Bubba Holds Lead on Cadillac Moving Day

Rory McIlroy thought he might have a chance at 59. Tiger Woods opened with three straight birdies and made a charge of his own. None of this bothered Bubba Watson, who figured he could go just as low Saturday at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.

All the noise about McIlroy and Woods soon disappeared when Watson started eagle-birdie.

And even when Justin Rose ran off four straight birdies to catch him, Watson responded with a style of golf only he plays. He plunked a man in the gallery on one hole and regained the lead with a birdie. His target on another hole was a man in an orange shirt, and he hit that one to tap-in range for another birdie.

When his wild day ended with what Watson called his best shot of the day -- "I chipped a low bullet 7-iron" -- on the 18th for a routine par on a hole that makes him nervous, he had a 5-under 67 and a three-shot lead.

If the last two days were not enough evidence, Watson likes to play golf his way.

He has never had a swing coach since his late father showed him the fundamentals at age 10. He once jokingly said he shouldn't take advice from anyone who couldn't beat him. And when asked if his caddie helps him out, Watson replied, "He's not very good. That's why he's a caddie."

Now he's one round away from his first World Golf Championship.

Watson was at 17-under 199, three shots clear of PGA champion Keegan Bradley (66) and Justin Rose, who lost out on playing with Watson for the fourth straight day when he three-putted the 18th from long range and had to settle for a 69.

As for McIlroy, Woods?

They were eight shots behind on a TPC Blue Monster course that is yielding plenty of birdies in moderate wind, but where it's tough to catch a guy with a pink driver who belts it where few others can.

The only other player within five shots of the lead was Peter Hanson of Sweden, who nearly holed a bunker shot from a downhill lie on the 18th and shot 69.

Only once did Watson worry that his shot might go too far.

Having survived a turbulent stretch at Doral -- he lost a four-shot lead over Rose in three holes -- Watson's lead was back to three shots when he was in a fairway bunker on the 16th, just over 100 yards away. He tried to blast a 64-degree wedge, caught too much of the ball, and saw it sail over the green toward a pond Watson didn't know was there.

It hit a tower, dropped to the side and Watson escaped with bogey. He followed with another wild tee shot on the 17th, though he managed to save par with a good pitch from the front of the green. And on a closing hole he called "ridiculous," he had an easy two-putt par.

"All in all, it was a great day," he said.

No one is ready to concede victory to Watson, even Rose, who has seen enough of his action the last three days. They had a better-ball score of 59 on Friday, and 60 on Saturday.

"Three back, it's a lot to Bubba on this golf course," Rose said. "But at least there's not a lot of guys ahead of you. There's only one guy at 17 under, and the rest of the pack is right there, so it doesn't take much."

Matt Kuchar (66) and Zach Johnson (67) were another shot behind. Adam Scott looked as though he might give Watson a run until the Australian started missing short putts, the pulled his tee shot into the water on the 18th and made double bogey. Scott dropped four shots over the last three holes.

McIlroy played the last six holes in 2 over and still shot 65, while Woods failed to do much after his birdie-birdie-birdie start. He twice made bogey on the par 5s and shot 68. They were eight shots behind.

The wind has been decreasing since the opening round, and so have the scores.

McIlroy hit two fluffy wedges at the start of his round, but he atoned for the second one by chipping in for birdie, and away he went. McIlroy shot 30 on the front nine without making birdie on the two par 5s, then made up for that with a fairway metal into about 18 feet for an eagle on No. 10. That put him 10 under for the tournament, only two off the lead.

Watson was still on the practice range, though, and this was a day when just about everyone went low.

Neither McIlroy nor Woods could keep up.

McIlroy hit a good chip from short of the par-5 12th, with his right foot deep in the sand and his left foot on the hill, and converted that into a birdie that put him one shot behind. He was 9 under for the day through 12 holes, and the kid couldn't help but think of a 59.

"You're thinking four (birdies) of the last six and here we go," McIlroy said. "But obviously, it didn't happen like that."

McIlroy made bogey from a poor lie in the bunker on the 14th, and then turned a birdie hole into a bad bogey on the par-4 16th then his lob wedge from the rough barely reached the green. He had to remind himself that 65 wasn't awful.

Woods, meanwhile, made a bad bogey on the par-5 eighth when he pulled a 2-iron over the green, dumped his third shot in the bunker and couldn't get up-and-down. He also took a penalty shot on the par-5 12 and made bogey, and his momentum was gone.

Doral is the only course left on his regular PGA TOUR schedule where he has never finished out of the top 10. That streak remains in play, though he is too far back from the leaders to be considered a serious threat.

"The scores being as low as they are, the winning score is probably going to be in the 20s," he said. "So you're going to have to take care of those par 5s."

Even though both flirted with contention, neither was a factor late in the day.

Bubba Just-in Lead by One

Bubba Watson and Justin Rose put on an amazing show of birdies in blustery conditions at TPC Blue Monster, making 17 between them while playing in the same group Friday at the World Golf Championships - Cadillac Championship.

Their playful feud was decided by Watson's eagle, giving him a 10-under 62 and a one-shot lead.

Watson belted a 3-iron that barely got over a palm tree, carried over the water into the wind and settled 6 feet away on the par-5 eighth for an eagle putt that gave him a one-shot lead over Rose.

Mark Wilson, the third in that group, shot a respectable 70 and was just along for the ride.

"They did everything right," Wilson said. "It was some of the best golf I've seen collectively between them."

Watson was at 12-under 132 and will get to play in the final group Saturday with Rose, who had to settle for a 64.

"Maybe they've been cutting the hole a little bigger," Rose said.

Despite the steady wind, there were plenty of low scores on the Blue Monster. The average score was 69.9, close to three strokes easier than the opening round. There were 12 scores in the 60s on Thursday, and 31 of them Friday.

Tiger Woods played bogey-free for a 67 and actually lost ground. He moved up the leaderboard, but is seven shots behind going into the weekend, with 14 players ahead of him.

"This is the highest score I could have shot today, for sure," Woods said.

Rory McIlroy, in his first tournament as the new world No. 1, managed a 69 and fell 10 shots off the lead.

Perhaps most peculiar about Watson being atop the leaderboard at Doral is that he really doesn't like the course. Without many trees except for the waving palms, he can't figure out where he's supposed to be hitting the ball. But he kept hitting it long, had short irons into the greens and made his share of putts. That works just about anywhere.

As always, there were a few shots that only Watson can see.

He was so far left of the sixth fairway, that a tree was blocking his path to the green. Watson had only 135 yards to the hole, but instead of playing a sand wedge, he hit 9-iron and aimed it some 20 yards right of the green, slicing it back into the left-to-right wind beyond the hole until the wind pushed it back on the descent. It landed 6 feet from the cup.

His caddie, Ted Scott, keeps notes in the yardage book of how Watson plays each hole in every round. Next to the 9-iron from 135 yards, he put in parentheses, "Wow."

There was another "wow" inscription two holes later.

Watson was in the fairway on the par-5 eighth, but the best path to the green was around a palm tree near the ropes where the photographers were camped out.

"I took it right up the edge of that tree. There's a little tree there and it actually nicked that limb a little bit," Watson said. "I hit it as hard as I could, just a low, what everybody calls a stinger. Hit as hard as I could low and knew it wasn't going to slice. So all I was protecting was the draw and it went dead straight and came off perfect. And the rest is history."

He went from one shot behind to one shot ahead of Rose, who had nothing to apologise about after his 64. Rose, who contended last week in the wind at The Honda Classic, ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn, the exception coming on the 18th.

Rose was among those caught up in the Bubba show.

"I don't let it influence my game plan, the way I play the golf course, but definitely you keep one eye on him just out of interest," Rose said. "He's a fun guy to watch play golf. When he hits tee shots, there's a bit of disbelief and stuff like that, or he curves one, starts one in the trees and there's `Ooohing' and `Aahhhing' when it goes back into the fairways.

"No one knows what to expect and I think it's fascinating to watch."

Even with the tees moved slightly forward and slightly less wind, the par-4 18th still played difficult. There were five birdies, compared with only two birdies in the opening round.

Adam Scott had one of them, holing a 20-foot putt for a birdie-birdie finish that allowed him to recover from a double bogey on the eighth hole. He shot a 68 and was at 10-under 134, two shots out of the lead.

"Right where I want to be," Scott said. "The guys shot some unbelievably good scores out there today, so I knew on that back nine as I was kind of falling a long way behind, I needed to step it up, and I was happy the putter really came through for me. Tomorrow, I'm just going to have to be really sharp, because there's no doubt again there are going to be low scores out there."

Peter Hanson, who reached the quarterfinals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, took another step toward trying to secure a PGA TOUR card. He had a 65 and was alone in fourth in this World Golf Championship.

Thomas Bjorn has yet to make a bogey in 36 holes and had another 68. He was four shots behind, tied with PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who had a 67. The group at 7-under 137 included Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and former PGA champion Martin Kaymer.

"You'll take that any week," Bjorn said. "I'm not making a big number of birdies, obviously, but when you can keep big mistakes off your scorecard, that's the key to this golf course. It's very easy to make some big mistakes and it's difficult to get it back."

Phil Mickelson was 1 under after a 71.