Lee Janzen has
always been a player who thrives under the toughest conditions, which might explain
why he wound up on top after a dry, fast and frustrating round in the Canadian
Open.
Under swirling,
deceptive winds, in thick rough and on rock-hard greens in the valley of Glen
Abbey Golf Club on Saturday, Janzen managed to offset his mistakes with yet another
barrage of birdies to take a one-stroke lead over Hal Sutton into the final round.
"I don't know if
I'm in the driver's seat," Janzen said. "I guess I'm in my own driver's seat.
I've just got to go out and play as hard as I can tomorrow."
Janzen made five birdies on the back nine - he already has 21 birdies in 54 holes
- for a 4-under 68 that put him at 205, one stroke ahead of the hard-charging
Sutton, who made birdies on four of the last six holes for a 70.
"I'm
just glad I was able to persevere and stay in contention," Sutton said. "I'm glad
I'm finished."
Janzen
is in position to win for the first time since last year at Olympic Club, where
he won his second U.S. Open title. One of his challenges could come from a player
who hasn't won in six years, and it may be the guy who concerns Janzen the most.
Paul Azinger didn't hit
the ball particularly well, but he never let it get him down. He fought back with
a chip from the putting surface that helped him save par, and a brilliant shot
from a fairway bunker that set up a tap-in birdie.
Azinger was two strokes back at 207 after a 70.
"I
know he hasn't won in a while, but he hasn't forgotten how to win," Janzen said.
Azinger hasn't won since
the PGA Championship in 1993, the year he won on the PGA Tour for the seventh
consecutive year and helped the United States win its last Ryder Cup. Three months
later, he was diagnosed with lymphoma in his right shoulder, and it's been a long
road back.
He has
had some top-10s over the past six years, but no chance better than this one -
not only because of his position, but his frame of mind.
"What
I'm doing now mentally is what I was playing my best," Azinger said. "I was so
concerned with technique that I had forgotten the visual aspect."
Steve Stricker (72) and Dennis Paulson (71) were each at 209.
As many as five players had a share of the lead at some point in a roller coaster
round that featured another dose of swirling winds that have dried out the course
from rain earlier in the week.
The blustery winds also carried some craziness in the air at the Abbey.
- Justin Leonard called
a one-stroke penalty on himself at No. 12 when he thought his ball moved in the
backswing of a 1-foot par putt. Television replays were inconclusive, but Leonard
swears it did and signed for a bogey.
"Apparently,
I was the only one who saw it move," he said. "It only wiggled an eighth to a
quarter of an inch." He had a 73, and was six strokes back.
- Jim Furyk's sign boy scurried 20 feet up a pine tree to locate Furyk's ball
so he could identify it on the 18th.
- Paulson hit a provisional on the par-5 16th when his drive headed right toward
the Canadian TV compound (turned out it was playable).
- Nick Faldo finally played like a three-time Masters and British Open champion.
He had a 67 and will come to the course Sunday with an outside chance to win.
If nothing else, he'll get a later starting time.
"I'm
fed up with having to get up at 6 a.m. on the weekend," he said.
Through it all, what emerged was a scrappy battle at the top of the leaderboard,
and the likelihood of an encore Sunday.
Janzen had the best chance to pull away from the pack with a 30-foot birdie putt
on the 12th, followed by a wedge from the first cut of rough that spun back down
the slope to inside a foot for a tap-in birdie.
But he chunked a lob wedge on the next hole and had to make a nice up-and-down
to save bogey. Still, he had two-putt birdies on 16 and 18, which kept him ahead
of the hard-charging Sutton.
Sutton began the day with a one-stroke lead and had to make three 15-foot putts,
two for par, to simply stay in the game, then he poured it on down the stretch.
"At the end of the day,
I putted really well," Sutton said.
The only other time this year Azinger began a tournament with three straight rounds
under par was in Memphis, where he tied for sixth. He was in danger of falling
well off the pace until he hit the best shot of the day.
From a bunker on the 14th, Azinger played under some branches and over a tree
100 yards away. He squatted in the sand to see where it was going, and the ball
landed a foot from the cup.
"They
ought to put a plaque in there," Azinger said. "That's the best one I've ever
hit - and I've holed one before."
For a tournament that has lost some of the prestige from two decades ago, the
gallery sensed the quality at the top - a two-time U.S. Open champion and two
former PGA Champions who have experienced some lean years. Sutton climbed out
of his pit, and Azinger is playing like he might be ready to win for the first
time in six years.
