PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The Players Championship is not a major. By the look of things Saturday, it may be even harder.
Beaten and battered, David Duval trudged off the 18th green after his fifth bogey of the day and tried to muster enough strength to acknowledge the hometown gallery that applauded his perserverance as much as the fact he was in the lead."We just got kicked around," Duval said. "As far as the golf course goes, this is as tough as I've ever seen it."
The third round had the whipping wind of a British Open, the nasty rough of a U.S. Open, the terrifying greens of the Masters.
Who knows? With Duval holding a one-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson and Skip Kendall, maybe it will even reward a first-time major winner like is often the case in the PGA Championship.
Despite a bogey from the rough -- the chip shot landed 6 feet in front of the hole and rolled 30 feet by -- Duval survived with a 2-over 74 for a 212, the highest score of a third-round leader since the tournament moved to the Stadium Course on the TPC at Sawgrass in 1982.
Mickelson had one of only six rounds under par on a day when the Stadium Course played a whopping 4.3 strokes over par, a 71 that left him and Kendall at 213. Kendall chipped in for birdie on the 18th for a 70, the best score of the day.
"It was like playing Augusta and the U.S. Open on the same day," Montgomerie said after a 73. "I like none of them, so if you put it together, it's worse."
Twenty-nine players began the third round under par. By the end of a grueling day of groans and moans and hardly any smiles, only six remained.
One by one, players caught the wrath of Pete Dye's design and Mother Nature's dry, unyielding conditions.
-- Payne Stewart, chewing his gum harder and harder as his ball descended on the 17th green, turned away when it bounded over the back and into the water for a double bogey that dropped him to even-par 216.
-- Duffy Waldorf, at 3-under after a rare birdie on the par-3 17th, took an 8 on the closing hole to finish at 217.
-- Davis Love III recovered from a triple bogey on the first hole and was also at 3-under until he put two balls in the water on the island green 17th and took a 7. He had a 78 and was at 2-over 218.
-- Ernie Els, at one point 4-under for the tournament, had a 42 on the back and finished at 220.
"I don't know what they were thinking today," said Tiger Woods, whose 75 left him in the group at 216 along with Mark O'Meara and Hal Sutton, who both had 71.
"Certain holes were almost impossible to play," Woods said. "The greens were so fast, so burnt out. If they had known the wind was blowing this hard, I'm sure they would have given us a break."
The greens have been crispy-fried since the opening round, but the wind that began whistling through the pines at the crack of dawn set the table for a torturous day.
"If you hit good shots out there, it was fine," Hoch said.
EMERALD COAST CLASSIC: Bob Duval kept his lead through the second round of the Senior PGA Tour's Emerald Coast Classic on Saturday in Milton, Fla., setting the stage for a possible father-son victory celebration in Florida.
While his son, PGA Tour money leader David Duval took the lead in The Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, Buzz Thomas narrowed the elder Duval's lead from four to three strokes.
If the Duvals can maintain their leads Sunday, they would be the first father and son to win simultaneously on the PGA and Senior PGA tours.
DINAH SHORE: Dottie Pepper, whose only major championship came seven years ago in the Nabisco Dinah Shore, opened a three-shot lead Saturday in Rancho Mirage, Calif., as she tries to it again.
Pepper shot a 5-under-par 67 to go to 13-under 203, helped by holing a sand wedge from 79 yards for an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole.