Tiger Woods had a three-stroke lead over Japan’s best golfer and PGA Tour player Hideki Matsuyama when play in the fourth and final round of the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan, was stopped for the remainder of today due to rain storms. The two players started today early in order to complete their third round and then stopped play at the 11th hole of the fourth round. Gary Woodland is in third place four strokes back.
After opening this tournament with a pair of 64s, with par being 70, Tiger completed his third round 66 and stood 18 under par when his fourth round was stopped. And during this last round, he scored four birdies his front nine. Tiger is really playing consistent, good golf this week so far. And it is remarkable that he is doing this under some very adverse conditions regarding his aging body.
Tiger had to survive 29 holes of golf yesterday with his left knee that had undergone a fifth surgical procedure only two months ago. I’m surprised that his doctor let me go back to playing golf that soon. Apparently, a small amount of cartilage was removed.
After the day’s play, Tiger said in an interview, “having come off a knee procedure I haven’t really stressed it like this. I’ve played 36 holes [at home] but I’ve been in a cart. Very different than playing tournament golf [having to walk]. Everything held up pretty good. Being in it for 10 hours is a long period of time. The mind tends to wander a little bit. You have to make sure you are committed to every shot.”
Tiger Woods is trying to win this tournament to tie what most, I think, would agree is the second greatest record in the history of professional golf–Sam Snead’s all time record best of 82 wins on the PGA Tour. And when Tiger Woods has a lead like this in a tournament, his career has proved that everyone else is just about playing for second. In his PGA Tour career, he has won every tournament he has led after three rounds with at least a three stroke margin, which is 24 of his 81 wins. We will find out tomorrow if he can continue to match his record when the fourth-round is resumed to finish this sole PGA Tour tournament in Japan for the 2019-2020 season.
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