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Justin looks back at the BMW field through Rose-colored glasses

It's official; Mark Wilson is the most optimistic man in the land.

The Elmhurst resident came into Saturday's third round of the BMW Championship at Cog Hill tied for the lead with Justin Rose.

He ended the day 8 strokes back and tied for seventh place after shooting a 77.

But ...

“I did great,” Wilson said, before going into detail about his 3-bogey, 1-double bogey performance on the back nine. “I'll play the same way (Sunday). Everything feels great.”

With Rose opening up a 4-stroke lead and threatening to run away with the third leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, maybe optimism is all Wilson and the rest of the field have to hang their hats on heading into Sunday's final round.

That's because on a beautiful day with a sneaky wind weaving its way through and around Lemont, Rose (69) was one of only 16 players to finish under par compared to the 43 pros in the red the previous day.

“He played very nicely,” Wilson said. “It didn't play that easy out there, and he made it look pretty easy; got up and down when he needed to and made a few birdies, and he made some nice long par putts.”

Rose's third sub-70 round wasn't as dramatic as his first two, particularly his sizzling 63 on Thursday, but it was more than enough considering most of his challengers were in complete struggle mode.

“Yeah, Thursday was sort of an exceptional round,” said Rose, who is tied for 15th on the PGA Tour this season with a final-round scoring average of 69.87. “I was delighted to get in the house under 70.

“I was aware that it was going to be a pretty tricky day and guys weren't going to go low. The breeze was up just enough to make it tricky out there.”

John Senden continued his steady climb up the leaderboard with a 68 on Saturday and is all alone in second place. Not bad considering he was 3 over after his first nine holes.

“It was a disappointing start to the day,” Senden said. “But I just wanted to hang around. I knew if I dropped a couple of shots like I did , I really wouldn't lose much ground.

“I had a couple of shots up my sleeve. I was proud of myself for coming back.”

Geoff Ogilvy and Bill Haas are each a stroke behind Senden. Playoff points leader Webb Simpson (73) dropped to fifth place.

Luke Donald, who opened the tournament with a 75, tied Sergio Garcia for the low round Saturday (67) as both leapfrogged their way into a tie for seventh.

“I ruined that opening round,” Donald said. “If I had shot something just halfway decent, I'd be right in the mix.

“Obviously, Justin is playing very well and it's kind of in his hands right now.”

Maybe, but don't expect Rose to lose any of his aggressiveness come Sunday afternoon.

“I've been there a little bit last year, had a good run,” Rose said. “I won one and lost one when I was in a situation like this, so I've got some good experience to count on.

“A 4-shot lead isn't really a big enough lead to go out and try to waste holes. You know that any guy out here is good enough to make a run at you.”

If that doesn't make Wilson and Co. optimistic, nothing will.

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