| Lemont,
Illinois, 27th June 1998 -
Vijay Singh is one of those players who's always
peeking at the leader board, and he likes what he sees now. Singh
shot a 65 today to take a two-shot lead in the Western Open with a 15-under-par
201 after the third round on Cog Hill's Dubsdread course. Greg
Kraft, the first-round leader, shot a 66 and was two strokes back at 13-under
203 in the $2.2 million, Motorola-sponsored event. Joe Durant, the leader after
the second round, was at 11-under 205 after shooting a 70, "I've
got a four-stroke cushion on third place. I can't worry about that too much,"
Singh said. "I'll just try to hit lots of fairways and greens and let my
putter do the rest. I'm not going to push anything." U.S.
Open winner Lee Janzen was five strokes back at 206 after a birdie on 18 gave
him a 69. Tiger Woods, in danger of missing the cut after a dismal first round,
had a second good round, but still lost ground. He shot a 3-under 69 for 212,
11 strokes behind Singh. "If
the leaders can stay around 10 or 11, I've got a shot at it. If it's 14 or 15,
it's out of reach." said Woods, the defending champion. "You have to
hang in there and hang in there and grind it out. You might get hot and get back
in the ball game." It
was another steamy day at Cog Hill, with the temperature in the upper 90s and
humidity making it feel like it was 107. After three straight days of playing
in oppressive heat, the players have adjusted to it as best they can. But
the caddies, lugging around heavy bags for 4-1/2 hours, are struggling. Mark Hensel,
Kraft's caddie, collapsed with heat stroke after the 17th hole. A marshal carried
Kraft's bag the last hole and Hensel was taken to a hospital for IV fluids. He's
expected to be back Sunday. "He
said, 'I can make it, I just can't think,' " Kraft said. "This is just
a golf tournament. His health is more important." Singh,
who started the day a stroke behind Durant, got birdies on Nos. 5 and 7 on the
front nine. As soon as he hit the back nine, his game took off. He sank an 8-foot
putt for birdie on the par-5 11th to go 11-under, and then picked up another stroke
with a birdie on the par-3 No. 14. His
drive on the long par-5 No. 15 was high and short, so Singh went with a 3-wood
for his second shot and put it within 20 feet of the pin. Using his new putter
and new cross-hand grip, he made the putt for an eagle and went 14-under. "I
stood there for awhile and it was so hot that time of day, and my caddy said,
'Just go ahead and hit the 3-wood and see what happens,' " Singh said. "It
just came out perfect. And the putt was a good putt." After
struggling with his putting the past six weeks, Singh has finally found his rhythm.
And he credits his caddy, Dave Renwick, for making him concentrate on it when
the two began working together a year ago this week. Today,
Renwick finally got his reward with Singh's 5-under 67. "He
told me to make sure I played good today," Singh said. "I said, 'Why?'
and he said, 'Because it's my birthday.' " While
Singh was making good things happen with his putter, Kraft was giving him a little
help, too. Kraft, who didn't find out until Monday that he had a sponsor's exemption
to enter the tournament, went to the top of the leader board with an eagle on
the par-4 fourth hole. Using
a 6-iron from 168 feet, he hit his second shot right into the flag, denting the
pin as the ball dropped into the hole. "That
was pretty special," he said. A
birdie on No. 5 put Kraft at 11-under and he picked up two more strokes with birdies
on Nos. 10 and 12. But he ran into trouble on the 13th hole. His
second shot on the par-4 hole hit a bunker on the left side of the green, and
his chip shot rolled past the cup and almost off the green. He two-putted for
his first bogey of the day. He
had another bogey on No. 14 but, despite picking up a stroke with a birdie on
the 15th, couldn't catch Singh. "I
anticipate having to shoot a low number with Vijay being two shots ahead,"
said Kraft, who finished second in the 1994 Western Open after he bogeyed his
18th hole. "I have great memories of this place, and (winning) would top
them all." Divots:
Singh is one of only six players to shoot below 70 in the opening three rounds
since the Western Open moved to Cog Hill in 1991. The tournament scoring record
at Cog Hill is Nick Price's 269 in 1993. ... Steve Stricker, the 1996 Western
Open champion, shot a 67 to put him six strokes back at 9-under-207. ... Woods
and Phil Mickleson are the only players averaging better than 300 yards per drive
this week. ... Attendance was 41,652, more than 3,000 fewer people than last year.
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