Woods puts pedal to the metal at BMW
Woods Fires Course Record With 62 At BMW
LEMONT, Ill. -- Brandt Snedeker will get a front-row seat for more history Sunday. For the first time in his PGA Tour career, he will play a round of golf with the world's No. 1 player, a bit of an oddity considering Snedeker is a tour winner who's been around for a few years.
But during that time, he's never teed it up with Tiger Woods, not even in a practice round.
For any young golfer, a round of golf with Woods is a good way to measure your game, and certainly an opportunity to make history. Ask Y.E. Yang about that Sunday round four weeks ago.
Unfortunately for Snedeker, he will be paired with Woods in the final twosome at Cog Hill trailing by a whopping 7 strokes at the BMW Championship.
"I thought I played fantastic to shoot 5-under," Snedeker said of his 66. "I just didn't see that out there today. But that's why he's No. 1 in the world."
Yep, that's why.
Woods shot a Cog Hill No. 4 course record 9-under-par 62, a score that was nearly nine strokes better than the third-round average of 70.7. He hit 16-of-18 greens, needed just 27 putts and eight times he hit approach shots to 10 feet or less -- including the par-5 ninth, where he made an eagle.
And in the process, Woods turned a 36-hole tie for the lead into a rout.
Woods squandered a rare 54-hole advantage at the PGA Championship last month, the first time he had ever done so in a major championship. But his record with a third-round lead remains stellar, at 47-4 on the PGA Tour. And squandering a 7-shot lead? Forget it.
He is well on his way to a fifth victory at the BMW Championship and 71st of his PGA Tour career.
"I've got to do something spectacular and he's got to maybe have a heart attack out there for me to have a chance," Snedeker said.
Snedeker and Australian rookie Marc Leishman find themselves 7 strokes back in the third of four FedEx Cup playoff events. And for them, it might be best to take their eyes off Woods and simply play the best they can, as they are both outside of the top 30 in FedEx Cup points and in need of a high finish to advance to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Matt Kuchar, who won the U.S. Amateur at Cog Hill in 1997 and Padraig Harrington are tied for fourth, 8 strokes back. Second-round co-leader Mark Wilson shot even-par 71 and finds himself 9 behind.
It was that kind of day for Woods, who tongue in cheek said he felt a 62 was possible.
"Yeah … 16 holes, 15 holes."
Woods may have inadvertently and single-handedly made it harder for Cog Hill to get a future U.S. Open that its owners so desire.
After the BMW Championship here two years ago -- where Woods won with a tournament record score of 262, 22 under par -- famed architect Rees Jones was brought in for a renovation project that saw the greens completely redone, as well as new bunkering.
The hope was to spruce up the layout and make it worthy of a U.S. Open. Certainly the course could be set up to be much more difficult, with rough added and pin placements more tricky. But a 62 -- by anyone -- isn't going to look good to those USGA officials who make the call.
Not that Woods thought it was easy.
"It was difficult, but I had a lot of good numbers today and a lot of full shots," he said. "I went after some flags just because of the situation, because I had a good number where I could make a full swing at it and kind of go after it. You end up 5 yards, 6 yards either way of a number, then you're not doing that. It just happened to work out that way today with the good numbers all day."
For those "pursuing" Woods, it'll be all about the numbers Sunday. They'll be more concerned about where they are in the FedEx Cup standings and how that scenario plays out. With a victory, Woods will move back ahead of Steve Stricker into first place.
But many of the other places will be up for grabs. Leishman, for example, is 67th in the standings and probably needs to finish no worse than third to advance to Atlanta. Snedeker, who was out for two months earlier this year with a rib injury, is playing his 13th event in 14 weeks and is 42nd. He has more wiggle room than Leishman, but to be safe, a top 5 finish is important.
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"It'll be fun," Snedeker said. "Are you kidding me? Playing with the best guy in the world in the last group? It'll be fantastic. That's what you want. You want to play with the best when they're playing their best and see what you've got and see what you need to work on.
"If you told me at the beginning of the week I was playing with Tiger Woods on Sunday, I think I would have liked my position, put it that way."
And to think, Woods bogeyed the first hole Saturday, putting him 2 shots out of the lead, before playing the next 17 holes in 10 under par.
"After seeing that … I just figured I had to get into double digits today, and I thought that was going to be a good score to end up at."
He didn't mean for his round Saturday -- and yet, he came pretty close to doing that, too.
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
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