Flesch takes money and runs with it

2008-04-12

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By John Nestor PA SportsTicker Golf Editor

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Ticker) - It''s fitting that Steve Flesch gotinto The Masters because of his standing on a money listbecause, as he sees it, he''s playing with house money.

Flesch continued his improbable run up the leaderboard atAugusta National on Saturday and is just three strokes out ofthe lead heading into the final round.

There was no doubt that many people expected a lefthander toplay well and climb into contention on Saturday. It''s just thatFlesch was not expected to be that guy.

Playing with lefty Phil Mickelson, a two-time winner here,Flesch carded a 3-under-par 69 and stayed in touch with leaderTrevor Immelman, who is at 11-under.

"I drove it as well today, maybe even better than I have thepast two days, which as I was talking about yesterday, sets upmy iron game," Flesch said. "And I had a lot of good numberstoday to keep the ball below the hole, which was one of my biggoals out here."

Now Flesch''s goal has turned to victory. If he plays like hehas the last two days (67-69), he will certainly have a chance.

"I putted very well on the front nine, and you know, was justvery comfortable," Flesch said. "I''ve got nothing to lose.That''s kind of the attitude I''m taking. I''ve got four victoriesin 11 years out here, and, you know, if you''re going to make arun at one, you might as well make a run at one this week."

Flesch gave himself a chance to make a run this week with a pairof victories last season. He won the Reno-Tahoe Open and theTurning Stone Resort Championship. Winners of full-field PGATour events are now awarded a spot in the field at The Mastersbut neither of Flesch''s wins qualified as such.

Reno was held opposite a WGC event, and Turning Stone was theopener of the "Fall Finish," but the winnings counted toward his$2,288,899 in earnings for the season, which was good for 26thon the money list and a spot in the field here.

"They were not automatic entries," Flesch said. "You know, themoney ;ist is how I got in, because I finished 71 in the FedExCup, too. We all know how that is."

The victories were his first since 2004 at Colonial. He thenhit the skids and tumbled down the world rankings before pullinghimself out of it last season.

"My previous two years were pretty miserable, and I think I wasranked as high as 23 at one time after I won Colonial a fewyears ago, and then I kind of went on a slide for about twoyears. Actually, it was a really steep slide," Flesch said. "Iwasn''t playing that badly. I just wasn''t, you know, I justwasn''t getting that much out of my game.

"Then I won Reno and five weeks later I won Turning Stone, thefirst Fall event. I think my ranking was 160-something, and Ithink I gained about four spots in Reno and about 40 or 50 inTurning Stone, so in the top hundred, but the wins got me highenough on the money list where I got in this year."

Now that he is here, Flesch has played his way into contentionbut remained loose about it all the way. He even took time tofind his name on the leaderboard while waiting for Mickelson tofind his way out of trouble on 18.

"I was keeping an eye on it. I don''t look much. I figure, youknow, what the heck, I''m on 18, I have some time, I might aswell look," Flesch said. "But I can''t really pay that muchattention to it. You know, you can''t get too caught up in itout here. You know, there''s that (Tiger) Woods guy, everybodyis always looking. I was looking because I was curious likeeveryone else, what did Tiger shoot today?

"If somebody had a coke and a pizza I might have had a slice ofthat, too."

Flesch will need another low round - he already has the lowround of the tournament, a 67 on Friday - and possibly somehelp, but he is 18 holes away from his first major championship.The thought of a career-defining victory however, isn''tchanging his outlook.

"I''m just enjoying being out here. I know I''m behind by threegoing into tomorrow so I have nothing to lose," Flesch said."I''m just enjoying it. I''ve got a bunch of family and friendsdown, so we are just having a good time and it''s making it waymore exciting the fact that I''m playing well."