BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Stewart Cink looked over at the leaderboard late in the third round of the on Saturday and flashed back to younger days for him and many of the other big-name players in the mix.
“It feels like a major out there,” Cink said. “Those names up there have all had some success.”
Retief Goosen and Angel Cabrera were among those tied for first going into the final round, with Cink and Lee Westwood one stroke back and a group including Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh and Y.E. Yang two back. The 11 golfers on or close to the lead have combined to win 13 major championships.
“The people up there are the people that have a lot of experience,” Cabrera said after getting to 5 under for the tournament. “Most of them have been in many majors, and you can see that.”
Goosen has two U.S. Open championships on his resume and Cabrera one of those to go along with the 2009 Masters. Harrington won the British Open in ‘07 and ’08 and Cink in ’09, while Singh has two PGA Championship victories and another in the Masters.
That kind of sustained winning over the past few decades certainly helped prepare those guys for windy conditions at Congressional Country Club, which has hosted three U.S. Opens and one PGA Championship.
“A tough golf course — all the guys that have really done it on hard golf courses really rise to the top and seem to grind it out more maybe a little bit more than certain players,” said Goosen, who shot a 4-under 68 to surge up the leaderboard. “I certainly grinded it out.”
So did Harrington, whose opening tee shot went right of the cart path in an inauspicious start to an eventful afternoon. The 53-year-old from Ireland birdied 18 to bounce back from some back-nine struggles and put himself in contention.
“I’m happy to be two shots back,” Harrington said. “I haven’t really thought too much about my round, to be honest. Just tried to play. With the wind, sometimes it’s good that you just play each hole as it comes.”
Cink, now 52 joked, “This kind of wind is for young people.” But he and his contemporaries mostly handled it without the third round going off the rails. Ernie Els, Thursday and two back of the lead, had a second consecutive rough round, shooting a 4-over 76.
“This course is really demanding, with the wind especially,” Cink said. “Every hole, there’s a place you just cannot go, and you have to know where that is and game plan for it and you have to execute. That’s just major championship golf.”
Some of the best play at the PGA Champions major also came from some of the less heralded golfers, including Phillip Archer and Jason Caron, who matched Goosen and Cabrera at 5 under.
Caron was paired with Harrington, and it was yet another chance for the club pro at Mill River Club on Long Island, to feel like he is not out of place surrounded by a star-studded cast.
“A year ago, I definitely would have said, ‘Whoa, this can’t happen,’” Caron said. “Now that I’ve played maybe 20 events, I feel much more comfortable.”
Archer, who played a long time on the European Tour, said this is why he has spent so much time in his life on the driving range hitting ball after ball — to be in it against the likes of Goosen, Cabrera, Cink and Harrington.
“You’ve grown up watching these guys win tournaments and majors, and yeah, you’re in their company, and you’ve got to tell yourself you belong there,” Archer said. “I’m there by credit, and I’m playing nice stuff.”
Archer would like to see the wind continue Sunday to make it tough on anyone chasing the lead. The forecast calls for much less of it and weaker gusts, which could bring even more golfers into the already crowded fray.
“If it’s not windy, there’s so many people up there, somebody is going to shoot 66, 65,” Harrington said. “You’ve got to expect if it’s a nice day (Sunday), somebody is going to shoot a good score.”
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