3-way tie atop leaderboard at Honda Classic
Luke Donald made a quadruple bogey earlier this week. Mark Calcavecchia whiffed on a chip Saturday.
Bad mistakes? Absolutely.
But to win at PGA National, one must overcome blunders, which Donald and Calcavecchia have done with ease.
Donald shot a 4-under 66 on Saturday, Calcavecchia finished with 67, and the two former Honda Classic champions wound up tied with Matt Jones (71) atop the leaderboard at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
All three were at 6 under, 1 shot better than Brian Davis (73) and Jose Coceres (68), who lost a four-way playoff at PGA National a year ago.
"There's a lot of danger out there," Donald said. "There's some very daunting shots, a lot of scary shots with a lot of water around. So you have to really stand up there and hit good, solid shots."
He's hit plenty of those.
A bogey-free 64 on Thursday started him on his way, but the quadruple -- an 8 on the 14th hole Friday -- knocked him well off the pace. He has been flawless from there, with 5 birdies and no bogeys in the 22 holes since.
"Obviously, other than that, I've played very solid this week," said Donald, who won the 2006 Honda at Mirasol.
Calcavecchia's game has been just as good.
He made a bogey on the second hole Saturday when his drive nestled against a palm tree, and he decided to take a left-handed whack to advance the ball a few yards. But he missed everything and eventually made what had to be described as a good bogey.
It was his only mistake.
The two-time Honda winner (1987, 1998) birdied the next two holes, connected again at the par-4 12th, and made nothing but pars the rest of the day.
"It'd be pretty special to win a tour event three miles from your driveway," said Calcavecchia, who'll defend his title next week at the PODS Championship and who splits his time between homes in South Florida and Arizona. "I've done it in Phoenix, winning three different decades. So that'd be pretty neat too. I'm sure I'll be nervous tomorrow."
Chances are, so will Jones, whether the smooth-swinging Australian will acknowledge it or not.
The PGA Tour rookie is 6-for-6 in cuts this season, with four finishes in the top 30 so far. The Nationwide Tour graduate has never had a chance like this, but showed he might be ready for the big time by making birdie on his final hole Saturday to pull into the three-way tie.
"I'm looking forward to it," Jones said. "It'll be exciting. If I hit the ball the way I did today, should be fine."
HSBC Women's Champions: Lorena Ochoa increased her lead to 8 strokes at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore, shooting a 3-under 69 at Tanah Merah.
The Mexican star, making her first LPGA Tour start of the year after winning eight times last season, had a 16-under 200 total on the Garden course.
Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer, the winners of the season-opening events in Hawaii, were tied for second at 8 under after 70s. Karrie Webb (70) was 7 under.
Johnnie Walker Classic: Japan's Taichiro Kiyota shot a 5-under 67 to take a 1-stroke lead after the third round of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Gurgaon, India.
The 27-year-old Kiyota, winless in five years as a professional, had a 14-under 202 total on the DLF Golf & Country Club course. New Zealand's Mark Brown (64) and India's Jyoti Randhawa (68), playing on his home course, were tied for second in the event sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian tours.