0 comments | Print

Horschel still 2 clear in San Antonio

Published: Friday, Apr. 5, 2013 - 7:04 pm
Last Modified: Saturday, Apr. 6, 2013 - 4:00 pm

Billy Horschel shot 2-under 70 in breezy conditions Saturday to remain two strokes clear of the field after three rounds of the Texas Open.

Horschel completed 54 holes at 10-under-par 206. He will go for his first PGA Tour title on Sunday.

Jim Furyk posted a 3-under 69 to move into a tie for second with Charley Hoffman (70). They stand at minus-8 at TPC San Antonio.

Rory McIlroy had an up and down round of 71. He was joined in fourth place by Bob Estes (69) and Ryan Palmer (68).

"I felt like I fought back well. I started the back nine with those 3-putts, and then birdied 12 and 14 to sort of get it back there," said McIlroy, who had four birdies and three bogeys in his round of 71. "I had a couple chances coming in that I didn't take advantage of. I hit a great drive on 17, then a terrible wedge. So it could have been a couple strokes better, but I'm still in good position going into tomorrow."

K.J. Choi (72), Padraig Harrington (70), Martin Laird (70), Jeff Overton (70) and Daniel Summerhays (73) are tied for seventh at 5-under-par 211.

The winner will earn a spot in The Masters, if not already qualified. Of the top-11 players on the leaderboard, only four are in the field next week for the season's first major.

"You can't allow (thoughts of Augusta) into your head. If you allow anything about the future to get in there, you sort of forget about the task at hand," Horschel said.

Horschel birdied the third from 31 feet out. He was one ahead of Hoffman, who birdied two and three. Horschel stumbled to a bogey on the fourth to slip into a share of the lead.

The 26-year-old Horschel poured in a 25-footer for birdie at the fifth to regain the lead. After a pair of pars, there was a 2-shot swing at the par-5 eighth.

Horschel was 21 feet away in three, but walked off with a bogey when he missed a 6-foot par effort. Hoffman 2-putted from 32 feet for birdie to move to minus-9.

At the ninth, Horschel stuffed his approach inside a foot and he kicked that in for birdie. He made it two in a row as he holed a birdie effort from off the green at the 10th.

Hoffman tripped to a bogey at the ninth and 3-putted for bogey at 11 to fall back to 7-under, where he was two behind Horschel. Hoffman came back with a birdie at 12, but tripped to another bogey on the 13th. He 2-putted for birdie on the par-5 14th to again get back to 8-under. He parred the final four holes to end there.

Horschel parred three in a row from the 11th. He birdied the 14th from five feet out, but faltered to a bogey at 15th to slip back to 10-under. He closed with three pars in a row.

"It was a good round obviously. There were a lot of emotions going on at the start of the day. I felt like I hit the ball well," Horschel stated. "I made some key putts, but missed a few coming in. With this wind blowing, you've just got to stay patient. Overall, it was a good day."

Furyk birdied one and two, but gave one shot back with a bogey on the fourth. Birdies at eight and 10 moved him to minus-8. He then bogeyed the par-3 13th, but closed with a 2-putt birdie at the last to end two back.

"I felt like I hit the ball really well today. I hit a bunch of fairways, hit a bunch of greens, and I didn't have to scramble that much," Furyk said. "It was nice to get off to that great start again with birdies at one and two. That kind of relaxed me a little bit."

NOTES: Horschel's best tour finish came last week when he tied for second at the Houston Open ... Furyk has gone 71 straight holes without a 3-putt ... There was a secondary cut with eight players being trimmed from the field ... Gary Woodland and Kyle Stanley were in that group.

Read more articles by Sports Network



About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.

hide comments
Sacramento Bee Job listing powered by Careerbuilder.com
Quick Job Search
Buy
Used Cars
Dealer and private-party ads
Make:

Model:

Price Range:
to
Search within:
miles of ZIP

Advanced Search | 1982 & Older



Find 'n' Save Daily DealGet the Deal!

Local Deals