Watney torches East Lake with back-nine 28

Nick Watney during the third round of the 2010 Tour Championship.

ATLANTA – Nick Watney reinforced a couple of longtime golf adages Saturday at the Tour Championship. You never know when a low round might break out. And a player sometimes is only one small change in fundamentals away from going low.

Watney was 2 over par through five holes in the third round. But then he tweaked his putting setup on the eighth hole and birdied nine of the last 11 holes. The result was a 7-under 28 on the back nine and a round of 63.

Watney credited a couple of things. He moved about 65 percent of his weight onto his front leg when addressing putts. And his caddie, Chad Reynolds, made several excellent reads on the Bermudagrass. And, oh yeah, it’s golf.

“Nothing was really clicking early in the week, even early today,” said Watney, who finished at 2 under total for 54 holes, in eighth place, six shots behind leader Jim Furyk. “I hadn’t made anything all week, so I just said, ‘Chad, from now on you read them and tell me where to hit it,’ and he read them great.”

Watney said the 28 was “probably” his best nine holes on Tour. For certain, he was in that so-called zone that doesn’t happen frequently.

“Everything kind of slows down, the hole is a little bigger and it’s a great feeling,” Watney said when asked what feeling he had. “Just trying to keep it going and keep the same rhythm in your walk and the same pre-shot routine down to the tee. It’s a great feeling. It doesn’t come along all that often, and you just want to ride it as long as possible.”