Justin Rose is coming off a year in which he won two PGA Tour events on difficult golf courses. He knows what to expect from his emotions in the final round and how to stay patient amid a crowded leaderboard.
The four guys behind him have never won.
So that makes Rose’s one-shot lead going into today’s final round of the Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., seem even larger.
“It doesn’t mean it’s all going to go smoothly …,” Rose said. “You have to be ready for whatever happens.”
Rose shot a second straight round of 6-under 65 in more perfect conditions at Innisbrook to build a lead over Brendon de Jonge and Webb Simpson.
A 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole put Rose at 13-under 200, one shot off the 54-hole tournament record.
De Jonge and Simpson have never won on the PGA Tour. Neither have the two guys another shot behind — rookie Scott Stallings, who made his first cut in the big leagues last week; and Gary Woodland, who lost in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic this year.
“You want to give yourself a chance to win, and I have that opportunity now,” de Jonge said. Simpson, whose wife recently gave birth to their first child, kept pace with Rose until dropping shots on two of the tough par 3s on the back nine. He still had a third straight 67 and was trying not to think ahead.
“This course is tough enough to where you’ve got to think about the hole you’re on,” Simpson said. “That is what we dream about, and this is what we practice for, to have a chance on Sunday. So I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
De Jonge earned a spot in the final group with a steady round of 66.
ELSEWHERE
Angela Stanford (6-under 66) opened a three-stroke lead over Brittany Lincicome at the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix, which features players competing for charity rather than prize money. … France’s Raphael Jacquelin shot a 2-under 69 to take a one-stroke lead at 5-under 204 over England’s Anthony Wall into the final round of the European Tour’s Sicilian Open in Ragusa, Italy.
TRACKING LOCALS ON THE PGA TOUR
This week: PGA Tour’s Transitions Championship, through today, Innisbrook Golf Club, Palm Harbor, Fla.
In the field: Puyallup’s Ryan Moore and Gig Harbor’s Kyle Stanley.
Moore’s third-round score: 3-over-par 74.
Position: Moore (3-under 210) is 10 strokes behind leader Justin Rose (200). Stanley (144) missed the cut.
Recap: An old habit – poor third rounds – cropped up Saturday for Moore, who played the back nine in 3-over. The first day, he played it in 5-under. And it was errant approach shots on the 12th (far left) and 16th (in a greenside bunker) that led to two bogeys, and a tee shot on the par-3 17th that was nearly unfathomable when it traveled 30 yards over the green, leading to a final bogey.
Tee time TOday: The Cascade Christian product will tee off at 6: 55 a.m. (PDT) with Carl Pettersson.
Todd Milles, staff writer
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