Round three of the 2012 Players Championship opened with a three way tie in first, and while at midday it looked like things might open up, in the closing moments Matt Kuchar made mistakes and Kevin Na capitalized, leaving him the sole holder of first place. Things started fairly smooth for Kuchar, including 3 straight birdies at holes eight nine and ten. Things started to come apart at hole 14, where he bogeyed. He struggled with another bogey at 17, and that was enough for Na to catch up with him. Kuchar shot par on 18 while Na birdied, and that left Na 12-under for the tournament and Kuchar 11-under.
Na was simply even for most of his holes, shooting par on 13 of his first 15 holes. He capitalized late though, getting a birdie on two of the final three holes, and avoiding disaster on 17. The other man from the three way tie for first, Zach Johnson, shot 1-over on the day and slipped in the rankings to fourth place at 8-under for the tournament.
The other big story of the day was the rise of Ricky Fowler, who shot at 66 and ascended 14 places to settle at third. He's 9-under overall and has a lot of momentum going into the third round. Na is headed in the right direction as well, but Kuchar is going to have to clear his mind and try to rebound on Sunday, Things are as tight as ever at the top of the standings, so expect big things in round three.
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