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Woods to target Immelman
13/04/2008 16:06 - (SA)
Rebecca Bryan
Augusta - Trevor Immelman's steady nerves and stellar play have left world No1 Tiger Woods chasing a dream at the Masters on Sunday.
Immelman, the 28-year-old from South Africa whose US rookie of the year season in 2006 was followed by a 2007 marred by illness, took a two-shot lead over rising US star Brandt Snedeker into the final round, trying to become the first wire-to-wire winner since Raymond Floyd in 1976.
Immelman, who leads the field in fairways hit and had just two bogeys in the first three rounds, is just the 10th player to shoot in the 60s in the first three rounds of the Masters. If he can do it again on Sunday he'll be the first to post four sub-70 rounds in the prestigious event.
Snedeker, who followed on Immelman's heels as the US tour's rookie of the year last year, has shown a sure touch on Augusta National's notorious greens, and so far seemed untouched by the pressure of contending for the coveted title in his first appearance here as a professional.
US veteran Steve Flesch, at three shots back, and England's Paul Casey at four behind, were also eyeing a first major title, with Woods lurking six back.
While the sight of Woods climbing up the leaderboard has been known to cause lesser players to crumble, no such nerves were on display among the leaders on Saturday.
Casey admitted however, that it was hard to shut Woods out and focus on the task in hand.
Plays great golf
"He's the best player in the world by a long way," Casey said. "I don't know if we're scared of him - he's just so good. He is the one to be wary of. As he moves up and he plays great golf it's just very difficult to press on a golf course such as this and to stay in front or to chase him."
Still, Woods will need to engineer one of the biggest 18-hole comebacks of his career to take home a fifth Green Jacket.
The six-stroke deficit is more than anything he has surmounted in the final round on the US PGA Tour, although he made up eight strokes to surge past Ernie Els in the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.
"Nobody is going to consider that Tiger Woods isn't in contention," said British Open champion Padraig Harrington, who started the day tied for seventh. "I put myself right back in the tournament," Woods said after his third-round 68 ended a frustrating string of 11 straight Masters rounds without breaking 70.
The bogey-free round left Woods with 18 holes to back up his bold claim that sweeping all four major championships for an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam is "easily within reason."
To keep that dream alive he'll have to do what he never has before, since all 13 of his major titles to date have come when he held at least a share of the lead.
Sunday's forecast called for cool temperatures and gusting winds.
"This is the ultimate test for us," Snedeker said. "We go out there on a tough day and we know it's set in front of us. We know we need to play a good round of golf if we want to win."
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