If it had have been one of his football team (the Canterbury Bulldog's) players interviewed after his third round of the Players today, Peter might well have been quoted as saying the old favourtie football quote that it is 'a game of two halves'.

Today at the TPC Sawgrass it was just that for Peter. After making a brilliant start to his round which included a five iron from 230 yards into the hole at the par five second for albatross, Peter reached the turn in four under and had moved to seven under for the tournament. Not only was it the great result at the second that was impressive, but it was also that he created several other opportunities on the way to the turn. 

He shared the lead at that point but in his own words he began to struggle early in the back nine. "Obviously the start didn't hurt me, but all in all, I think I played pretty good for the first 12 holes. You know, the last six holes I pretty much just held it together and unfortunately couldn't hold it together on the last. But that's the sort of hole the last is. If you don't hit it very good, you're going to pay the penalty."

"At the second I hit a driver off the tee. I think I had about 230 to the flag, 211 front edge, a little bit downwind off the left, hit a 5-iron, have no idea where it landed, but it apparently went in the hole. I think the 2 on the second threw me a little bit. I went out there with in idea of hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and making birdie or eagle up the second because that's pretty much a birdie or eagle hole if you hit two good shots. Yeah, it definitely made the heart go a little quicker.  Actually I just tried to look at it as I had money in the bank and I could take a few more risks, and I pretty much did it for the first ten holes. I think I played pretty good. And then I just started hitting it sideways."

"I'm pleased more especially because one really good golfer, one of the greats, said to me years ago that anyone can shoot a good score when they're playing good; it's shooting a decent score when you're playing bad. I think today I shot a decent score when I was playing pretty poorly."

Other than the sensational five iron at the second, Peter his a superb pitch at the par five 16th after laying up that took him to 8 under and at that point he had the lead outright. A two putt par on the 17th is always good when in the heat of the battle at the TPC Sawgrass but at the last he was unable to turn the ball over from the tee and found the right hand rough. "I certainly wasn't going to be aiming it down the water line and try to fade it given that I had lost track of where it was going there for a while and once I had reached my drive I had no option other than to take the double bogey out of play and hope for a good par save. I nearly pulled it off but the par putt from ten feet or so was a sharp turning left to righter and was hard to make."        

Peter will play in the second to last group on day four with Jeff Quinney.

 
photo Peter discusses double eagle Caryn Levy - WireImage 

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