Mickelson Leader Heading into Masters’ Final Round
Phil Mickelson shot a 2-under 70 in Saturday’s rain-delayed third round and leads Chad Campbell and Fred Couples by one shot. Woods, Singh, and Goosen are two shots back, and Ernie Els sits 4 back. Look for the back nine on Sunday to be a shootout and I’m not convinced all of the “Big Five” will be in the mix.I don’t think Chad Campbell will be a factor, but Stephen Ames might carry his Players Championship momentum into Sunday afternoon and suprise everyone. Anyone within 5 shots has a reaisitic shot at winning and if the course conditions dry out, it could bring even more players into the mix. Sentimental favorite Ben Crenshaw had a horrible third round and finds himself 10 shots back. The wet weather eliminates average length hitters, and Crenshaw ranked last in driving distance heading into the third round.
On the LPGA, Michelle Wie moved back into second place in the women’s world rankings after her strong showing in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. I’m as big of fan of Wie’s as their is, but the world rankings need a major makeover in my opinion. A quick look at the top ten shows that Wie has only 15 official LPGA events under her belt, which I feel is about 15 events less than it should be. It’s obvious that the Asian Tour officials had a lot of influence with the LPGA’s new commissioner for the rankings to include not only Wie, but Yuri Fudoh who primarily plays the Women’s Asian tour.
| Rank | Name | Events Played |
| 1 | Annika Sorenstam | 40 |
| 2 | Michelle Wie | 15 |
| 3 | Paula Creamer | 38 |
| 4 | Yuri Fudoh | 54 |
| 5 | Lorena Ochoa | 52 |
| 6 | Cristie Kerr | 48 |
| 7 | Ai Miyazato | 58 |
| 8 | Juli Inkster | 41 |
| 9 | Karrie Webb | 47 |
| 10 | Jeong Jang | 58 |