WINDERMERE, Fla. — As always seems to happen with Tiger Woods, drama ensued on Saturday.
Thankfully, it had nothing to do with his surgically repaired back this time, a recurring ailment that sabotaged his play through most of 2014.
It, too, had nothing to do with Woods vaulting himself into position to win a tournament — in this case, this week's Hero World Challenge at Isleworth.
Despite starting the day miles from contention at the 18-player invitational he hosts annually to benefit his foundation, Woods — battling a stomach flu that had him vomiting periodically throughout the round — played on.
And — go figure — he posted his best round of the three with a 3-under-par 69, highlighted by birdies on his last three holes.
When the round was complete and Woods — even-par for the tournament and 20 shots behind leader Jordan Spieth, who shot 63 on Saturday — met with reporters, his voice was barely audible.
"It wasn't easy,'' Woods said. "I fought hard. That's about all I had. I've been throwing up for hours.''
Asked whether, if not for his foundation if he might have opted not to play, Woods said: "No. You know me. I like to compete. If I can go, I can go and give everything I have. This is different. I wasn't in pain, just a little under the weather."
Woods finished the day with six birdies, which has to be encouraging in his comeback from the back injury with a revamped swing and new coach, Chris Como.
But Woods again was plagued with the chipping woes that ruined his first two rounds. Woods chunked four chips and took two shots to get out of one bunker in Thursday's opening round. On Friday, he bladed a wedge on 13 and chunked a chip on 18. On Saturday, Woods added to that dubious total, chunking two more chips to give him an outrageous total of seven in three rounds.
So, to review: Through three rounds, Woods has thrown away 13 shots in three rounds with seven chunked chips, a sand shot left in a bunker, a bladed wedge and four penalty shots.
Take those 13 shots away and Woods would be tied for second with Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson.
The best thing to happen to Woods on Saturday was teeing off in the first group. He was paired with Billy Horschel, who is a fast player. The two finished their round in just over three hours after making the turn in an hour and 35 minutes.
"Playing with Billy was fun,'' Woods said. "He's a good kid and we played fast, which was nice so I didn't have to sit out in the heat for too long."
So far, the comeback from knee surgery by Woods' girlfriend, star skier Lindsey Vonn, is going better than his recuperation from back problems. Vonn on Saturday won her World Cup downhill race at Lake Louise in Canada, prompting Woods to tweet: "I competed and Linds won.''
Woods hinted he might tweak his schedule and play a tournament he doesn't normally enter in the 2015 season in preparation for the Florida swing and then the Masters, saying, "It'll probably be slightly [a] little different.''
He's expected to play the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Feb. 5-8 because that almost always is on his schedule and because he has won seven times there.
But people in Woods' camp believe he wants to play a tournament before Torrey Pines, which might mean the Waste Management Open in Phoenix, which takes place the week before Torrey Pines.
Former St. John's star Keegan Bradley, who's tied for second at 13-under, has gone to a standard non-anchored putting stroke for the week, eschewing the anchored stroke he has been using since college, a move that will be banned in 2016.
"It's nerve-racking,'' Bradley said. "I've had five years and hours and hours of practice [with the belly putter], but it's fun to come out here and prove to everybody and myself that it's not a big deal [making the change].To be honest, this is probably the best three days of putting that I've had in probably a couple of years."
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