Evian Masters - 3rd Round

Karrie Webb birdied 18 to finish the third round of the Evian Masters with a one-shot lead at -12. Michelle Wie is one shot back, with Se Ri Pak and the amazing Laura Davies tied at -10.

Webb jumped out to a three shot lead through 10 holes, but then the Back Nine Bogeyman (you like that one?) got her when she doubled 12 and bogeyed 13. In each of the first three rounds she has come out like gangbusters only to blow up somewhere on the backside to let everybody catch up. So far Karrie is -14 going out and +2 coming in. Wie posted 70 to stand at -11. Davies, who hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since she took the Wegman’s in June 2001, birdied 16 and eagled 18 to card a 67. Pak recovered from a double-bogey at 15 with birdies at 17 and 18, shooting 70.

2nd round co-leader Lorena Ochoa staggered to a 73, dropping into a three-way tie for fifth at -8 with Mi Hyun Kim and the hard-charging Jeong Jang. Annika Sorenstam never got on track, posting 71 to put her at -7. Defending champ Paula Creamer spit out a 74 to put herself 8 shots back and out of contention.

This tournament shows us a real good reason for having a cut line after two rounds – it can prevent a player from having to endure lines like this: 77-82-79=238 +22. Stephanie Arricau enters the final round 34 shots out of the lead. I feel confident in saying that Stephanie would have preferred catching the bullet train back to Toulouse Thursday night over teeing it up at 7:15 Saturday morning, on the off-chance she might shoot 66 and claw herself all the way up from 77th to 74th place.

I’m posting this before viewing TGC’s Friday night tape-fest so if I see anything else to comment on, I’ll add it later.