Doral-Ryder Open
Doral Golf Resort & Spa
Miami, Florida
5th - 8th March 1998

Par 72 Prize Money $2 million

Third Round Report

Third Round Scores
Second Round Report
Second Round Scores
First Round Report
First Round Scores

Bradley takes a two-shot lead into the final round

Miami, Florida, 7th March 1998 - Michael Bradley battled a bad back and the swirling wind today to take a two-stroke lead over Stewart Cink in the Doral-Ryder Open and Tiger Woods closed with a sensational shot from a fairway bunker to position himself perfectly for the final round, three shots back.

Bradley, who like Woods birdied the difficult final hole, was at 9-under-par 207 with Cink at 209. Mike Brisky, Woods and Billy Mayfair, who beat Woods in a playoff last week, were at 210.

Another five players, including Vijay Singh, were at 211.

On a gusty day when he was betrayed by an erratic putter, it was Woods who hit the most memorable shot, nearly holing a choked-down 148-yard 7-iron from a lie below his feet in a fairway bunker on the last hole for a tap-in birdie and a 1-under 71 in the third round.

"How about that one?" Woods said with a huge smile after the ball nearly went in on the fly. "Oh man, you've got to love it."

And you'd have to love Woods's chances in the final round.

He is playing the most consistent golf of his pro career despite not having a victory since last July.

Woods has two second-place finishes and a third on the PGA Tour this year and a victory in Thailand. In those four tournaments he has finished with closing rounds of 64, 65, 66 and 68.

"That's what he lives for," Butch Harmon, Woods's coach, said. "He loves to play under Sunday pressure."

If not for his putter, Woods would have had the lead.

He had an 18-footer for eagle on the first hole and three-putted, missing from 3-1/2 feet. He also missed birdie tries under 10 feet on Nos. 11, 12, 15 and 17.

"I had a lot of makeable putts," Woods said. "I just didn't make them. I was stroking it all right but I wasn't reading them right."

Bradley, who has started an exercise program to try to avoid surgery on a herniated disk, managed a 70, playing the last six holes 2-under par on the difficult wind-blown back nine.

"If the conditions are like this tomorrow, even par will be a really good score," Bradley said. "I'm just going to go out there and rock 'n' roll for 18 holes."

Bradley also closed with a great shot, hitting a punch 7-iron from 152 yards to 8 feet to get his birdie on No. 18.

Cink had a chance to share the lead but bogeyed the final hole for a 71.

Jim Furyk, who needed only 24 putts on Friday when he shot a 62, missed a 5-footer on the first hole, a 3-footer on No. 13 and a 5-footer on the 17th hole. He was at 4-under 212 along with Scott Hoch and 55-year-old Raymond Floyd.

Nick Faldo continues to putt miserably.missing a four-putter on the fourth green from 20 feet, missing consecutive 2-foot putts on the low side of the hole.

The par-72 Doral Golf Resort & Spa course measures 6,939 yards.

First prize is $350,000.