Tiger Woods is now out on the course at the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the No. 2 player in the world has moved to 12-under for the championship. Tiger is seeking his third win in five PGA Tour appearances this season, and a victory would put him at the top of the world rankings for the first time since October of 2010.
Arnold Palmer Invitational 2013 leaderboard: Tiger Woods extends lead over Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley
Tiger Woods has added another birdie at the start of his fourth round, extending his lead to three shots as he goes for his third win of the year.
Sam Greenwood
Tiger’s contention this week has been a little different than his wins at Torrey Pines and Doral earlier this year. At those venues, he dominated and pulled away with all facets of his game clicking. This week, he’s been at the bottom of the driving accuracy statistics and in the middle of the pack in greens in regulation. But he’s made up for it on the greens and scrambled to save pars with several clutch putts.
In his career, Tiger has won 50 of 54 events where he’s held the lead after the third round. His fourth round started in similar fashion to the way he’s played all week -- with an errant drive and impressive work to get back on track and save par. Tiger took iron off the first tee and promptly pulled it into the left rough, but he hit a laser approach out of the deep stuff to run it up onto the front of the green. From there, he would two-putt to stay at 11-under and hold his multi-shot lead.
Woods stuck his tee shot to seven feet from the cup on the par-3 second, cleaning that up to add another red number and get to 12-under. His playing partner, Rickie Fowler, put his tee shot inside of Woods but he badly missed his putt on the high side and Tiger walked off with an added cushion to his lead.
It’s hard to see anyone catching up to Tiger at one of his favorite tracks, but there are a few other big names at the top of the leaderboard. Keegan Bradley has already made his move up into second place, playing the first four holes in 2-under par. Bradley matched Woods with the low round of the day on Saturday, and he’s certainly one player who has both the talent and experience to push Tiger.
With the windy, and potentially rainy conditions, it will likely be difficult to card an extremely low number and come from back in the pack. Bubba Watson is in the clubhouse with the low round of the day, a 5-under 67 that moved him 36 spots up the board. Tiger shouldn’t need that kind of number to hold on, but as we saw in the third round, his game is in form and may just run away with his eight API victory.
Here’s a current snapshot of the top of the leaderboard, along with some other notables:
| Score | Player | Thru |
| -12 | Tiger Woods | 2 |
| -9 | Keegan Bradley | 4 |
| -9 | Rickie Fowler | 2 |
| -9 | Ken Duke | 4 |
| -9 | John Huh | 2 |
| -8 | Justin Rose | 2 |
| -6 | Hunter Mahan | 6 |
| -4 | Bubba Watson | F |
For a full leaderboard, visit Golf.com.
More from SB Nation:
See More:
