Sabbatini Continues Fast Pace at Riviera

Once Tiger Woods cleared out Saturday, along with the rain, everyone’s attention returned to the greens of Riviera Country Club, where Rory Sabbatini kept the ball rolling, along with his lead.

Sabbatini toured Riviera with a four-under-par 67, just another episode in his special sub-70 series that now numbers 15 rounds in the 60s this year. And with today’s fourth and final round of the Nissan Open straight ahead, Sabbatini holds a four-shot lead over Fred Couples and Craig Barlow.

As for Woods, he withdrew because he was sick, a fact his legion of fans didn’t discover until Woods failed to show up for his tee time.

Without Woods, many of his fans needed another hero to follow and Couples noticed his gallery growing. “I did get some of his strays to follow me,” Couples said.

A winner in 1990 and 1992 at Riviera, Couples shot a six-under 65 to stay close to Sabbatini, joined later in the afternoon by Barlow, a former Pizza Hut employee and a four-time qualifying school grad whose 67 was highlighted by an eagle at the 17th when he chipped in from 18 feet.

Sabbatini’s rounds of 67-65-67 add up to a 54-hole total of 199 and 14 under par.

Notoriously fast-paced as a player, Sabbatini has made great efforts to slow down, including carrying his own yardage book. He started doing that at the Sony Open in Honolulu, he just isn’t sure what his inspiration was.

“I don’t know who came up with that idea,” he said. “Probably one of the voices in my head.”

Sabbatini, 29, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, is shedding his reputation as a fast-burning hothead, a tag he boosted when he played out of turn and then walked off the green last year at the Booz Allen to protest the slow play of his playing partner, Ben Crane.

But Sabbatini said that incident and its effects have fast disappeared from his makeup.

“I think I just got to the point where I don’t care anymore,” he said. “Guys are going to do what they are going to do. I am just going to do what I need to do.

“Twenty years from now, they might look at me and say, ‘Man, you’re slow.’ ”

Perhaps keeping with the theme, Sabbatini started slowly Saturday and then built up some momentum, a streak of birdies at the 10th, 11th and then the 12th, where he knocked a five-iron from 175 yards to 15 feet and rolled in the putt.

He dropped a shot with a bogey at the 13th when he drove into the trees, but Sabbatini closed with a birdie at the 18th. From 160 yards out, he sent a searing five-iron to just four feet.

That might sound like a fairly decent iron shot, but Sabbatini was less than impressed with the sum of his iron play, so he’s considering junking his irons for today’s round and going back to an old set.

Speaking of old, there’s Couples, at 46, playing this tournament for the 25th consecutive year and firmly in the hunt for his first PGA Tour victory in three years. How he could be in that position after feeling as ill as he did Thursday when he shot a 66, Couples can’t actually say.

“What did I shoot [Thursday]? It was the biggest fluke of the year.”

The way Couples is playing is hardly a fluke, not with four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back side.

Last year, Couples ranked 154th in putting, but he has taken only 82 putts in three rounds.

“It would be nice to have a longer, smoother stroke, but the clean-and-jerk is what I’ve got,” Couples said. “You know, if I was in the Summer Olympics, I would feel pretty good right now.”

He tied for ninth at the European Tour’s Johnnie Walker Classic last week in Australia and now he has a chance to win this week, even though he didn’t play a practice round and withdrew from the pro-am because he was sick.

“I don’t feel like I’m a great, great player,” he said, “but if you play and do well, it’s not surprising.”

What would be regarded as something of a surprise is Barlow winding up with the trophy in his hands. At 32, he has played 218 PGA Tour events and is still looking for his first victory, but Barlow is sticking with a low-key approach that he thinks will pay off.

“I would love to say that I’m going to win and I’m going to play great. I’m past that,” Barlow said.

“I’m thinking better, I’m being more patient. I’ve been in some positions to win and I’ve tried too hard.”

Still in the chase are Tim Clark and Trevor Immelman, who are five shots back at nine-under 204. John Rollins, whose 64 was the day’s best round, is in sixth place at 205. Jim Furyk’s 65 moved him from a tie for 36th to a tie for seventh, seven shots behind Sabbatini.

Dean Wilson, Bob Estes and Mark Brooks are also in that group with Furyk at seven-under 206. Brooks, a 23-year PGA Tour veteran who turns 45 next month, shot a 67 and is in search of his third top 10 in his last 100 tournaments. Brooks, who has finished out of the top 125 on the money list for the last three years, is in the last year of his 10-year exemption for winning the 1996 PGA Championship.

Sabbatini’s four-shot margin is the largest going into the last round on the PGA Tour this year.

It’s the second time he has been in front after three rounds. In the 2003 FBR Capital Open, Sabbatini had a one-shot lead and wound up winning by four shots. That was the last time he won.

Barlow said Sabbatini is the favorite.

“A four-shot lead is never too much, though,” Barlow said. “The bounces can start going wrong and the momentum changes. Who knows what’s going to happen?”