Tiger Woods entered the third round at Memorial six shots behind leaders Kyle Stanley and Joaquin Niemann. In the first half of his round, Woods made moves to close that gap, racing up the leaderboard to within one shot of the lead. Here’s how he did it.
After missing good looks for birdie at holes 2, 3, and 4, Woods striped a 3-wood down the 5th fairway and then launched his iron pin-high just left of the flag, setting up this 14-footer for eagle that jumpstarting both the crowd and Woods’s round.
Eagle on 5
BOOM!@TigerWoods with a classic eagle at No. 5.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/jD3IJ08w2A
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2018
It didn’t take long for Woods to strike again. After driver caught the right-center fairway at No. 6, he lofted a short-iron approach just left of the flag, leaving a 10-footer coming back straight up the slope.
Birdie on No. 6
Eagle at 5.
Birdie at 6.Here comes @TigerWoods.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/Kd9JEkG9KN
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2018
Woods launched his tee shot at the par-5 7th 313 yards down the center of the fairway, setting up a two-putt birdie that finished off a three-hole stretch in four under par. He just missed from 14 feet on No. 8, then made sure to hit it even closer at No. 9 with a wedge shot that skipped past the hole before checking up perfectly to four feet.
Birdie on No. 9
Stinger. Wedge. Buckets.@TigerWoods is now 1 back.
Game on. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/DNbieJL0dF
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2018
It all added up to a front-nine five-under 31 for Woods, who hit every fairway and missed just the first green in the process. As he teed off on No. 10, the leaders warmed up on the adjacent putting green, now just one shot clear of Woods, now at 10 under.
