Ryan Moore leads BMW Championship; Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson eight shots back

Reporting from Lemont, Ill.

Ryan Moore traversed Cog Hill on Saturday in a loosely knotted tie and buttoned V-neck sweater because he said he favors the “classic” look.

So it seemed fitting when the BMW Championship’s third-round leader recalled a simpler, less commercial time with an apparent slip of the tongue.

“I came here,” Moore said, “to win the Western Open.”

He’s in prime position to do that after firing a five-under-par 66 that included only one bogey.

At eight under, Moore is one shot clear of Matt Kuchar, Charlie Wi and Dustin Johnson, who said the galleries have been kind to him since his 72nd-hole debacle at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

“I hear, ‘It wasn’t a bunker!’ about every hole,” Johnson said.

Johnson made five consecutive birdies, including one on the 610-yard 11th after blasting his second shot over the green. Johnson chipped to seven feet and knocked it home.

The towering Southerner has the long game, the short game and the forget-the-past attitude to become one of the world’s best players.

“I just don’t let stuff bother me too much,” he said.

That trait is rare among PGA Tour pros, whom Cog Hill CEO Frank Jemsek referred to as “the toughest audience in the world.”

That audience largely has panned the Dubsdread course, some because they don’t like the Rees Jones-renovated layout and others because of the condition of several greens, fringes and run-up areas.

Stewart Cink on Friday quoted fellow tour player Zach Johnson as having rated the course a “minus-3” on a scale of 1 to 10.

Asked Saturday about the quote, Johnson cleverly replied: “That’s under par. That’s good.”

Tiger Woods, tied for 22nd and set to play with Phil Mickelson on Sunday, said the greens were “perfect” in 2009 and “a little different this year.”

Wood shot a three-under 68 on Saturday to get back to even par and keep alive his slim chances of reaching the Tour Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

tgreenstein@tribune.com