It was as he walked towards the 16th green on Saturday that Retief Goosen knew he had put himself in contention to win the 134th British Open.
Having just deposited his seven iron second shot on the green, the South African glanced over to see Tiger Woods on the tee at the third and noticed that the world number one had fallen back to ten-under.
”I saw that he had dropped a shot and I felt like ‘game on’ a little bit,” Goosen said after posting a six-under par 66 in his third round to move to nine under for the tournament.
”It is not easy out there, you can make mistakes very quickly although you can also pick up birdies quickly. Hopefully I’ll not be too far behind tomorrow and I can start making some putts and get myself into contention going down the stretch.”
Goosen was in confident mood as he walked up the 16th, having just birdied the 15th, one of the toughest holes on the course, after striking a majestic five iron to within three feet of the pin.
He followed that up by sinking a 20-footer for birdie on the 16th and that, he said, was the key to his round.
”Any day you make par on those two holes you are happy so it is the birdies out there that got me in the tournament.”
The South African insisted he would not be affected by the traumatic experience he suffered at last month’s US Open, where he led by three shots after the third round but collapsed to an 81 on the final day.
”I’m not determined to make up for what happened at Pinehurst and I don’t think there is anything to have been learned,” he insisted.
”It was just the kind of day when everything I did was wrong. If I hit a good shot it was the wrong club and I misread the greens a lot.
”I’d just like to give myself a chance every time on Sunday and hopefully one day it works out and you win again.
”That is all you can do in this game. You can’t force it — you just have to keep grinding away.”
By his own admission, Goosen has been struggling for form all year, particularly with his irons.
And after a disappointing 73 on Friday, he admitted that he thought his chance had disappeared when he ran up a bogey six at the long fifth after sending his third shot, a chip, way over the back of the green.
”I had a great start, made a birdie at the first and hit it close at the second, although I didn’t hole the putt.
”After that, the 5th is where you see the next birdie. So when I made six there, I said I’m probably out of it now.
”But then I birdied three in a row and things started looking better.”
The birdie blitz began at the seventh, where Goosen’s wedge landed inside a foot from the hole. An eight iron to 20 feet resulted in a two at the short eighth and he picked up another shot at the 9th after driving to the edge of the green.
There was a minor blip at the Road Hole, the 17th, where Goosen’s second shot, from the middle of the fairway, only just made it on to the front of the green, forcing him to putt up a three-foot bank.
That resulted in a three-putt bogey but Goosen got it back at the last after sending a three-wood 350 yards downwind and on to the green – Sapa-AFP