Saso shoots 64 again to overtake Ko at Lotte

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The roars were as loud as ever at Augusta National on Saturday as Tiger Woods continued to contend for a fifth green jacket. Woods shot a 5-under 67 to put himself in position for another magical Sunday at the Masters. Here’s a hole-by-hole look at his third round. MORE MASTERS Leaderboard | Tee times moved up for Sunday | Tales of Tiger’s equipment Tiger hole-by-hole ROUND 3 STATS: 9 of 14 fairways hit, 16 of 18 greens in regulation, 30 putts (no three-putts) 18 (par 4, 465 yards): Smashes 294-yard drive into the fairway, leaving only 164 yards to the pin at the uphill finishing hole. Slight pull on approach shot, ball winds up 35 feet left of pin. Two putts and he’s got a closing par for a third-round 67. Poulter shoots 68 and has still never shot lower than Woods in the six times they’ve played together on TOUR. Woods is just a shot behind Molinari, who is still back on the course. (Overall: 11 under) 17 (par 4, 440 yards): Finds short grass yet again with 294-yard drive, eighth hit fairway in 13 chances. Has had good control today. With 154 yards remaining, hits one of his few mediocre shots today, his ball winding up 43 feet short of the pin. Has fallen into a tie for second with Molinari getting to 12 behind him, and a two-putt par leaves him one back. (Overall: 11 under)  16 (par 3, 160 yards): Not a very gettable pin placement, four paces from the right edge, but that doesn’t dissuade Woods. His tee shot hits and sticks just inside seven feet from of the hole, giving himself a prime opportunity to roll in another birdie to tie for the lead. He converts to tie Finau and Molinari for the lead. (Overall: 11 under)  15 (par 5, 530 yards): Hits another fairway with 311-yard drive, but down the left side. Will he be blocked out? No, it turns out. With a clear look at the green, slightly overcooks second shot, ball ending up on the apron behind the green. Beautiful touch on his third shot as chip cozies up to two feet from the pin. Another birdie to pull to within just a shot of the lead, tied with Molinari and Schauffele. (Overall: 10 under) 14 (par 4, 440 yards): Woods hits his fifth fairway (of 10 chances) so far today, this time dialing back and settling for a 283-yard tee shot. Approach from 165 yards not a good one, though, coming up 37 feet short. Although he has made birdies here each of the first two days, Woods has little chance of that and two-putts for par. Up ahead of him, Finau has signed for a 64 and finished at 11 under. Woods still two back. (Overall: 9 under) 13 (par 5, 510 yards): Nearly turns easiest hole on the course into a disaster as hooks tee shot into trees, only to get a good break as the ball kicks out and remains playable. Hits a low, 160-yard hook around the trees, then skips his 69-yard third shot to six feet past the pin. Birdie putt catches the left edge. This could have been a bad hole, but it turns into a huge help as he moves back to just two behind Finau. (Overall: 9 under) 12 (par 3, 146 yards): With Finau getting to 11 under ahead of him, Woods is now three behind. Wedge shot flies a bit too far, settling 18 feet behind the pin. Overcast skies have given way to warm sunshine as Woods walks across Hogan Bridge, over Rae’s Creek. He’s been good from this range this week, but leaves birdie try just a few inches short. Easy par. (Overall: 8 under)  11 (par 4, 505 yards): Loses 341-yard tee shot right, but tells ball to go even farther right as it’s in the air. Takes nature walk amid the Georgia pines, temporarily losing sight of caddie Joe LaCava, and discovers he’s gotten his wish: The ball has come to rest in a clearing 156 yards from the pin. Hits a fine approach shot out of the trees to 33 feet behind the hole. Two-putt par. (Overall: 8 under)    10 (par 4, 495 yards): Hits 3-wood off tee and shapes perfectly for downhill, right-to-left fairway. Ball stops 303 yards away, leaving 187-yard approach. With Tony Finau first to reach 10 under well ahead, Woods is two back. Hits approach shot to fat of the green, leaving 23-foot birdie attempt. Birdie try burns the top edge of the cup and rolls two feet past. Taps in for par. (Overall: 8 under)   FRONT 9 STATS: 4 of 7 fairways hit, 7 of 9 greens in regulation, 15 putts 9 (par 4, 495 yards): First bad shot of the day, a wild right miss off the tee, comes on a hole where he’s historically struggled to hit the fairway. From pine straw hits a bullet that winds up 35 yards short of the green. Gets out of trouble, though, with a pitch to three feet below the hole. Makes it for a par to shoot 2-under 34 on the front nine. Still one back. (Overall: 8 under)   8 (par 5, 570 yards): Splits fairway with a 314-yard beauty, leaving just 265 yards to the back pin location. Second shot, too, is on target, traveling 266 yards and settling just 11 feet from the pin. Primed to make his fourth career eagle on the eighth, Woods, alas, misses and taps in for his third straight birdie. He’s back to just one off the lead, as he was to start the day. The other good news is it’s his first red number on the hole after a par Thursday and bogey Friday. (Overall: 8 under) 7 (par 4, 450 yards): Phil Mickelson, playing up ahead, used a long iron here, but after first birdie of the day Woods swings driver and 309-yard tee shot splits the fairway. Still chomping on that gum (like Phil), still fighting course to a draw on these difficult first seven holes. Hits 147-yard approach shot to mere inches from the pin for a tap-in birdie, his second in a row. Now in red numbers on the day. (Overall: 7 under) 6 (par 3, 180 yards): With many others going low on moving day, Woods seems to be stuck in neutral. His tee shot soars over the pin but too long, leaving himself an 18-footer for birdie. Woods led the field in putting from outside 20 feet the first two days (5/15), and coaxes his left-to-right birdie effort into the cup for his first birdie of the day. He’s back to even on the day. (Overall: 6 under) 5 (par 4, 495 yards): The hardest hole on the course, which he’s bogeyed each of the first two days, Woods gets in trouble immediately, pulling his 293-yard drive into the yawning left bunker. With a huge lip in front of him he has no choice but to lay up with a lofted iron, his ball coming down 87 yards short of the green. Third shot winds up 21 feet short of pin, and he misses par try. Taps in for third bogey here in three days. He’s now four back of Finau. (Overall: 5 under)    4 (par 3, 227 yards): Playing partner Ian Poulter has never beat Woods in the five times they’ve played together on the PGA TOUR. With both having started with three straight pars, both hit solid tee shots, Woods some 15 feet left of the pin. He narrowly misses his slight left-to-right birdie putt on the high side for his fourth straight par. With Tony Finau reaching 9 under ahead of him, Woods has gone from one behind to start the day to three behind. (Overall: 6 under)  3 (par 4, 350 yards): Driver down the right side of the fairway leaves a difficult angle to the left pin, with the green running away from him. Sure enough, pitch shot lands around the pin, but does not stop until it cozies up to the left fringe. Birdie effort breaks hard right and in front of the cup, leaving a tap-in par, his third straight par to begin the round. (Overall: 6 under) 2 (par 5, 575 yards): Woods, who hit just 7/14 fairways yesterday, misses fractionally to the right off the tee. Although he calls for the ball to move just one yard to the left, it bounds into the bunker, ruling out going for the green in two. He takes a mighty lash from 261 yards just to get the ball over the front lip, and leaves himself a 148-yard third shot. A conservative approach to well right of the left pin sets up a routine two-putt par. (Overall: 6 under) 1 (par 4, 445 yards): Woods shows up in a lavender mock T and gray slacks. He has had his issues with the opening hole at Augusta National, but splits the fairway with his drive but leaves his approach shot well short. (A common play amongst his fellow competitors on this hole today.) Putting uphill to the back pin location, he guns his first effort three feet past the pin, but makes the come-backer for a par. (Overall: 6 under) Pre-round notes TIGER’S PUTTING: Through the first two rounds, Tiger has been great from long range … and horrible from short range. From outside 20 feet, Tiger ranks first in the field, making 5 of 15 attempts for a rate of 33.33%. No other player in the field has made more than three putts from that distance. From inside 5 feet, however, Tiger has missed three of his 29 putts, leaving his conversion rate at 89.66%. Among the 65 players who made that cut, the only player with a worse percentage is amateur Alvaro Ortiz at 89.29%. From 5-10 feet, though, Ortiz leads the field, making all eight of his attempts. Woods has missed four of his eight attempts (50%). Just 12 players have lower percentage rates than Tiger from that distance. FAMILIAR PAIRING: Tiger is paired with Englishman Ian Poulter for the third round at the Masters for the second consecutive year. Both were well off the pace when they played together a year ago, with Tiger shooting an even-par 72 to end the round tied for 40th, while Poulter shot a 74 to drop into a tie for 50th at that point. Saturday will be the sixth round that Woods and Poulter have been in the same group at a PGA TOUR event. The first time was at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2010 when they were in the same threesome for the first two rounds. The last time was at THE NORTHERN TRUST during last season’s FedExCup Playoffs. Four times, Woods has shot the better score, and the other time they recorded the same score. RECENT SATURDAYS AT AUGUSTA: When Tiger won his last green jacket in 2005, he shot a 7-under 65 that moved him from six shots behind to three strokes ahead. That 65 tied for his lowest round in his Masters career – in fact, both of his 65s at Augusta National have happened in the third round. In his 10 starts since 2005, Tiger has shot in the 60s just twice in the third round, a 68 in 2008 and another 68 in 2015.

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Korean golfer Bio Kim told ESPN that he will not appeal a three-year ban for flipping off a spectator at a tournament because it might suggest his apology is not genuine.

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For as long as he can remember, Jay Seawell wanted to be a coach. Even when he was a little kid, he was glued to the TV when the pregame and postgame shows came on TV. By the time he was 15, Seawell was coaching his younger brother’s basketball and soccer teams at the YMCA. “I had my mother help me because I was only 15 and I had to have an adult there,â€� he recalls. Seawell’s first love was basketball but he wasn’t tall enough or talented enough to play the game at the highest level. But he did play golf at South Carolina and that’s when his career goals began to change. “My passion was always in helping people more than it was my own game,â€� Seawell explains. Six months on the mini-tours confirmed his decision – “they didn’t float my balloon,â€� he says. Besides, Seawell jokes, he’s probably the worst golfer in his family; brother David played two years on the Web.com Tour and one on the PGA TOUR, and both his father and brother Daniel are club professionals. “So I just decided to help other people who are really good,â€� Seawell says with a laugh. When an opportunity came to coach at what was then Anderson Junior College in 1991, Seawell took it. He became Augusta State’s head coach in 1998 and for the past 15 years has been at the helm of Alabama’s highly successful program. Under Seawell’s guidance, the Crimson Tide won national championships in 2013 and ’14, and finished runner-up in 2012. Five of his former players are on the PGA TOUR right now – Justin Thomas, Trey Mullinax, Tom Lovelady, Bud Cauley and Michael Thompson. Seawell says Thomas was probably 15 years old when he started recruiting the future world No. 1. He remembers getting a call from someone who said the teenager might be interested in attending Alabama and Seawell followed up immediately. After all, he says, Thomas could have gone anywhere in the country. He had the “buffet in front of him,â€� the coach explains. “The recruitment on him started from him, believe it or not, and that’s the way it happens a lot,â€� Seawell says. “There are a lot of players out there and so he just kind of sent word through a third party who called my phone. … “They said, ‘Hey, I think Justin Thomas would be somebody who’d be interested. They wanted me to know that if you’re interested they would like for me to watch him play.’ “So it kind of was initiated by Justin and his father and of course, when we first saw him we were like, ‘Wow, this is great.’â€� Jay Seawell coaches Justin Thomas during the future FedExCup champion’s time at Alabama.  Cauley’s recruitment was similar. Some people in Jacksonville, Florida told Seawell that he should go watch the 14-year-old play. He was the No. 1 amateur in the country when he committed to Alabama. “He’s slight in stature so he kind of underwhelmed you when you first saw him,â€� Seawell says. “But I don’t know if we’ve ever had anybody work harder at Alabama since I’ve been here.â€� Cauley, who has been sidelined by injuries suffered in a June automobile accident, went on to earn his TOUR card off the non-member money list – joining Gary Hallberg, Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore as the only players to bypass Q-school. Players like Lovelady and Mullinax flew a little more under the radar but went on to form the nucleus of the 2013 and ‘14 NCAA title teams.  Mullinax, for example, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama so Seawell got to see him develop as a golfer. “I am proud of Trey because it was somebody who technically we took a chance on because he wasn’t maybe as polished as somebody like (Justin),â€� Seawell says. “But I was fortunate enough to see him enough to know that he had a tremendous upside and he’s now becoming, I think he’s a got a great future.â€� Seawell is also impressed with Lovelady’s quick ascent to the TOUR after just one season on the Web.com Tour. “I’m not surprised he made it,â€� he says. “Just how quickly he did it and how quickly he’s kind of adjusted and been able to keep that (status) — that’s been a pleasant surprise to a young man who I’m very proud of.â€� Thompson, on the other hand, was a proven commodity when he came to Alabama after two years at Tulane before the golf team was disbanded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He went on to earn All-America honors in 2008, a year after he finished runner-up in the U.S. Amateur. He earned his TOUR card three years later. Seawell admits to being a “rah-rah guy.â€� He says he tends to “holler on the phoneâ€� when a player calls him to commit to Alabama and his three kids look forward to celebratory dinners. “You work really hard and you identify people that you truly believe in and when they tell you, yes, they want to be part of what you’re doing that means they believe in you, too,â€� Seawell says. “I take that very seriously.â€� Thomas has a FedExCup and nine TOUR wins on his resume now, including the 2017 PGA, while Thompson has won once. Cauley, Mullinax and Lovelady are still looking for that first TOUR title. But as much as he enjoys seeing his players succeed, Seawell is most proud of the bond they all have off the golf course. “The network of our guys and the care they have for each other and their games that’s the most I’m proud of,â€� Seawell says. “Trying to help each other and the friendships — I get practice round pictures all the time with them, you know, playing together and things like that. “That’s, that’s the part I love. I’m proud of how good they play, but I’m more proud of that.â€� Jay Seawell celebrates on the putting green with former Alabama athlete and TOUR player Trey Mullinax.  And here are 18 things Seawell says you might not know about his Crimson Tide TOUR veterans. 1. Justin broke into our practice facility while he was being recruited. Well, maybe not broke in. He was 15 or 16 years old and he and his father were heading back to Louisville for Thanksgiving after a tournament. They didn’t break the glass or anything. But everything was closed because it was a holiday and so he and his father jumped the fence because they wanted to see the place. That was before I’d ever met him. 2. Bud grew up a Florida fan. After Bud signed with us, I went to a tournament and he drove up to the course with a UF license plate on the front of the car. I remember saying, Bud, do you think you can get rid of that now? And he’d went, ‘Oh my gosh, I forgot it was on there.’ 3. When I first started recruiting Justin, he always wore long pants. He was one of the few guys who did that. He said, I’m going to be like the professionals and wear long pants. But as he got older and it got hotter and hotter, he tended to find a way to put on a pair of shorts. 4. Michael loves to restore cars. He’s got a 1965 or ’66 Mustang that he’s taken apart and rebuilt probably two or three times just because he may have left a screw out or whatever it may have been. 5. Justin drove to school in a 3- or 4- or 5-year-old Honda Civic. But he’s kind of gone way past that. I texted him after he won his first tournament. I said, do you think you’re going to get rid of the Honda Civic now? He said, ‘Oh, yes.’ I think he has a tradition. If he wins I think he goes and looks at leasing a car. He may buy one, I don’t know. But I said, we’ve come a long way from that Honda Civic.   6. Tom has been Justin’s roommate for several years. Bud has lived with them, too. 7. Bud’s dad was a Navy diver. That’s where I know Bud gets his toughness from.   8. When we won the 2013 NCAA Championship at the Capital City Club in Atlanta, we had a van that had a TV and DVR and a DVD player in it. And they literally watched that Will Ferrell movie “Semi-Proâ€� every single day. It was about a 30-minute ride from the hotel to the golf course and so it just stayed on the whole way. Guess that inspired them to win the championship. 9. Justin is a great practical joker as y’all have seen on the TOUR. Our practice facility is the Jerry Pate Golf Center and we used to have a wild cat there that we befriended. His name was Jerry Cat and she really acted like a dog. That’s the only reason she was able to stick around out there because I am not a cat guy. Anyway, she’d lay down at the side while you hit balls or whatever. And for some reason Justin liked to chase her. She’d see him coming and he’d do it almost daily. 10. Trey actually got run over by a car while he was riding his bicycle to class. The driver of the car was texting and driving and didn’t see him. The pedal went into Trey’s leg, so he has about a 4- or 5-inch scar in his calf. He called one of his teammates, Bobby Wyatt, to come get him and Bobby asked him why he didn’t just walk. Trey goes, I don’t think I can. I’ve got my bike lodged into my leg. 11. Tom’s father passed away right before his senior year. He always puts his initials on his golf ball before he plays. 12. Bud? Man, that guy loves rap. We called him “Little Williamâ€� –  really not because of his size, just because it’s kind of a good rapper name. 13. Trey’s dad used to be a NASCAR off-track racer. That’s why Trey has a great NASCAR slang voice. 14. Tom was an incredibly talented baseball player when he was in high school. It may be his first love. He always had a ball and a couple of gloves in his car and at any moment while we were practicing some of the guys might be throwing the ball back and forth. 15. Trey finished second to Rory McIlroy in driving distance this year. But we had another guy on our team, Scott Strohmeyer, who literally may be the longest hitter in golf. So we had both of those guys in camp one year and we were doing a thing with Scott on Trackman and I said Scott, I need you to hit one hard. The ball speed on the Trackman was 199.7 and he flew it 345 in the air. And Trey goes, let me go now, Coach. And poor Trey, he only hit about 315, 320 and it was the most underwhelming 315 in the history of golf. That’s kind of who Trey is. He loves to compete. 16. Hurricane Katrina was a devastating natural disaster. But you know, there’s always good that eventually does come out of something like that and for us it was that Michael Thompson got to come to Tuscaloosa, which was good for a lot of people. 17. Michael also restored an old Ford truck, if I’m not mistaken, and cranked it and it caught on fire. Right there in the driveway. 18. While Justin was here, he developed an incredible friendship with our football coach, Nick Saban. Coach would come out in the spring and Justin tended to be one of the last guys to ever leave the facility. And so Coach would come out late in the afternoon just before the sunset and they’d chip together. Their friendship continues to grow. After Justin wins, Coach will call him and I think Justin actually called Nick maybe an hour or two after the national championship game. They’ve become pretty good friends.

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