Woodland leads, Woods misses cut at Torrey Pines

Gary Woodland didn’t have to overpower the par 5s to take the lead at Torrey Pines.
Woodland found his five birdies elsewhere Saturday on another tough day of scoring on the South Course for a 2-under 70, giving him a one-shot lead over 20-year-old Jordan Spieth and Marc Leishman of Australia going into the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
That final round won’t include a familiar figure.
Defending champion Tiger Woods, an eight-time winner at Torrey Pines, went seven straight holes making bogey or worse on his way to a 79. That not only matched his highest score on American soil, he failed to make the 54-hole cut.
Woods had said at the start of the week that he hasn’t seen Torrey this tough since the U.S. Open he won in 2008. It sure looks that way.
Spieth had a one-shot lead to start the third round and it was gone quickly. He missed a 30-inch par putt on the opening hole and took a double bogey on No. 5. His biggest putt might have been a 6-footer for par on the 14th, and Spieth looked confident the rest of the way to salvage a 75.
Leishman had a relatively boring round of 72 on a gorgeous day along the Pacific one birdie, one bogey, 16 pars. That might be what it takes on this monster of course that features rough that might even make the USGA blush.
“If you let bogeys worry you on that golf course, it’s going to be a pretty long day,” Leishman said. “You don’t have to do a whole lot wrong to have a bogey.”
The average score on the South through three rounds is 74.24, compared with 74.97 during the U.S. Open. And the field for the Farmers Insurance Open is nothing but PGA Tour or European Tour players.
Choi leads LPGA event: Na Yeon Choi shot a 7-under 66 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead in the season-opening Bahamas LPGA Classic, chipping to a foot to set up a birdie on the par-5 18th hole.
The seventh-ranked Choi, a seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour, birdied three of the last four holes in her bogey-free round to reach 15 under on Atlantis Resort’s Ocean Club course.
“I think the last three rounds I had a really good swing,” Choi said. “I had so many good shots. But I still have to play aggressively tomorrow. So many players have a chance.”
Garcia wins in Qatar: Sergio Garcia won the Qatar Masters for his 11th European Tour title, beating Mikko Ilonen with a birdie on the third hole of a playoff.
Garcia closed with a 7-under 65 to match Ilonen at 16-under 272. Ilonen had a 66, making an 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force the playoff.