STROKE OF THE DAY

"There's more to life than flying all over to hit a golf ball. "

A large storm system has put a cloud of uncertainty over tomorrow’s final round of the Buick Invitational. But if anything is certain in La Jolla, it’s that Tiger Woods simply owns the South Course at Torrey Pines.

Woods, who began Saturday with a four-stroke lead on the field at 12-under par, doubled his advantage to eight with a scintillating 66 in the third round.

Despite making six birdies, Woods claimed he wasn’t employing an aggressive strategy.

“I didn’t really try and fire at a lot of flags today,” he said.

While the world’s No. 1 golfer is rightfully characterized as a power player, his strength so far at this event has been his ability to save par. Woods has made only one bogey and still hasn’t three-putted any of Torrey’s tricky Poa annua greens through 54 holes. His inaccuracy off the tee (he’s hit only 20 of 42 fairways) has been trumped by his missing only eight of 54 greens in regulation (85 percent).

“I’m sure some guys have made just about the same amount of birdies as I have, but I’ve only dropped one shot,” said Woods when asked to explain his substantial lead.

If one were to take Woods’s two rounds on the South this week, his combined score – 11-under par – would still put him ahead of Stewart Cink (10-under) and Joe Durant (9-under) heading into Sunday.

"I really do like this golf course," added Woods.

The only thing keeping the five-time Buick Invitational champion from hoisting the trophy for a sixth time is the weather. Heavy rains are expected to fall beginning Saturday evening all the way through Sunday, and a Monday finish could be possible.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. We have a mandate to play 72 holes, so if we can’t play tomorrow we’ll definitely look at the forecast for Monday,” said PGA Tour tournament director Mark Russell.

Besides rain also forecasted for Monday, there’s also the issue of Woods’s participation in next week’s Dubai Desert Classic, which begins next Thursday in the United Arab Emirates. Russell insisted neither that fact nor the eight-shot margin on the leaderboard will have any bearing on the tour’s decision-making.

“There’s no mercy rule. We’re not playing little league baseball,” he said.

The 66 by Woods Saturday was bettered only by Justin Leonard, who registered a 7-under par 65. Leonard, who normally doesn’t incorporate the Buick into his schedule, decided to play this week to gain experience for June’s U.S. Open, which also will be on the South Course at Torrey Pines.

“To shoot a low round today will certainly help my confidence, and I’ll write some notes down and remember this one in June,” said Leonard.

Early in the day, San Diego resident Phil Mickelson generated some buzz around the South Course with a 6-under par 30 on the back nine. Despite struggling on his second nine, his 68 was enough to vault him all the way from a tie for 40^th into a tie for 11^th.

“I’ve been playing a little bit better each day as the tournament’s gone on and hopefully tomorrow I’ll put together one good, solid round to get the year started off right,” said Mickelson.

For up-to-the-minute scores and stats, please visit pgatour.com.

Check back to southlandgolfmagazine.com all day for updates on the third round.