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CNN Live Saturday

Third Round of PGA Championship is Under Way

Aired August 18, 2001 - 12:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Third round of the PGA championship is well under way. And at the Atlanta Athletic Club is CNN's Sports Illustrated reporter, John Giannone. Hi, John.

JOHN GIANNONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, how are you? Good afternoon.

You know, a Tiger Woods came here this morning, hoping that an early tee time and an early wake-up call would help him make an early statement to the rest of the field. He started his round nine back. And for a while, he was making a statement. He hit two birdies and an eagle on the front nine.

But it has been erratic back nine for Tiger Woods. Two bogies, including one on 14 in which he missed a two foot put and then on 17 he three putted for a bogey. So right now, Tiger Woods is at two under par on the 18th hole. And he is seven shots behind the leaders. And Tiger Woods was hoping to put up a score of about six under par so that he would send an even stronger statement.

He will really need to play much better on Sunday, if he hopes to have any chance. Now one of the players on the leader board, who Tiger Woods was chasing is Shingo Katayama, an unknown Japanese player, who shot nine under par through the first two rounds and who has gotten almost as much attention for his hat as he has for his game. Katayama playing in a modified cowboy hat. He says he likes way it makes his face look. It makes his face look smaller and slimmer. He said he saw his face in a poster last year and felt he looked too fat.

One the other players near the top of the leader board, Phil Mickelson from the United States, a player who has worn the label of best player, never to win a major. Mickelson is now at eight under par after two rounds, two consecutive rounds of 66.

Mickelson talking with much confidence after yesterday's rounds about wanting to use round three today to open up some space between himself and the rest of the field. Again, Mickelson hoping to finally break that Schnide (ph) six times in his career. He's been to within two shots of the lead on the last day and has never won a major. Reporting from the PGA championship in Duluth, Georgia. I'm John Giannone.

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