Tway Emerges From Memorial Pack

Two years of rain-delayed runaways by Tiger Woods are over, not to mention his quest for a fourth consecutive victory in the Memorial tournament.

Attention now shifts to Bob Tway, the 43-year-old Oklahoman and former PGA champion who walked the line between aggressive shots and disastrous results and positioned himself for his first victory in seven years.

“It would be a big boost for my confidence,” said Tway, who has won only two times since winning the Memorial in 1989.

Playing bogey-free while other contenders succumbed to mistakes on the back nine Saturday at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, Tway had a four-under 68 to emerge from the pack and take a one-stroke lead over Stewart Cink into today’s final round.

Five players had a share of the lead until Tway birdied No. 17 from 15 feet to finish at 12-under 204, the first time he has had at least a share of the 54-hole lead since the Disney Classic three years ago.

Cink could have joined him but missed a three-foot par putt on the final hole, which he attributed to a gust of wind that hit him as he was taking the putter back.

“I’ve got a lot of surface area here for the wind to hit,” said the 6-foot-4 Cink.

Justin Leonard, the 36-hole leader, was among the leaders all afternoon until two bogeys on the back nine dropped him back to 206 and an even-par 72.

Vijay Singh also was tied at one point and only two strokes back until he drove into a creek on the final hole and took double bogey. He shot a 72 and was four strokes behind.

Woods, trying to become the first player in 75 years to win the same event four consecutive years, had to settle for an even-par 72--16 pars, one bogey and his only birdie coming on a tee shot at the par-3 eighth hole that ricocheted off a tree and onto the green.

He finished at 216, 12 strokes out of the lead in a tie for 56th.

Another streak is in jeopardy for Woods. He has finished in the top 30 in the last 59 stroke-play events on the PGA Tour, dating to his tie for 56th in the Bay Hill Invitational three years ago.

After three rounds, he is tied with Jack Nicklaus, who played a solid round of one-under 71, finishing with a birdie on the 18th hole.

“The course is going to play fairly easy,” Nicklaus said. “It has to be if I shot 71.”

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Dan O’Neill shot a five-under 67, birdieing five of the final nine holes in rainy conditions, for a share of the second-round lead in the Farmers Charity Classic at Ada, Mich.

Australia’s Rodger Davis also shot a 67 and Jay Sigel had a 69 to match O’Neill at eight-under 136 on the Egypt Valley course. Morris Hatalsky (66) was a stroke back, and Bob Gilder (68), Wayne Levi (68), Jim Thorpe (69) and Tom Wargo (69) followed at 138.

The 51-year-old O’Neill tied for 10th in Mexico in the Audi Senior Classic but has finished over par in the other 11 events he’s played this season. He has only two rounds in the 60s this season, both this week.

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Rosie Jones shot a five-under 67 to move within one shot of Laura Diaz, who has led all three rounds of the LPGA Corning (N.Y.) Classic.

“I think I always have an advantage when I come to this course,” said Jones, who has five top-five finishes at Corning and is the only player to win the tournament twice, in 1996 and ’97.

Diaz had a 69 and led at 12-under 204. Silvia Cavalleri of Italy, who has never finished higher than seventh in two full years on the LPGA Tour, was alone in third at 207 after a 70.

Jean Bartholomew, who was tied with Diaz for the lead at the start of the day, faltered with four bogeys on the back nine and finished with a 75 and 210 total.

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Arizona’s Lorena Ochoa, who won 12 of the 20 college tournaments she entered, will forgo her final two years of eligibility to join the LPGA Tour, the school announced.

Ochoa, 20, helped lead Arizona to a second-place finish at this year’s NCAA tournament.