The temperatures continued to climb, but the scores held steady in the third round of the Dogwood Invitational on Friday at Druid Hills Golf Club.
Bruce Woodall, the second-round leader, stayed atop the board with a 3-under 69 to move to 14 under for the tournament. M.J. Maguire maintained second place with a matching 69 to stay a shot behind. Ben Kohles, Woodall's former teammate at Virginia, charged up the leaderboard with the day's low round, a 65, to move into third, two shots behind.
But the heat was the bigger story. As Woodall led off the final group at No. 18, the temperature reached 100 degrees.
It wasn't as bad for the groups that teed off at 8 a.m. A slight breeze blew throughout the morning, offering some natural air conditioning. But its sweet relief disappeared as the leaders, who teed off at 10:06 a.m., neared the turn and the air became as thick as the rough on the course.
"I wouldn't say it was a struggle, but I didn't feel as comfortable as I have the past couple of days," Woodall said.
The golfers and caddies sought shade at every opportunity. As the groups started to stack up waiting for those in front to finish, the golfers would stretch or eat bananas to fight cramps as they sat in the shade.
Anticipating temperatures that were expected to be almost 10 degrees warmer than the first two rounds, the Dogwood tournament committee took several steps Thursday night to try to take care of the golfers, the few fans who braved the day and the course. Those steps included hiring an EMS crew that was at the course Friday and will return Saturday.
"I thought [the heat] would've affected me more, but I tried to drink a lot of water," Maguire said. "It was brutal."
Woodall and Maguire got off to rough starts Friday. Woodall bogeyed his first two holes but turned around his round with eagles on Nos. 7 and 9.
Maguire was 2 over through his first four holes, but birdied all four par 5s — Nos. 7, 9, 14 and 18 — to keep pace.
Oliver Schniederjans, a Georgia Tech player who started the day three shots behind McGuire, had trouble putting and came in 1 over. He said his bad start, combined with the heat, made it hard to rally.
"Just bad mojo all day, and I never got it going," he said.
The heat will continue to be a part of the Dogwood's final round.
Tee times and format for Saturday's final round were changed because of temperatures that are supposed to surpass Friday's. Instead of pairings going off one after the other on No. 1, pairings will go off Nos. 1 and 10 at 8:30 a.m. and 8:35 a.m. Woodall and Maguire will tee off at 9:50 a.m. on No. 1. Toledano said he hopes to complete the tournament by 1:30 p.m., two hours earlier than normal.
"I think we managed the heat challenge well today with extra waters," Toledano said.
