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 After a course record 62 on Thursday, the former U.S. Amateur
Championship runner-up threatened to run away from the field when he
picked up four more strokes in his first four holes on an ideal
morning at the TPC Louisiana.
In the end, a five-under-par 67 was not quite enough to start
planning his victory speech, but it nonetheless left Martin in
command at 15-under 129.
Svoboda, without a blemish on his card all week until he
three-putted his final hole, shot a 68 to move into second place on
12-under, with South Korean Noh Seung-yul (68) another stroke back
in third.
"Four-under through four, it was nice to validate what I did
yesterday, getting off to a hot start," Martin told reporters.
"Sometimes there can be a bit of a letdown after a really good round
but I hit it to about six inches on (my first hole) and chipped in
for eagle (on the next).
"Being 14-under through 22 holes was unfamiliar ground. I started
thinking a little bit ahead."
A double-bogey at his ninth hole, the par-five 18th, where he drove
into a water hazard and also three-putted, brought him back to
reality, and that was the last blemish on his card.
"That was a little bit of a wake-up call," said Martin, 26, in his
second season on the PGA Tour after losing his card in his 2012
rookie campaign.
His form this week is no flash in the pan. He tied for third at the
Heritage last week and also posted a third-placing at the Puerto
Rico Open in March.
He credits his recent improvement to a mental decision to focus on
playing consistently, rather than worrying about winning.
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"I wanted to win two tournaments so I was thinking about winning
every week and I was missing cuts, so it was really frustrating," he
said.
"I changed my goal to being in the top 30 (in the tour ranking) at
the end of the year and playing in the Tour Championship.
"I felt like I played well last weekend, got a bit of confidence
from that and hopefully I keep it going."
James Driscoll, meanwhile, had a close encounter in a bunker at the
18th hole.
With an alligator lurking far too close for comfort, Driscoll
decided it would be prudent to scare the reptile away before playing
out of the sand.
Fellow competitor John Peterson came to the rescue, using a rake to
poke the alligator in the tail and coax it back into the adjacent
pond.
Still Driscoll missed the cut.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina,
editing by Gene
Cherry)
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