The full field is now out on the course for Saturday’s third round of The Players Championship, and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is once again vulnerable with favorable scoring conditions. The biggest mover of the day is Jeff Maggert, who’s nearly 50-years-old but is 6-under through his first 12 holes. The South African duo of Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace also turned in matching rounds of 67, so the low numbers are out there and several golfers have the ability to chase down leaders Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.
Players Championship leaderboard: Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia chased early by Webb Simpson
Players are turning in numbers in the mid-60s for the third straight day at TPC Sawgrass, where some everyone’s making a charge at Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods.
Andy Lyons
Aussie Marc Leishman, who sat on the first page of the leaderboard at last month’s Masters, is 3-under through his first five holes to slot in two shots off the pace. Leishman is extremely talented, a former rookie of the year who hung around all four days at Augusta after it seemed like he would fall off after the red hot opening round. David Lynn was the other relatively unknown name who went low and held the early lead on Thursday at Augusta, and he’s joined Leishman on Saturday at Sawgrass with another push up the board. Lynn made the playoff last week against Derek Ernst at the Wells Fargo, and he went out in 32 on Saturday to get to 8-under.
A host of top flight American golfers are playing just ahead of Woods and Garcia, and so far it’s Webb Simpson and Hunter Mahan who are in the red. Simpson birdied three of his first four holes and now sits at 8-under with Mahan, who opened with a birdie at the first. Lee Westwood, who amazingly played the first two rounds without a bogey, opened by dropping two shots on the first hole Saturday, after whiffing on an attempt to swing from a lie against a tree (video here). Sergio and Tiger both opened with pars to stay in sole possession of first and second.
Here’s a current snapshot of the early Saturday leaderboard:
| Score | Player | Thru |
| -11 | Sergio Garcia | 1 |
| -10 | Tiger Woods | 1 |
| -9 | Jeff Maggert | 13 |
| -9 | Marc Leishman | 5 |
| -9 | Henrik Stenson | 1 |
| -8 | David Lynn | 9 |
| -8 | Webb Simpson | 5 |
| -8 | Hunter Mahan | 3 |
| -7 | Rory McIlroy | 6 |
| -7 | Lee Westwood | 1 |
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