2010 Northern Trust Open, Round 3 Wrap And Images
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Steve Stricker tees off on the par-3 14th (click to enlarge image)Doug Ferguson's game story focuses on leader Steve Stricker, who opened a five shot gap before darkness halted third round play. However, Stricker must come back to finish the final 4 holes while Luke Donald has already completed his third round.
John Strege posts this note about Stricker attending the Lakers game the night before.
"You end up people watching at these Lakers' games more than anything," he said. "It's quite the scene, quite the event. We were pulling into the place where we were parking and Denzel Washington was in the car ahead of us. (Jack) Nicholson obviously is right there, and we saw George Lopez across the court. One of the Kardashian girls was about."
Which one?
"Khloe. I had to Google her," he said.
Anyone recognize you?
"No," he said without missing a beat.
Deer off the 13th fairway Saturday at Riviera (click to enlarge image)
Stricker checking out the deer (click to enlarge)I asked a tough question about the round:
Q. How about the deer over there on 13? I saw you looking at them.
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, that brings back some good memories, seeing those deer and being up in a deer stand. There was actually a buck in there, too.
Yeah, it was cool to see. We saw a coyote on Tuesday -- we go hunting for those things all the time in Wisconsin, and that things was about 30 yards away from me. We don't have them that dumb up there. But it's nice to see all the wildlife down here. It's pretty cool.
Stricker waits in the 10th fairway after laying up with is tee shot while Andres Romero and Dustin Johnson wait to drive the green (click to enlarge image)The leaders might have gotten a few more holes in had the PGA Tour asked players to wave each other up on the 10th hole as in past years. Or Heaven forbid, the players could have even taken the initiative.
Adam Schupak writes about the back-up:
Remember the old Domino’s guarantee that they’d deliver a pizza in 30 minutes or less? Well the group of Ryo Ishikawa, Ricky Barnes and Anthony Kim could have placed an order at the turn and been biting into pepperoni and mushroom before they finished the hole.
Ishikawa putted out at the 9th green at 3:21 p.m. PST. Then his group began their interminable wait. Kim, with honors, stuck a tee in the ground 18 minutes later. He waited another four minutes before he smacked his drive onto the front of the green. At 3:55 p.m., 38 minutes after they finished the previous hole, Ishikawa tapped in from 2 1/2 feet.
Steve Flesch slams his putter into his driver shaft (click to enlarge)The tenth hole provided its usual share of heartache and happiness, the joy felt mostly for those who laid up left and hit a wedge in. In the limited time I spent watching 10th hole play, I witnessed three double bogies and a costly bogey by Steve Flesch. Walking off the green of his first hole of the day, Flesch slammed his putter into the unprotected top portion of his bag. When he went to pull his driver on No. 11, the lefty quickly slammed it back down, then pulled his least-lofted fairway metal. He had broken the driver and all his caddy could do was shake his head for the next minute.
It was just too beautiful of a day to only post black and white images. So here's a hodgepodge from a day enjoyed by hundreds and hundreds of spectators braving the $50 face value:
Steve Stricker's perfectly positioned 10th hole tee shot set up a relatively easy birdie (click to enlarge)
From behind the 10th green Saturday (click to enlarge)
Dustin Johnson's recovery shot on No. 13 Saturday (click to enlarge)
Anthony Kim's all-world recovery on No. 12....from the 13th tee (click to enlarge)
Cut-misser Padraig Harrington hits balls before the range gets busy (click to enlarge)
And there he was practicing bunker shots about 6 hours later. He still had missed the cut (click to enlarge)
Looking down on the 10th hole as the leaders play it Saturday and long after NBC had signed off, freeing up their "speed shot" tower (click to enlarge)
