Brett Wetterich called his par at the fourth a "round saver", while Phil Mickelson  decribed it as "just an amazing par".

Those may be understatements.  After fanning his tee shot way right into the trees, Mr. Wetterich needed six drops to get the ball in play, allowing him to stiff a 220 yard 5 iron to four feet and save that par.  Two holes later he added an eagle  on his way to a 66 and a single shot lead over Aaron Oberholser.

Mr. Mickelson trails by two shots and Tiger Woods is three back after coughing up two shots with three putts on the last two holes.  This is Mr. Wetterich’s first time ever entering the final round with the lead.  "If I go out and shoot 5 under like I did today, it’s going to be hard to beat me, unless someone really plays a good round of golf,” Wetterich said. "I’m going to go out and try to make the best score that I can. And if someone catches me and beats me, then they did.”  There certainly are a lot of chasers, as a dozen players are withing five shots of the lead.

Mr. Woods and Mr. Mickelson will be paired for the final round thanks to Aaron Baddeley’s decision to go for the par 5 18th green in two from out of a fairway trap.  That ill fated decision led to a shot that found the hazard right of the green and led to a second bogey in the final three holes.  After playing with Mr. Woods and Vijay Singh for the first two rounds, Mr. Mickelson shared that since teaming up with Mr. Woods old teacher, Butch Harmon, he’s learned to watch for some nuances of Mr. Woods.  "In the past, I haven’t really played that well with Tiger,” Mickelson said. "But he [Harmon] told me a couple things that he likes to do, and I kind of watched for it, and I chuckled throughout the round when I’d pick up on it. I think that working with Butch has really helped me understand how to get my best golf when I play in the same group as Tiger."

Mr. Wetterich leads the field in driving distance, not really surprising, has missed only twelve fairways thus far, and is fourth in greens in regulation.  "He can make a bunch of birdies," Woods said. "He plays extremely aggressive, very strong, very powerful. It’s just a matter of him being up there in contention enough times to gain the experience because we all know he has the talent to be up there consistently, it’s just a matter of being up there."  Ah yes, just a matter of being up there, with twelve guys chasing you, in the final round of the second playoff it might not prove so easy. 

I was watching after Mr. Woods finished up and was asked on television by Jimmy Roberts if he remembered finishing up with two three putts.  The response, "I don’t want to", reminded me of something Manuel de la Torre said his father taught him.  Never try to remember what you did wrong, unless of course you wish to attempt to repeat the error.  Always focus on what you did correctly so you can repeat that instead.  Sound advice when one plays as fickle a game as golf.