"Seve-Like" 68, keeps Garcia in contention at Round3 the Northern Trust Open

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – "Seve-like." by Alex Miceli - GolfWeek Reporter

That’s how Spaniard Sergio Garcia described his third round in the Northern Trust Open on Saturday.

Garcia, with all deference, brought up the name of his late countryman Severiano Ballesteros, the magician of the recovery shot, when describing his 3-under 68 at Riviera Country Club.

“I've hit some beauties, and I've hit some shockers,” said Garcia, who will enter Sunday's final round tied for third, three strokes behind leader Retief Goosen. “It was a little bit Seve‑like, I would guess, the way I saved some of those pars where, you know, it looked like I was going to make bogey or double, something like that."

The prototypical Seve hole came at the par-4 13th, where Garcia showed his magical talents. Garcia hit his tee shot so far right that it found the greenside bunker on the adjacent 10th hole. Through a small window in the trees, Garcia had 233 yards to the hole but could get his 3-iron second shot only to the front of the green, 60 feet from the hole. “I probably had a couple yards, I would say, between the TV tower and the trunk of the tree,” Garcia said of his line to the green. “The difficult part about it was that I was in a little bit of a downslope in the bunker, ball a little bit above my feet, having to hit like a low, low cut that went underneath the branches. So it just clipped one little branch.”

After his third shot, Garcia drained a 25-footer for one of the more improbable pars of the week. “I would have been happy with 5,” Garcia said. “So 4 was a bonus.”