Craig Corl Photography: Third Round at the ATT National

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Third Round at the ATT National

It is now Sunday morning and the final round of the AT&T national is underway with the early tee times on the course. Going into the final round, the field is crowded at the top with Brandon de Jonge leading at 7 under par and only 4 strokes separating the top 11 players. Today promises exciting golf as the leaders look to overtake de Jonge on a course that suffered significant damage as 70 mile per hour winds tore through the course Friday evening leaving many in the DC area without power.

It was an odd sight watching the third round with only a skeleton crew of marshals and a few Congressional Country Club members populated the vast expanse. Being accustomed to seeing throngs and hearing cheers for great shots, the golfers offering polite applause and to their playing partners and tipping their hats to the squirrels was surreal. Equally surreal were the downed trees, piles of dismembered limbs and empty grand stands.

Despite the absence of crowds and the storm ravaged course, several notable rounds were recorded including 4 under par by Tiger Woods (tied for second), Billy Hurley at 5 under par climbing to a fifth place tie, and Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas at 2 under to put him in 7th place overall. I have a soft spot for Vegas - having lived in Caracas for three years and played golf with many of the Venezuelan pros, I am pleased to see him in the hunt...and I'm sure my Venezuelan friends will be glued to the television today offering their support to Jhonattan.

Beau Hossler, the 17 year-old who recently made a splash at the U.S. Open joined Davis Love III on the MDF list (not cut, but yet not allowed to play in the final round due to the number of golfers in tied positions ahead of them).