Gavin Coles once again holds a share of the overnight lead at the Shell Houston Open, but this time he is tied with the second ranked golfer in the world. Coles shared the lead with Brett Quigley after Friday’s action, but he will be playing in the final group with Vijay Singh in the final round on Sunday. The two golfers finished up the day at -11 for the tournament. Coles held his ground on a day that saw only 23 rounds under par at Redstone Golf Club. He put together three birdies and two bogeys for a one-under-par round of 71. “It’s awesome, mate,” Coles said. “I can’t imagine too many guys that wouldn’t want to be in my shoes tomorrow standing outside the ropes, that’s for sure. What better could it be, playing with the number two player in the world?”
The man who is tied with him is also the defending champion of this event and will be looking to become the first guy to defend his Houston Open title in the tournament’s history. Vijay Singh had a rough start to his third round, shooting a one-over-par 36 going out. He got it together on the back nine, however, and finished up with a solid round of 70. He was the leader after Thursday’s opening round but let that slip away with a so-so second round Friday. Singh will be looking for his second win of 2005, his first coming at the Sony Open back in January. “I’m quite happy with my position right now but the golf course is getting tougher every day,” Singh said.
The Englishman Greg Owen held the lead alone at -12 before finishing with back-to-back bogeys on 17 and 18. He finished up the day one off the lead at -10. Owen started the round in seventh place and now will be in the next to last group going into the final round. Owens’ best PGA Tour finish was a tie for third at after this year’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he played in the final group on Sunday with the eventual winner Phil Mickelson. Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal and Brett Quigley round out the top five, both sitting at -9 going into final round play. Olazabal is looking for his first PGA Tour win in two years, while Quigley will be looking for his first career win on tour.
John Daly came into Saturday’s action one shot off the lead, but his third round was very wild. He had double bogeys on both the seventh and eleventh holes and it looked like the wheels might roll right off the wagon. But Daly got it back together and finished up with three birdies to shoot a 73 and stay in contention going into Sunday. He will more than likely need a round in the mid 60’s to even have a chance at winning this event.
Saturday was also “moving day” at the Shell Houston Open, but there were not very many golfers who made a big charge towards the lead. Brian Bateman and Kent Jones both shot rounds of 68 early this morning to move from a tie for 36th into a tie for 9th. Charles Howell III had it to -8 before bogeying the last hole to settle for a third round 69. Howell III and the others at -7 will need to go very low on Sunday to give the leaders a scare.
The final pairing on Sunday should provide a lot of differences. The Australian Coles stands 5-foot-4 and is one of the shortest drivers on tour. Vijay Singh, on the other hand, is always near the top in driving distance. Coles will more than likely be playing shots from the fairway 40 to 50 yards behind Singh. He will once again have to rely on great accuracy, long-iron play, and putting to maintain a chance at getting his first PGA Tour victory. On the other hand, Vijay obviously feels very comfortable on this course and will be tough to beat all day.
The weather for the final round will be partly cloudy with highs in the low-to-mid 70’s. The action can be seen on CBS once again from 3-6pm ET. Here is a look at the leaderboard after three rounds of play.
Pos Player Tot R1 R2 R3 T1 Vijay Singh -11 64 71 70 T1 Gavin Coles -11 65 69 71 3 Greg Owen -10 67 69 70 T4 Jose Maria Olazabal -9 70 67 70 T4 Brett Quigley -9 67 67 73 T6 Tom Byrum -8 68 70 70 T6 Joe Ogilvie -8 68 67 73 T6 John Daly -8 68 67 73 T9 Brian Bateman -7 68 73 68 T9 Kent Jones -7 70 71 68 T9 Charles Howell III -7 70 70 69 T9 Stephen Leaney -7 71 68 70 T9 Jeff Maggert -7 67 68 74
Photo Credit: © AP Photo/David J. Phillip.