BETHESDA, Md. – As Congressional Country Club slowly — and quietly — began returning to normalcy Saturday following a massive storm that ripped through the Washington, D.C., area the night before, leaving behind in its wake power outages, property damage and a great number of uprooted trees, Tiger Woods moved into a position at the AT&T National that is becoming all too familiar again.
By Debby Wong, US Presswire
Tiger Woods wipes sweat from his face before he tees off the first hole during the third round of the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club.
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Woods, who won this tournament the last time it was played on the Blue Course at Congressional, in 2009, stands one stroke behind leader Brendon de Jonge after 54 holes following a day in which his group played in front of galleries never exceeding 100.
Woods finished at 6-under-par 207 after a bogey-free 67 on the 7,569-yard layout that was rimmed with damage from the storm and forced tournament organizers to reluctantly decide not to allow spectators on the premises. The only people following Woods — and few followed any other group — were security officials, news media members and tournament staff and workers. In contrast, the leaders, playing in the final group, never had more than 10 people following them during the round.
STORY: Congressional takes a beating in storm
RESULTS: AT&T National leaderboard
De Jonge fired a 69 and has the outright lead after 54 holes for the first time in his career. Joining Woods a stroke back were Bo Van Pelt (67) and Seung-Yul Noh (69). Another stroke back were Billy Hurley III (66) and 36-hole leader Hunter Mahan (73).
"I started off five back, and I needed to make a run," Woods said. "Whether we have thousands of people or we have a small handful of people out there, it doesn't change the execution of the shot. The shot needs to be placed correctly in the fairway and on the correct side and then fired to the correct spot on the green and then holed. That doesn't change anything.
"I played myself into good shape for (Sunday)."
Woods began his round with five consecutive one-putt greens, had nine in all, and needed just 25 putts for the round. It helped that he chipped in for birdie on the sixth hole and got up-and-down for par from 100 yards on the fourth when he spun a wedge to 1 foot.
And Woods, who is one of three players with two wins this season on the PGA Tour, missed short birdie putts on the ninth and 16th or he would be in even better position to win his 74th career Tour title.
"It was amazing that we even got the round in," Woods said. "The staff, maintenance crew, all the volunteers, picking up twigs and getting everything cleared out so we could actually give it a go today was an amazing effort. They worked hard. They burned the candle at both ends pretty hard to just get us out there today, so that was good stuff."
De Jonge, on the other hand, has never won in 90 previous starts on Tour and is ranked No. 127 in the world.
"It was actually really strange out there, and it took a little while to get used to," said de Jonge, who played golf at Virginia Tech. "It's nice to have people out there and get the buzz and kind of feed off adrenaline. Obviously we didn't have that. But in saying that, I'm obviously very happy with my round and position going into Sunday.
"It would be huge to win. Winning here would be that much more special, as well, obviously being a huge Virginia Tech contingent around here would be wonderful, and it's obviously a great tournament with a great field, so that would be a good feather in your cap.
"But obviously I've got a lot of work to do."
Because dozens of trees were uprooted on the golf course, including a 75-foot tree that stretched across the 14th fairway — and thousands of tree limbs large and small peppered the landscape — the tournament was closed to spectators and volunteers because of safety concerns. Only security, tournament officials and workers and media, as well as players' families, were allowed.
The storm knocked out power to more than 1 million customers in the area.
"That's a very drastic decision, not allowing fans to come out," said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition. "But it's in their best interest. It's a dangerous situation in the area today with the heat and the storm and everything. I mean, I drove down here, down Wisconsin Avenue, there wasn't one stoplight working."
The third round was delayed six hours. Tournament officials said wind from 70 to 80 mph was reported. Several tents were blown away.
PGA Tour meteorologist Stewart Williams said that the storm is called a derecho, a Spanish term that means "straight."
"In weather terms, it's a storm that goes at least 250 miles with winds at least 58 miles per hour or greater," Williams said.
Williams said the storm developed in the Chicago area, gaining momentum as it moved east. By the time it reached Columbus, Ohio, late Friday afternoon, it had winds of 60-80 mph with gusts up to 100 mph. When it reached the Washington, D.C., area at around 10:15 p.m. ET, winds were at 70 mph.
The storm lasted 30 minutes.
The forecast called for a chance of severe thunderstorms late Saturday night or early Sunday.
The damage left behind — and still in need of cleanup at Congressional — made for an interesting round.
"Mother Nature is no joke when she wants to rear up," said Van Pelt, who was grouped with Woods and Cameron Tringale. "I told Tiger that it was a Bo Van Pelt crowd, so I was used to that. I was very comfortable with 10 or 15 people watching me play golf. It was nice to just get it in. I think we're all fortunate that nobody got hurt out here last night. I'm sure if you saw pictures of what it looked like at midnight, the fact that we played golf today is a minor miracle."
Before the round started, Jim Furyk knew it could be quite different.
"When there are a thousand people behind you, you don't see what someone's doing," Furyk said. "With a few people, if a guy picks his nose, I'll know."
After the round, he said, "It was eerie, peaceful, but just not any fun."
Hurley, a former Navy lieutenant who is in his rookie season, made three birdies in four holes at the end of his front nine and ended his day with a birdie to shoot 66.
"It was different," Hurley said of the atmosphere. "In some ways it was nice, and in some ways it was not nice. It was a different experience. I don't know that I'll ever have that again. I don't think anyone has ever had it before.
"It was a little strange a couple times. You make a nice putt, and you're like, OK, we'll move on. But at the same time, it was sort of peaceful out there and easy to get around."
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