C6  Sunday, June 4, 2017  |  THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH •
memorial / SHORT GAME
Why wait till Sunday? Third round offered plenty
Third-round
analysis
At the Masters, as the
saying goes, the tourna-
ment doesn’t start until
the back nine Sunday. If
that’s the case, why does
Augusta National charge
fans — sorry, patrons — to
watch the first 63 holes?
The Memorial isn’t quite
as hoity-toity, so they have
no problem admitting that
their event finally got real
about 2 p.m. Saturday. By
then, Jason Dufner had
started playing like Jason
Duffer on his way to a
crooked 77 that opened the
door for a host of chasers.
Four hours later, the day
ended with Daniel Summer-
hays holding a sizeable lead
— three shots — but it looks
like another free-for-all is
on tap.
Weather, man
Would it be bad form to
complain about the unre-
lenting sunshine and a third
straight day of 80-degree
temperatures? Yeah, prob-
ably, especially considering
how miserable it usually is
here for tournament week.
That storyline has not held
this year, when the urge to
gripe about the weather has
been replaced by a desire to
find a soft patch of hillside,
peel the shirt and go Putin
style. Resist that urge, fellas.
You’ll get bounced.
Jamie Lovemark draws a crowd as he plays his second shot on the par-4 14th. He bogeyed the
hole after his drive missed the fairway. [Kyle Robertson/Dispatch]
Hole of the day
Dufner had four bogeys
on his first five holes to begin
his stumble, but he gathered
himself with a birdie at No.
7 and parred the next three
holes to stand 11 under and
tied with Summerhays going
to the par-5 11th hole. It was
there that Dufner’s round
turned into a full-blown Epic
Fail video. His first two shots
found the fairway but his third,
from 87 yards, found the creek
that fronts the hole. A penalty
stroke, a chip and two putts
left Dufner with a double-
bogey 7 — and a three-shot
deficit after Summerhays
made a 3-foot putt for birdie.
What’s the buzz?
First, a proviso: Sports-
writers are notoriously
poor at math. That said,
this is 2017, so it should
be four more years before
the 17-year cicadas
descend upon Muirfield
Village like they famously
did in 1987 and 2004.
So how to explain the
presence of the red-eyed
monsters and the male’s
shrill mating calls at this
Memorial? Unlike 2004,
when they were a nui-
sance during backswings
and on the greens, the
cicadas aren’t ubiquitous
this time around. But
there are enough of them,
Trending up
It’s hard to fault how Sum-
merhays negotiated his way
around the course in the final
pairing, especially consider-
ing how his playing partner
tooled around like a Shriner
in a clown car. Summerhays
had only one bogey, at No.
13, and plenty of chances.
Whether he can hold the lead
remains to be seen, espe-
cially with lurkers like horse
for the course Matt Kuchar
and freewheeling Bubba
Watson on the scent.
Trending down
Dufner’s expression
never changes, so nobody
knows how far down he
grinded his teeth during a
four-hour round in which
six bogeys and a double
especially in spots like undid his five-shot lead,
along the 17th fairway, turning it into a four-shot
where they’re impossible deficit. But that’s hardly
to miss, to say noth- insurmountable, as Dufner
ing of engaging in quiet proved on Saturday. A little
conversation. further down the leader
board, fan favorites Phil
Mickelson and Jordan
Spieth lost ground by
treading water.
Numbers for
dummies
2: Players within six shots
of Dufner’s lead after the
second round
9: Players within six shots
of Summerhays’ third-
round lead
3: Times Summerhays has
held or shared the lead of
a PGA Tour event. He has
not converted any into
wins
4: Times in 42 Memori-
als that the third-round
lead was higher than the
second-round lead
32: Under-par rounds,
among 39 played, by
Kuchar in his past 10
Memorials. He has six top-
five finishes since 2007.
1: Number of houses for
sale along the fairway at
No. 18 boasting that “Jack
lived here!”
— Ray Stein
rstein@dispatch.com