Florida Swing Special Report Sunday 17 March - Tampa Bay Championship Saturday review

Whatever the Tampa Bay Championship lacks in history or tradition it makes up for with without question the hardest and fairest test of golf out of all four courses that make up the Florida Swing, the Copperhead course at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club has produced a leaderboard to relish and a final round that will be exciting and dramatic from start to finish this Sunday. Gary Koch of NBC hit the nail on the head when he said “this is not the typical Florida golf course”, it has massive undulation changes, mature trees, narrow fairways and small greens, the Copperhead course at Innisbrook could easily be mistaken for being in Chicago, New York or San Francisco. The course is reminiscent of a major course a lot older than 40 years and has tested every aspect of golf this week, and because of its non-stop demanding nature absolutely no lead is safe coming to the last few holes, which means there could be as many as 20 players could begin the day with serious hopes of posting a score in the clubhouse and sitting back and seeing if they could win.

The leaders going into Saturday had an absolutely torrid day but with the leading score at 6-under all them remain in contention despite their poor play in the third round. Rookie Shawn Stefani began the day at 7-under-par and 1 stroke ahead of Adam Scott who, along with KJ Choi floundered on a difficult day, finishing at 5-over for the day and 1-under for the championship. Stefani fared slightly better posting a 74 to sit at 4-under for the championship and just two shots out of the lead and still harbours hope of a first PGA Tour win. Brian Harman, Sergio Garcia and Harris English also had over par rounds on Saturday but are all still within 2 and 3 shots of the lead respectively.

The leading trio going into the final round have a mixture of experience and youthful quality, with 1997 Open Champion Justin Leonard posting a 4-under-par 67 to move from 5 behind to tied for the lead along with Kevin Streelman and George Coetzee, both of whom are looking for the first wins of their career on the PGA Tour. South Africa's Coetzee has threatened to break through on the European Tour but has not won in 91 appearances and has only won one 72-hole tournament in his entire career, but it was a big one, the South African PGA Championship in 2011 with a score of 27-under. He certainly has the talent to win on any tour in the world, and should he break through and win on Sunday he will surely go on to win more titles on the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

Ominously for the leaders and the chasing pack on name looms large on the leaderboard, defending champion Luke Donald posted a bogey-free 4-under-par 67 to move from 7 shots behind to 2 behind going into the final round. The Englishman won a dramatic play-off last year to return to World Number One, and while a win wouldn't have that same impact this year it would move him closer to the top two and certainly put him firmly into the discussion for the group of contenders at Augusta in April.

Sergio Garcia will begin the final round 3 shots behind Leonard, Coetzee and Streelman and his form worldwide has been superb over the last 8 months since his win at the Wyndham Championship but aside from his golf game I want to talk about something which I think he should not have to put up with. Several times on the back nine the Spaniard had to back away because of uncalled-for shouts directed at him from members of the gallery and one time a woman in the crowd screamed out as the ball was rolling towards the hole, Garcia reacted and it is understandable why.

This was harking back to the dark days of the abuse Colin Montgomerie used to receive, Peter Oosterhuis commented on Sky Sports that he thought he should just get on with it and not react, but why? This is not football, where there is constant noise from start to finish and where there are 22 players victim to abuse, this is golf, a game for the most part played in a quiet and respectful atmosphere and where a shout from the crowd can put a player off at the crucial moment. It has been a growing habit among the galleries at PGA Tour events and it is something which quite frankly should result in instant expulsion from the grounds at every tournament, the shouts of “Mashed Potato”, “Get in the hole” and some quite vile stuff at times has to be stopped, it is ruining the game and totally against the reputation of the sport.

Hopefully uncalled-for shouts are kept to a minimum on Sunday and we can all enjoy what I am sure will be a thrilling final round.

Sunday is Selection Sunday in the United States for the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament and Monday's blog will discuss how the PGA Tour and European Tour should replace the World Golf Championships, FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai with a month-long feast of match play, March Madness begins on Monday should we have Sensational September? Coming on Tuesday a feature about the Big Three of Palmer, Player and Nicklaus and how they were at the heart of a explosion of golf on television in the 1960's and on Wednesday a full preview of the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, where Tiger Woods can return to World Number One for the first time since October 2010.