Woodland in Lead Heading into Final Day of Sentry TOC

January 6, 2019, 9:11 AM HST
* Updated January 6, 10:05 AM

Listen to this Article
4 minutesLoading Audio... Article will play after ad...

Gary Woodland has a three-stroke lead going into the final day of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui.

SWIPE LEFT OR RIGHT

The 34-year-old Woodland is 17-under par (67-67-68—202) going into today’s final round and is set to tee off at 12:40 p.m. with Rory McIlroy who is 14-under par (69-68-68—205).

Woodland has three career wins: 2013 Reno-Tahoe Tournament; 2011 Valspar Championship; and the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open which earned him entry into this week’s Sentry TOC event on Maui.

At a press conference on Saturday, Woodland recapped his performance saying, “Yeah, it was a good day. I played solid all day, got off to a nice start. Nice to make the birdie there on 4. Obviously birdied 5. I would like to have not made the bogey there on 12, kind of got a little unfortunate. Hit a great drive down there, just plugged, and then kind of got bad second shot came up and it was in a divot, so that was unfortunate. But outside of that bounced back. It was a nice eagle there on 15. It was nice to see a long putt go in. And then finished with a birdie, was a big putt on the last hole.”

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

Woodland has led going into the final round on TOUR six previous times in stroke-play events, but has never gone on to win. When asked how he would approach today’s final, Woodland said, “Yeah, I think the difference is I’m a completely different player than I have been in the past. I’ve obviously been in the position multiple times. It’s nice to build off those and take certain things out of them. But it’s nice playing with Rory, because one he plays really quick, we hit it similar distances so we can club off each other. And he’s a great guy so that definitely helps tomorrow. But tomorrow I’ve got to go out and play aggressive. I’m playing well enough where I don’t have to play conservative. I can attack and continue to trust what I’m doing and should be good.”

Woodland received word Friday night that his grandmother had passed away in Kansas. When asked if there would be any extra emotion going into today’s event, he said, “I got that phone call late last night (Friday). That’s been tough. She’s been downhill for a little while now. It’s been tough. And you try to prepare for that but you never really can. So that, definitely have a little extra emotion with me, but we’ll get through it.”

McIlroy qualified for the event courtesy of his victory at the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He was number two on the leaderboard after Saturday: 69-68-68—205 (-14).

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

Rory McIlroy is seeking to become the first player since Daniel Chopra (2008) to win in his first start at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. In Saturday’s press conference, McIlroy said he believes his confidence level is just as high if not higher than it would have been five or six years ago.

He said a lot can change in a final round including the wind: “We have sort of gotten used to this wind the last couple, the last three days, and I know tomorrow’s (Sunday is) going to be completely different. It’s going to be coming out of a different direction, it’s going to be a little less. So probably a few adjustments to be made. But, yeah, another good round of golf. I drove it well again, iron play was pretty good for the most part, finished out well, holed good putts when I needed to to save par and some good birdies and just need to keep it going for one more day.”

Third-Round Leaderboard
Gary Woodland 67-67-68—202 (-17)
Rory McIlroy 69-68-68—205 (-14)
Marc Leishman 68-70-68—206 (-13)
Xander Schauffele 72-67-68—207 (-12)
Bryson DeChambeau 69-68-70—207 (-12)

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

Sunday’s Tee Times:

10:05 a.m. Satoshi Kodaira Tokyo, Japan 77 76 73 226
10:10 a.m. Bubba Watson Bagdad, FL 70 79 74 223
Michael Kim Dallas, TX 71 72 80 223
10:20 a.m. Ted Potter, Jr. Ocala, FL 75 73 71 219
Brooks Koepka West Palm Beach, FL 76 70 73 219
10:30 a.m. Aaron Wise Las Vegas, NV 74 71 73 218
Brice Garnett Gallatin, MO 73 72 73 218
10:40 a.m. Billy Horschel Ponte Vedra Bch, FL 72 75 71 218
Keegan Bradley Woodstock, VT 77 69 72 218
10:50 a.m. Patrick Reed Houston, TX 70 75 72 217
Francesco Molinari Turin, Italy 73 71 73 217
11 a.m. Scott Piercy Las Vegas, NV 76 72 69 217
Matt Kuchar Sea Island, GA 72 73 72 217
11:10 a.m. Brandt Snedeker Nashville, TN 75 69 71 215
Jason Day Brisbane, Australia 69 71 75 215
11:20 a.m. Webb Simpson Charlotte, NC 70 72 72 214
Andrew Landry Austin, TX 69 75 71 215
11:30 a.m. Ian Poulter Woburn, England 71 69 73 213
Cameron Champ Sacramento, CA 71 68 74 213
11:40 a.m. Troy Merritt Meridian, ID 73 71 69 213
Charles Howell III Windermere, FL 74 70 69 213
11:50 a.m. Paul Casey Surrey, England 73 71 68 212
Andrew Putnam University Place, WA 69 73 70 212
12 p.m. Jon Rahm Barrika, Spain 70 71 69 210
Patton Kizzire Sea Island, GA 69 71 71 211
12:10 p.m. Kevin Tway Edmond, OK 66 71 72 209
Dustin Johnson Jupiter, FL 67 74 69 210
12:20 p.m. Bryson DeChambeau Clovis, CA 69 68 70 207
Justin Thomas Louisville, KY 67 72 70 209
12:30 p.m. Marc Leishman Melbourne, Australia 68 70 68 206
Xander Schauffele San Diego, CA 72 67 68 207
12:40 p.m. Gary Woodland Topeka, KS 67 67 68 202
Rory McIlroy Holywood, Northern Ireland 69 68 68 205