[Golf] Woods Still Confident of Wearing Green Jacket

Tiger Woods yesterday started a surge in the third round of the 2008 Masters Open at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, ending two rounds of lackluster play.

Striving to become the first PGA player to win all four Grand Slams in a season, Woods raised his standing to fifth with a five-under 211, finishing with a bogey-free third round of 4-under 68. Trevor Immelman of South Africa remained the leader and six strokes ahead of Woods.

Woods sharpened up his driver and iron accuracy to 80 percent, but his putts remained problematic. Missing four birdies of less than 4.5 meters in a row, his stroke tally rose to 31.

The four-time Masters winner said he was obviously getting better and still has a chance to win, though admitting the situation was not right for him.

Despite Woods’ latest spurt, 16 out of the last 17 Masters champions are in the final group, making it a lot tougher for him to rally. Woods has not won any of his 13 majors when failing to go into the final round on top.

Breaking a 10-year absence from the Masters, Immelman continued his pace in the third round with a score of 69. He scored 68 each in the first two rounds and held a two-shot lead over Brandt Snedeker of the United States going into the final round.

Fellow American Steve Flesch was third and Paul Casey fourth. The top four golfers going into the final round have yet to win a major.

K.J. Choi of Korea barely passed the cut, finishing 44th out of the final 45 qualifiers.

The Masters gives prize money to players from the proceeds the organizer earns, an amount which reached 1.35 million U.S. dollars.

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