His lower back was in so much pain that he decided to withdraw next week from Bay Hill so he could get treatment. A double bogey late in his round knocked him nine spots down the leaderboard, which he figured was the end of his hopes to get into the Masters.
One day later, everything changed.
Goosen ran off three straight birdies on the back nine and closed with a tough par from the fairway bunker on the 18th hole Saturday for a 6-under 65 that put him atop the leaderboard with Jim Furyk in the Transitions Championship.
Goosen is No. 52 in the world ranking, and he has to be in the top 50 after next week to avoid missing Augusta National — along with St. Andrews, his favorite course — for the first time since 1999.
Or he can avoid the math and just win the tournament, which comes with an automatic invitation.
Those prospects looked dim when he decided Friday to pull out of Bay Hill, and arranged for a protein injection in Virginia on Wednesday. Suddenly, the final round is packed with significance.
“Maybe I’m fighting for that last spot in Augusta,” he said.
Either way, it figures to be quite a battle.
Furyk, determined to overcome an atrocious season in 2011, surged into the lead with a 6-iron that covered the flag on the par-3 15th hole and settled 3 feet away for a birdie. He fell back into a tie on the 18th hole with a three-putt bogey up a steep ridge. That gave him a 66.
Furyk and Goosen, former US Open champions who have won before at Innisbrook, were at 11-under 202.
“I made some birdies out of the rough today, and was able to knock some putts in and keep the round going,” Furyk said. “I played very patient, and when I struggled — no putts were going in — I didn’t let it bother me.”
Furyk was tied for the lead with Sang-moon Bae, the South Korean rookie who lost in the quarterfinals of the Match Play Championship to Rory McIlroy.
Bae escaped with a par on the par-5 14th after his 3-wood found the water by making an 18-foot putt. He wasn’t so fortunate on the 16th, however. He drove left into the trees to protect against water running down the right side of the hole. He pitched out to the fairway into the rough, flew the green and three-putted for a triple bogey.
He had at least made birdie on the 17th, and wound up with a 68.
Bae was one shot behind, along with Jason Dufner, who struggled to a 71 and hopes is worst round is out of the way as he tries to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
Dufner tends to see the glass half-full. Even though he made three straight bogeys to lose a five-shot lead in the final hour of the PGA Championship, he thinks about the tough par he made on the 18th to at least get into a playoff that he lost to Keegan Bradley.
And even though Dufner’s bogey-free streak ended Saturday on a par 5, he walked off the Copperhead Course realizing that he was only one shot behind, very much in the hunt.
Goosen started the third round five shots out of the lead and finished atop the leaderboard. There were 28 players separated by five shots going into the final round Sunday.
Ernie Els, who likely would need to win to get into the Masters, had a 68 and was only three shots behind. So was Luke Donald, who can return to No. 1 in the world by winning at Innisbrook.
Harrington has been dropping shots since his course-record 61 on Thursday. He had a 72, yet still was only four behind.
Meantime, Julien Quesne produced the round of his life on the final day of the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol and with it walked away with the €166,660 winner’s prize.
The 31 year old Frenchman, who graduated from last season’s Challenge Tour, had never before won more than the €22,464 he took home for finishing 17th at last month’s Avantha Masters in a European Tour event.
But an eight under par 64 – matching the Aloha course record – took him to 17 under par and neither Matteo Manassero nor Eduardo De La Riva could catch him.
“It’s the best day of my life,” said Quesne, after becoming the 400th different European Tour winner.
It’s not easy because you have Matteo Manassero, Miguel [Angel Jiménez, Pablo Larrazábal, they all played good so I just tried to play shot after shot and do my best.
“I knew that if I holed the putt at the last I’d have a good chance.
“I’m very happy. It’s very quick for me to win this year.”
Quesne birdied four of the last five holes, his magnificent approach to the difficult 18th leaving him a seven foot putt which he nervelessly holed.
The two-time Challenge Tour winner, never previously higher than 16th in a European Tour event and 322nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, finished two clear of Italian teenager Manassero, with De La Riva a shot further back in third after bogeying the last.
