patience he had shown in his second round, in which every birdie putt seemed to graze the hole and every par putt was a tap in.
On Friday evening, tired and frustrated, Pieters admitted that he is not yet the finished article — a surprising admission from a man who played so well during his Ryder Cup debut last year. “I can be too hard on myself if I don’t hit a perfect shot. I have to accept half-decent ones,” he said.
That was still a problem yesterday as he forged a three-stroke lead but faltered late on in his round, allowing frustration to get the better of him.
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He opened with three consecutive birdies, hitting his drives miles down the fairways and his wedge shots close enough to make birdies more likely than not.
Pieters’ first dropped stroke came on the ninth hole. His drive finished among trees, from where his escape, threaded through a narrow gap, was both brave and effective.
The Belgian was left with a simple short pitch from close to the green but mishit it. His next chip finished eight feet short and some nerve was required to limit the damage to a bogey.
Having looked as if he might dominate, Pieters faced some serious questions over the back nine — no bad thing for a young player with vast ambitions. His immediate response was positive. A huge drive down the 10th and an accurate wedge shot brought another birdie. Pieters was playing like Dustin Johnson at his best.
He reached the turn in 31 strokes. His playing partner, Jimmy Walker, who led the field by two strokes at halfway, took 10 more and plunged out of contention. It is to his credit that he covered the back nine in 33. It was sad and excusable, for Walker has been suffering from Lyme disease, diagnosed early in April. On Friday, he had lingering ‘flu-like symptoms but managed to shoot a 65. He described hitting weird shots and finding it hard to concentrate and clearly was similarly affected in his third round. He defends his US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow next week, a daunting prospect.
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Rory McIlroy suffered some familiar irritations, mostly with the putter. It wasn’t that he was putting poorly, jut that his well-struck putts kept slipping past the hole.
For his first two rounds, McIlroy played with Jordan Spieth. That meant showing Spieth how well he can drive and watching Spieth show him how well he can putt.
It was the same story as McIlroy accompanied Johnson around the Firestone Country Club. McIlroy’s drives sailed miles past Johnson’s; Johnson’s approaches were marginally the better, and his putts were Spieth-like.
But McIlroy, whose good mood has not wavered throughout the week, stuck to his task. His front nine was a case of missed chances and a bogey on the 10th was the price of a rare bad drive. Two birdies followed, the second a chip-in on the 12th, and at six under par he was back in the hunt.
McIlroy shot a 68. It could have been much better, but the problem was not the putter but the wedge. Far too often, McIlroy was in position to punch a shot really close to the hole but failed.
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Russell Knox, once of Inverness, now of Florida, has had a strange roller-coaster ride, taking the lead, relinquishing it, coming back, falling behind again and somehow mounting a further challenge. He was at it again yesterday with four birdies in a front nine of 31 and two bogeys early in his back nine.
Knox concluded by making a long birdie putt on the 18th to finish at five under par.