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Sergio Garcia finds water 3 times on last 2 holes at 2013 Players Championship

2013-05-12T22:55:48Z

Sergio Garcia has had an eventful weekend at TPC Sawgrass, calling out Tiger in public and spending most of two days at the top of the leaderboard. The drama with Tiger will continue, but his stay at the top came to an abrupt end at the famous par-3 17th hole at the Stadium Course.

More: Drama! Sergio blames Tiger for poor shot

Coming off a birdie at the par-5 16th, Sergio strolled to the 17th tee in a tie for first with Tiger. The door was opened by Woods earlier when he yanked his tee shot into the water down the fairway at No. 14, but Sergio matched, and then exceeded him at No. 17.

Garcia took aim at the traditional far-right Sunday pin location and his title hopes came undone. Sergio's first tee shot was well short of the island green and dropped right in the water in front of the bunker protecting that side of the green.

After the first one, Sergio still theoretically had a chance to go bogey-birdie coming in and hope Tiger dropped a shot on the last. Moments later, he opted to take his second shot from the tee as opposed to the drop area and this time just landed it on the front of the island. But the ball cruelly rolled back onto the wood beams that line the edge of the island and fell back into the water. Just like that, it was all over for Sergio:

The back-to-back water balls, particularly that second one, provoked some loud cheers at the amphitheater setting on the 17th. Just for good measure, the former Players Champion decided to donate one more ball to the course on the 18th, pulling one into the large lake that lines the entire left side of the fairway.

Poor Sergio.

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

Players Championship leaderboard: Tiger Woods finds water, double-bogey results in 4-way tie

2013-05-12T22:00:28Z

An hour ago, I wrote that the 2013 Players Championship Tiger Woods' to lose and all he needed to do is avoid a blow-up hole, particularly at No. 14 where he's historically had trouble. Welp, Tiger didn't exactly stick to the script of safely conserving his two-shot lead coming into the clubhouse.

More: Complete coverage of The Players Championship

At No. 14, the hole where Woods is most uncomfortable on the course, Tiger absolutely pulled a fairway wood into the lake down the left side. Woods ball went came hard left right off the tee, crossing over the bunker that abuts the fairway and then diving into the drink. His ball went left so quickly that it crossed the red stake marked hazard way back around where the fairway starts just off the tee. According to Golf Channel's Tiger Tracker, the drop was about 40 yards in front of the women's tees.

Looks like about 40 yards in front of ladies' tees. Bogey from here will be a small victory. RT @moachistloves where will he drop?
— GC Tiger Tracker (@GCTigerTracker) May 12, 2013

Mark Rolfing, who's out with Tiger's group and was right behind the tee shot, said the drop looked good but that didn't stop Johnny Miller from trying to stir something up:

Johnny Miller on Tiger’s drop on 14: "That was really, really borderline. I couldn’t live with myself without saying that."
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) May 12, 2013

Woods was sure to consult with the marshalls, caddies, and his playing partner, Casey Wittenberg before deciding where to drop. It was almost certainly a good drop, but he still had well over 225 yards to the hole and was on a sidehill lie in the rough. Tiger hit a laser fairway wood to put his ball just in front of the green, but could not get up and down for the bogey "save." He blasted his putt past the hole and settled for the double, dropping to 12-under and a four-way tie at the top with Jeff Maggert, Sergio Garcia, and David Lingmerth.

Tiger still has the par-5 16th ahead of him, and he'll get his chances at a couple more birdies, but the water ball has certainly brought the rest of the leaderboard back into it with five holes to go.

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

Tiger Woods takes 2-shot lead at 2013 Players Championship

2013-05-12T20:34:48Z

It appears that Tiger Woods, the best closer in the history of the sport, is on his way to his fourth win of the season and win No. 78 for his career at The Players Championship on Sunday.

Midway through his final round, Woods is currently 13-under for the tournament, two shots ahead of the field.

In his prolific career, Woods has held a share of the 54-hole lead a total of 56 times in his career -- he's failed to win in that scenario only four times. Trying to compete with that absurd history Sunday afternoon are players such as Jeff Maggert, Sergio Garcia and David Lingmerth, a rookie making his debut at the event.

More: Drama! Sergio blames Tiger for poor shot

Historically, the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course has not been a favorite annual stop of Tiger's, and he's often cited the "tricky" sight lines of the Pete Dye original. But, sticking true to his 2013 form, he had no trouble with the course through the first two days.

Saturday was a bit tougher for Woods, as he occasionally went wayward off the tee while hitting some mediocre approach and chip shots. He was back in the form Sunday morning, however, and played a clean final four holes to finish up in a tie for the lead.

That form has continued on Sunday afternoon, with the front nine being perhaps his best stretch of the week. Tiger went out in 34, but it could have been lower as he had a good birdie look on almost every single hole.

He did card one bogey at No. 6, but promptly responded with a huge birdie putt from just off the green at No. 7. Tiger's putts have been around the hole all day, and he was three burned edges away from opening with five straight birdies.

More: Complete coverage of The Players Championship

Tiger did finish with a relatively disappointing par on the par-5 ninth hole, but he makes the turn with a 2-shot lead. The back side is a nine-hole stretch that Tiger has historically played well, save for repeated trouble at No. 14.

With two more par-5s in front of him, that 13-under number is likely to go higher. Unless there's some uncharacteristic blow-up, it should be another inward march to victory for Woods.

Here's a snapshot of the leaderboard chasing Tiger with nine holes to play:

Score	Player	Thru
-13	Tiger Woods	9
-11	David Lingmerth	8
-11	Sergio Garcia	8
-11	Jeff Maggert	10
-11	Martin Laird	16

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

Henrik Stenson's golf ball walks the plank

2013-05-12T20:11:01Z

The par-4 fourth hole at TPC Sawgrass was an adventure for Swede Henrik Swenson. The Stadium Course is sometimes criticized as a tricked-up made-for-TV design, and Stenson's approach at No. 4 was comparable to a mini-golf excursion through various course props.

Stenson sent his drive completely off the course and had to punch back out at almost a 90-degree angle. But he put too much on it and the ball came bounding down the cart path, where it fortuitously settled on a bridge.

Taking relief from the lie would have resulted in a drop behind some trees, so Stenson opted to play it right off planks and put it in the center of the green for an opportunity to save par.

But the golf gods evened things out after Stenson got the fortunate resting spot on the bridge, and the 2009 Players Champion three-putted from inside 13 feet to make double bogey anyways.

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

Players Championship leaderboard: Tiger Woods maintains lead with amazing run at par-5s

2013-05-12T19:02:08Z

After picking up an early morning birdie to finish his third round at 11-under, Tiger Woods walked to the No. 1 tee to start a round at TPC Sawgrass holding a lead, or co-lead, for the first time in his career. It didn't take long for Tiger to add another red number on his second time out, carding a birdie at No. 2 to move to 12-under and match leader David Lingmerth.

Woods opened with solid tee-to-green play at the first hole, putting his drive in the fairway and approach shot in the middle of the green. He had a good look at birdie, but his putt burned the edge and he walked off with another par.

While Tiger is not particularly comfortable at Pete Dye's Stadium Course, he has taken the familiar route to the top of the leaderboard -- by dominating the par-5s. That's exactly how he's taken the lead throughout his career, including this year at more preferred courses like Torrey Pines. He went through the first 12 par-5s in 10-under, and at No. 2, he had played it birdie-eagle-birdie through the first three days. It was also the scene on Saturday where he pulled his drive into the trees and allegedly fussed around on his approach, shot, prompting the controversy with Sergio. On Sunday, he put his drive left down the tree line but the ball managed to sneak through the corner and into the first cut. He mishit his second shot, but was still able to get up-and-down from the greenside rough to continue his amazing run at the par-5s.

More: Drama! Sergio blames Tiger for poor shot

Meanwhile, one group behind Woods is Sergio Garcia, who said this morning that it was for the best that he and Tiger were splitting up in the afternoon. For all the drama yesterday, Garcia did hang in through the third round and picked up consecutive birdies this morning to hold onto a share of the lead. On his opening hole, Garcia sent his drive off the fairway into the right rough, but hit a brilliant approach from an awkward lie to within 10 feet. Sergio's putter was off-line, however, and he walked off with a disappointing opening par. But if he has his ball-striking working like that, he'll be in it throughout the day.

Sergio's playing partner, David Lingmerth, did capitalize on his birdie chance at No. 1 to momentarily take sole possession of the lead at 12-under. With all the powerhouse names around him, Lingmerth has to pick up some early birdies to stick around and get things to the back nine still at the top of the board.

Here's a current snapshot of the early leaderboard with the full field now out on the course:

Score	Player	Thru
-12	Tiger Woods	2
-12	David Lingmerth	1
-11	Ryan Palmer	3
-11	Sergio Garcia	1
-10	Jeff Maggert	4
-10	Henrik Stenson	3
-10	Casey Wittenberg	2

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

2013 Players Championship: Tiger Woods claims the title

2013-05-12T13:10:45Z

Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods battled right down to the final two holes on Sunday. After some unlucky breaks for Sergio, Tiger picked up the big win.

Inclement weather has affected the PGA Tour almost every single week in the 2013 season, and that trend continued at the Players Championship. A couple different lines of thunderstorms moved into the Ponte Vedra Beach area late in the afternoon, interrupting play for the final groups still out on the course and pushing the conclusion of the third round to a Sunday morning restart at 7 a.m. ET

More: Drama! Sergio blames Tiger for poor shot

The rain had pounded TPC Sawgrass prior to the tournament, dumping more than 10 inches of water just before the game's fifth major was scheduled to tee off. At one point, the island green at No. 17 was under water just days before the start. Luckily for the Tour, which has dealt with rain, snow, wind, and lightning so far this year, the first two days, with more cumbersome and full 145 players in the field, went off without delay. Saturday's weather stoppage should not affect play too much, unless more inclement weather blankets the area and forces yet another Monday finish with Tiger Woods involved.

The first delay hit just after 4 p.m. ET and the players were carted off to the clubhouse, a harbinger of a lengthy stoppage. It was nearly two hours before the golfers got back out on the course, and the final pairing of Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods had completed just six holes. Beginning around 7 p.m. ET, about an hour after the restart, another line of thunderstorms moved into the area. Play was called before 8 p.m., not because of the threat of lightning, but rather because the clouds were so heavy that officials decided to call it due to darkness. Garcia and Woods were through 14 holes.

There are eight players in total still out on the course, including current leader David Lingmerth. The relatively unknown Swede has a two-shot lead over Woods, Garcia, and Henrik Stenson. But he still has the extremely difficult 18th hole in front of him, where a bogey is always lurking.

Tiger and Sergio are actually in the fairway at No. 15, choosing not to finish the hole after the second horn sounded. Officials gave the players the option to play out, and some, such as Stenson, opted to finish up their current hole. Woods and Garcia marked their balls and then promptly went to the clubhouse to indirectly exchange barbs.

They will be part of the 7 a.m. restart, and should be done by 8 a.m. with just three full holes left. Because almost the entire field has completed their round, and the leaders are deep into the back nine, the Tour will re-pair the players instead of sending them out in rolling fashion to get everyone in on time Sunday night. Those new tee times and groups should come out as soon as the final third round group finishes, and the first players out should tee off shortly after 8 a.m. ET.

More: Complete coverage of The Players Championship

While the weather interrupted any drama on the course, the war of words in the press between Tiger and Sergio will ensure those early AM holes are must-watch. Tiger confirmed that he know about Garcia's initial comments over the controversy at No. 2 before they went back out, and he came in after the second delay to tell the press that it wasn't surprising to find Sergio complaining about something. He also said, with a wry smile, that there wasn't a whole lot of talking between the two before the dust-up later in the round.

It's all an incredibly exciting, by golf standards, war of words. If the golf gods are good to us, those two will end up playing again in the final round later on Sunday. But if it's only this final hour, that will be enough. Despite the restart before the originally scheduled broadcast time, Golf Channel will still carry coverage beginning right at 7 a.m. ET. It's the benefit of having the tournament under one umbrella, as NBC simply shifts the conclusion over to its sister network before taking things over again Sunday afternoon for the fourth round.

So before you head to Mother's Day brunch, flip on Golf Channel to see if Tiger and Sergio get off the course without coming to blows.

***UPDATE -- With the third round now over, here's the tee sheet for the final round on Sunday:

Tee Time	Pairing
08:35 AM	Van Pelt, Bo
08:40 AM	Blixt, Jonas	Curtis, Ben
08:49 AM	Points, D.A.	Teater, Josh
08:58 AM	Wi, Charlie	Sabbatini, Rory
09:07 AM	Davis, Brian	Harrington, Padraig
09:16 AM	Schwartzel, Charl	Kaymer, Martin
09:25 AM	Pettersson, Carl	Leonard, Justin
09:34 AM	Campbell, Chad	Bohn, Jason
09:43 AM	Hahn, James	Noh, Seung-Yul
09:52 AM	Barnes, Ricky	Choi, K.J.
10:01 AM	Howell III, Charles	Thompson, Michael
10:10 AM	Huh, John	DeLaet, Graham
10:19 AM	Walker, Jimmy	Weekley, Boo
10:28 AM	Day, Jason	Hoffman, Charley
10:38 AM	Bae, Sang-Moon	Kirk, Chris
10:48 AM	Donald, Luke	Herron, Tim
10:58 AM	Jacobson, Freddie	English, Harris
11:08 AM	Senden, John	Hearn, David
11:18 AM	Chappell, Kevin	McGirt, William
11:28 AM	Driscoll, James	Johnson, Zach
11:38 AM	Cabrera, Angel	Watson, Bubba
11:48 AM	Scott, Adam	Kuchar, Matt
11:58 AM	Kelly, Jerry	Simpson, Webb
12:08 PM	Hanson, Peter	Crane, Ben
12:18 PM	Castro, Roberto	Every, Matt
12:28 PM	Love III, Davis	Romero, Andres
12:38 PM	McIlroy, Rory	Summerhays, Daniel
12:48 PM	Snedeker, Brandt	Laird, Martin
12:58 PM	Stroud, Chris	de Jonge, Brendon
01:08 PM	Grace, Branden	Stanley, Kyle
01:18 PM	Dufner, Jason	Oosthuizen, Louis
01:28 PM	Streelman, Kevin	Stricker, Steve
01:38 PM	O'Hair, Sean	Overton, Jeff
01:48 PM	Leishman, Marc	Westwood, Lee
01:58 PM	Mahan, Hunter	Chalmers, Greg
02:08 PM	Maggert, Jeff	Lynn, David
02:18 PM	Stenson, Henrik	Palmer, Ryan
02:28 PM	Woods, Tiger	Wittenberg, Casey
02:38 PM	Lingmerth, David	Garcia, Sergio

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

The Players Championship: Tee times, TV schedule for Sunday

2013-05-12T12:50:01Z

The final round pairings are now set at The Players Championship, with the first groups going off just 35 minutes after the third round concluded first thing Sunday morning. The PGA Tour made the decision to re-pair the golfers for the fourth round because so many players were able to finish on Saturday night, and the leaders got so far into their round. So there was no need to keep the players together in rolling succession in order to get the final round in on Sunday.

More: Drama! Sergio blames Tiger for poor shot

Unfortunately, that means Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods will not play together again. The two finished Sunday morning with the same score, 11-under, but so did David Lingmerth. Thus, the Garcia-Woods group, whose drama has dominated the entire weekend at TPC Sawgrass, will be broken up and Sergio will go off in the final pairing of the day with Lingmerth. Sergio makes the last group because he had the honor on the tee on Saturday, holding the lead over Woods and getting the first tee shot. After the round, Garcia said it was for the best that the two be split up, but Tiger didn't seem to care too much either way.

More: Complete coverage of The Players Championship

Tiger will play with Casey Wittenberg one group ahead of Sergio, going off at 2:28 p.m. ET. While the conditions were perfect during Sunday morning's conclusion to the third round, there is still a 30 percent chance out there for more storms on Sunday. NBC, the traditional network partner at The Players, will have the coverage on Sunday afternoon beginning with their pregame show at 1:30 p.m. ET. The live coverage will then start at 2 p.m. and run until the last shot is hit, scheduled around 7 p.m. Here's the tee sheet for Sunday's final round:

Tee Time	Pairing
08:35 AM	Van Pelt, Bo
08:40 AM	Blixt, Jonas	Curtis, Ben
08:49 AM	Points, D.A.	Teater, Josh
08:58 AM	Wi, Charlie	Sabbatini, Rory
09:07 AM	Davis, Brian	Harrington, Padraig
09:16 AM	Schwartzel, Charl	Kaymer, Martin
09:25 AM	Pettersson, Carl	Leonard, Justin
09:34 AM	Campbell, Chad	Bohn, Jason
09:43 AM	Hahn, James	Noh, Seung-Yul
09:52 AM	Barnes, Ricky	Choi, K.J.
10:01 AM	Howell III, Charles	Thompson, Michael
10:10 AM	Huh, John	DeLaet, Graham
10:19 AM	Walker, Jimmy	Weekley, Boo
10:28 AM	Day, Jason	Hoffman, Charley
10:38 AM	Bae, Sang-Moon	Kirk, Chris
10:48 AM	Donald, Luke	Herron, Tim
10:58 AM	Jacobson, Freddie	English, Harris
11:08 AM	Senden, John	Hearn, David
11:18 AM	Chappell, Kevin	McGirt, William
11:28 AM	Driscoll, James	Johnson, Zach
11:38 AM	Cabrera, Angel	Watson, Bubba
11:48 AM	Scott, Adam	Kuchar, Matt
11:58 AM	Kelly, Jerry	Simpson, Webb
12:08 PM	Hanson, Peter	Crane, Ben
12:18 PM	Castro, Roberto	Every, Matt
12:28 PM	Love III, Davis	Romero, Andres
12:38 PM	McIlroy, Rory	Summerhays, Daniel
12:48 PM	Snedeker, Brandt	Laird, Martin
12:58 PM	Stroud, Chris	de Jonge, Brendon
01:08 PM	Grace, Branden	Stanley, Kyle
01:18 PM	Dufner, Jason	Oosthuizen, Louis
01:28 PM	Streelman, Kevin	Stricker, Steve
01:38 PM	O'Hair, Sean	Overton, Jeff
01:48 PM	Leishman, Marc	Westwood, Lee
01:58 PM	Mahan, Hunter	Chalmers, Greg
02:08 PM	Maggert, Jeff	Lynn, David
02:18 PM	Stenson, Henrik	Palmer, Ryan
02:28 PM	Woods, Tiger	Wittenberg, Casey
02:38 PM	Lingmerth, David	Garcia, Sergio

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green

Players Championship leaderboard: Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia share lead at TPC Sawgrass

2013-05-12T12:15:13Z

The third round is now complete after an early Sunday morning conclusion at The Players Championship, and it's Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, and David Lingmerth sharing the lead at 11-under. Unfortunately, Tiger and Sergio, who exchanged barbs on Saturday to take their relationship from chilly to hostile, will not be paired together. Garcia will be out in the afternoon in the final group with Lingmerth, with Tiger one group ahead.

More: Drama! Sergio blames Tiger for poor shot

Lingmerth started the morning with a two-shot lead over Woods and Garcia, but he promptly gave back a shot at the dicey 18th hole. Lingmerth started with a tee shot on the 18th, one of the most difficult and intimidating tee shots on the PGA Tour. He sent his ball way right into the trees, and made bogey to drop to 11-under.

As Lingmerth was making bogey, Tiger was opening his day on No. 15. Woods and Garcia opted not to finish out the hole on Saturday night, so Woods started the morning with a wedge in his had for the approach shot. Tiger stuck the short wedge just below the hole, but missed the birdie putt to stay at 10-under. On the next hole, however, Tiger would get his birdie to get into the share of the lead. Woods has owned the par-5s at TPC Sawgrass this week, and he played No. 16 perfectly for yet another red number. He's 10-under through 12 par-5s this week, and it was a solid way to finish the round after some disappointing pars on two par-5s yesterday.

More: Complete coverage of The Players Championship

Tiger had another good birdie look at the iconic 17th hole, but his putt burned the right edge and he settled for a par. He'd also two-putt for par on the difficult 18th to come in with a round of 71, one shot better than his playing partner. Garcia did get back in it with birdies at Nos. 16 and 17 to pull back into a share of the lead. His tee shot hit the flagstick at the island hole, but fortunately, it died and settled short of the cup instead of ricocheting back into the water. Gacia took advantage and put his ball in the center of the hole for the birdie, capping an even-par round of 72.

Here's the top of the leaderboard at the end of the third round:

Player	Score
David Lingmerth	-11
Sergio Garcia	-11
Tiger Woods	-11
Casey Wittenberg	-10
Henrik Stenson	-10
Ryan Palmer	-10
Jeff Maggert	-9
David Lynn	-8
Hunter Mahan	-8

More on The Players

• Tiger, Sergio spar over distraction

• Tiger trails by 2 after rain-suspended 3rd round

• Head-to-head, Tiger owns Sergio

• John Daly's legal advice for Vijay Singh

• Some water ball stats on the island 17th green