Scenes From the Riv

We take time from your regularly scheduled weekend for bonus Sunday content.  Hope you don't mind....

At a certain moment in yesterday's third round we had a three-way tie between these players:

• Dustin Johnson
• Bubba Watson
• Chez Reavie

My thought was that one of these is not like the other two.... But how much fun was that, watching the little-known Tour rabbit competing while giving up 50-60 yards off the tee.  It's not that Reavie is that short, it's just that the other two...well, you know.  Here's how they ended the day:

Bubba Watson               66-68-67--201 (-12)

Jason Kokrak                 68-64-70--202 (-11)

Chez Reavie                   66-67-69--202 (-11)

Dustin Johnson              68-66-68--202 (-11) 

Kevin Chappell              68-69-66--203 (-10)

K.J. Choi                        69-67-67--203 (-10)

Rory McIlroy                  67-69-67--203 (-10)

Adam Scott                   68-68-67--203 (-10)

Mark Leishman              68-67-68--203 (-10) 

Hideki Matsuyama         69-67-68--204 (-9)

Troy Merritt                    68-66-70--204 (-9)

Any reason to tune in?  Because he tapped in first, Kokak grabbed that spot in the final threesome from DJ, but he's not a whole lot shorter...

At this point Reavie, Leishman and Merritt remain the "nightmare scenarios" for our Shack, though I think you could make out his tongue pressing against his cheek as he typed that...  As with Vaughn Taylor last week, if reavie somehow prevails against the 101st Airborne, he'll have earned it.

Helen Ross caught up with Rory, who had this to say:

"I think quality courses produce a quality leaderboard, and you just have to look at the names up there at the minute, Bubba, Dustin, myself, Adam, all very, very good players," McIlroy said, reeling off the names of four players ranked in the world's top 10. 

"It's going to be a bit of a shootout tomorrow. I'm happy that I stayed at 10 under and didn't drop to nine, because ... I don't really want to be too far back with so many guys in with a chance tomorrow."

Yes, all good players though one of those four isn't, you know, actually in the Top Ten.  As for the young Ulsterman, his SG-Putting is -1, and that's with a better Saturday with the flat-stick.  So watch him inside of five feet today, especially since the course has to firm up at last....at least I think it does.

 But these were the words of greatest interest:

The 10th hole, both JP and I were sort of looking at a couple of different ways to play it. Where the pin is tomorrow, you can try to go straight at that pin and leave it in that bunker, but that's a pretty risky play, or you take it left. 

But it's a very -- this is probably one of the only courses that I look at the pin position before I even hit my tee shot, you know, because I really want to know where the pin is and where is a good anal and before is the best leave of my second shot. 

There's only a few -- there's only a few courses like that we play each year that I do that. It's enjoyable. It's great to be able to do that and be so strategic, but at the same time, know to be aggressive to your spots and maybe lay back a bit here and there it. It's a really well-designed golf course.

By all means go straight at that pin, Rors.... Unless you want to, you know, win.

The weather forecast couldn't be better, so these comments from the big boys don't exactly come as a surprise:

“Somebody’s going to shoot low tomorrow,” Johnson said. “I would guess 17 under, 16

under, somewhere around there would get it done.”

But when asked if he had a number in mind for tomorrow, Watson demurred. “One better than – I don’t care if it’s an 80. It’s about lifting the trophy,” he said. “To win, there’s going to have to be a lot of things go your way, like getting up-and-down on 18, something crazy like that. Chip-in; you’re going to have to do something because it’s on bounce one way or the other to win.”

The fashion police have been out and about, even without Rickie in the field.... First from the leader:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Bubba Watson leads the Northern Trust Open through 54 holes after wearing a new line of golf glove Saturday en route to shooting a 4-under 67 at Riviera Country Club. 

Watson signed an endorsement deal this week with G/Fore, a golf-lifestyle brand that specializes in high-end golf gloves, shoes, and apparel that are sold exclusively at green-grass shops. 

Watson’s deal with G/Fore doesn’t officially begin until the Masters in April, but he is so fond of the product that he chose a purple glove from a half-dozen or so left for him in his locker and immediately put it into play during the third round of the Northern Trust Open. (He wore a Ping glove made by his clubmaker during the opening two rounds, but said he is not contractually obligated to do so).

As we found out at The Wasted, Bubba loves his sponsors.... And have you heard Padraig Harringron being compared to a mad scientist?  Turns out he also dresses the part:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – We all know the expression “if the shoe fits.” Well, in Friday’s second round at the Northern Trust Open, Padraig Harrington realized he was wearing two different shoes on his feet – same style, same color – except one belonged to someone else with a slightly different size and preference for spikes. 

“They look the same except for having a 9 medium width and an 8 ½ wide width,” Harrington said. “I couldn’t tell until I took them off and checked.” 

The 8 ½ wide shoe on his right foot was Harrington's, with the 9 medium on the left being the unfamiliar one to the Irishman. The shoes were both white FootJoy DryJoys.

“You give your shoes to the locker room attendant and they come back with the same white DryJoy shoes,” said Harrington. “I realized halfway through (my round) when I was cleaning my spikes and I said, ‘These ain’t my spikes.’ ”

Don't blame the locker room guy, Paddy.....that's punching down.

Clothes aren't the only way these guys show their individuality, as golf.com demonstrates in a slideshow of custom stamped and mixed bags.  Here's one that caught my eye:

In his defense, his name is Pat Perez and he's something of a large specimen... But granting that, would you want to be known as The Big PP?

You know who else had an interesting week with a custom wedge?  That would be Brandon De Jonge.... Here's the full explanation:

First the good news... He played so poorly that the four strokes was a drop in the bucket.  But I can't help but wonder how it was discovered.

And only here do we bring you Justin Leonard channeling his inner Boo Weekly:

The 2008 Stanford St. Jude Classic was the last time Justin Leonard won on the PGA Tour. It also might be the last time he shaved. Or got a haircut. 

Leonard is sporting a mountain-man appearance this week in the Hollywood hills. It's one we're not used to seeing from the 1997 British Open champ, but so far, it's working.

Well, it'll take a few more months to go full-Boo....

I think I'll get on with my Sunday, but check back in the morning for the weekend wrappage.