While the US$-6 million WGC-American Express Championship, being played at the tough Crabapple course of Capital City Club at Woodstock, near Atlanta, appears to be heading for a shootout between the No 1 player in the world, Tiger Woods, and No 3 Vijay Singh, the Indian duo of Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal will attempt to climb up the leaderboard after both finished tied for the 50th place on the penultimate day of the championship.
According to information from the par-70 course, Randhawa stumbled on his back nine again and submitted a card of four-over 74, while Atwal dropped three strokes in the end for his second successive two-over 72. That put them at tied 50th place at 10-over 220. Thai star Thongchai Jaidee, the third Asian PGA Tour player in fray this week, produced a sensational eagle-two en route to a two-over 72, which tied him for 33rd place at seven-over 217.
Woods shot a one-under 69 on Saturday to maintain a two-shot lead going into the final 18 holes. He started the round five clear of the field and was eight-under 202 going into the final day. Vijay Singh shot into contention with a brilliant round of six-under 64 and was six-under 204. American Tim Herron (67) was third on five-under 205, while South Korea's Choi Kyung-ju was a further shot back.
The final day's battle between Woods and Vijay would not just decide the fate of the $-1.05 million winner's cheque, but also that of the Player of the Year on the PGA Tour, as well as the Order of Merit champion. Vijay is currently leading the Money List and Tiger is third behind Davis Love III.
Atwal, currently leading the Asian PGA Tour Money List, started terribly with bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes, but pulled things back with a hat-trick of birdies on the 12th, 13th, 14th holes. Another birdie on the 18th offset a bogey on the 15th and he made the turn at one-under. On his back nine, a bogey on the fourth and a double on the par-4 fifth undid all the good work as he finished on two-over 72. Atwal hit eight fairways and 11 greens in regulation, but 30 putts ensured he finished over-par for the day.
Randhawa, who started with a 69, made a four-over 74 with only two birdies as against six birdies, four of which came on the back nine. For the second successive day, Randhawa struggled with his overall game, hitting just five fairways and nine greens in regulation. He made 31 putts.
Woods, seeking his fifth PGA Tour victory of the season and the defending champion, started well and three birdies in the first seven holes helped him reach 10-under-par before a pair of bogeys slowed down his charge. At the par-four eighth, Woods three-putted for the first time in the tournament to drop a shot and then made a bogey on the par-four 11th and a double bogey from the greenside bunker on the 16th. In between, he made birdies on the 12th and 13th holes.
LEADING SCORES (after 36 holes from USA unless mentioned): 202 _ Tiger Woods 67 66 69; 204 _ Vijay Singh (Fiji) 70 70 64; 205 _ Tim Herron 66 72 67; 206 _ KJ Choi (South Korea) 67 71 68; 208 _ Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 68 71 69, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 71 68 69; 209 _ Retief Goosen (South Africa) 73 69 67; 210 _ Paul Casey (Britain) 73 71 66, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 65 73 72; 211 _ Jerry Kelly 70 72 69, Rocco Mediate 66 72 73.
OTHER SCORES: 212 _ Brad Faxon 75 71 66, David Toms 73 72 67; 213 _ Jim Furyk 70 74 69, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71 73 69; 214 _ Fred Couples 71 73 70, Lee Westwood (England) 72 71 71, Mike Weir (Canada) 69 73 72; 215 _ Ernie Els (South Africa) 71 74 71, 217 _ Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 73 72 72, Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 71 73 73; 218 _ Shaun Micheel 72 75 71, Justin Rose (Britain) 75 69 74; 219 _ Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 74 75 70; 220 _ Phil Mickelson 73 77 70, Arjun Atwal (India) 76 72 72, Jyoti Randhawa (India) 69 77 74; 221 _ Davis Love III 74 77 70, 223 _ Darren Clarke (N Ireland) 69 82 72; 224 _ Rich Beem 76 75 73, Ben Curtis 76 76 72.
