Australia’s Min Woo Lee was left visibly frustrated, throwing his golf ball into the Pacific Ocean after a bogey-bogey finish to the third round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Lee will start the final round of the US$20 million signature event five shots behind leader Akshay Bhatia (-19) and could have been much closer if not for his late collapse.
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Lee appeared set to make a charge for the lead when he eagled the par 5 14th before unravelling late in the round to fall back to 14-under par overall and a share of seventh place on the leaderboard.
The 27-year-old Australian dropped a shot at the par 3 17th after dumping his tee shot into a greenside bunker, but it was the last where things really spiralled out of control.
A wayward drive on the scenic par 5 that hugs the famous coastline landed in a bush to the right of the fairway.
Lee was forced to take a drop as his ball was unplayable, and his third shot had to be played from off a cart path.
That shot found a greenside bunker and after escaping the sand, Lee was left with a near 10 metre putt to save par.
He was annoyed by the heavy winds seeming to move his ball on the green, and received sarcastic cheers from the gallery for taking his time to hit the putt.
When he blasted that past the hole, the West Australian appeared to swear in frustration.
Then, Lee threw his ball into the nearby water after knocking in the bogey putt.
Lee is not the only one whose actions on the greens have caused a stir this tournament.
Leader Bhatiam, vying for the $5 million winner’s cheque, had the same issues with the wind on the 18th green, his group took roughly 35 minutes to play the last hole because of the delays.
But he has been enduring the wrath of fans on social media for a different reason.
The left-hander uses a broomstick putter like Australia’s Adam Scott, and has been accused of the banned practice of anchoring.
After his second round, the American felt the need to defend himself online.
“Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha,” Bhatia commented on an Instagram post of his putting technique.
LEADERBOARD: All the scores from Pebble Beach
Bhatia will start the final round two shots clear of Collin Morikawa, Sepp Straka and Jake Knapp after his four-under par 68.
A wild weather forecast has brought forward tee times for the final round with groups to tee off in threes between 2:22am and 4:45am AEDT on Monday morning.
A predicted afternoon storm along with strong winds prompted the call by the PGA Tour, not that conditions were that much easier in the third round despite the impressive scores.
The soft winter conditions certainly aided scoring, but the array of beanies and big jumpers being worn showed that the wind blowing in off the Pacific Ocean was icy.
Tommy Fleetwood (-14) was surprised by the number of low scores given the challenging weather.
“Yeah, I mean the scoring’s been amazing today and I don’t think it was that easy of a day,” the reigning FedEx Cup champion said.
“I think there was definitely enough demanding shots like not to warrant 62s, but golfers are really, really good.
“For sure like different wind directions, different conditions, different strength of wind, I think especially when you get those holes that are on the coastline, you know, it just becomes very tough.”
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Min Woo-Lee shines at Pebble Beach | 14:25
Morikawa rose 25 places on the leaderboard into a share of second with the best round of day – a ten-under par 62.
The two-time major champion made 11 birdies for the day in an incredible display of ball-striking that took him to 17-under for the tournament.
Morikawa is hunting his first victory since 2023 and the world No.19 started the year with a missed cut in Hawaii.
He said it has taken a lot of work on his mindset to come out of his slump.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with (mental coach) Rick (Sessinghaus). More frustration, right, of just I go out, and even on Thursday I think I had like three or four birdies on a course where I felt like I hit it really, really good,” Morikawa said.
“It’s just going out, and he reminded me yesterday when I first came out and turned pro, like I didn’t care about honestly making cuts or top-20s, I came out to win.
“When he told me that yesterday, there was that mindset switch going into today. I wanted to come out and win, win the weekend, win the tournament. Now we’ve given ourselves a chance.
“It’s a small mindset adjustment and without him telling me that, who knows what I would have shot today. But I’m out here to win.
“When you finish 30th, 15th, 3rd, at the end of the day like I want to win. I’ve got to set that mindset at the beginning of the day, at the beginning of the week and now I think we’ve given ourselves at least a chance come tomorrow.”
Australia’s Jason Day is tied 31st at 10-under for the tournament after a second successive 68.
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