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By Joe Chemycz
PGA TOUR Staff

Jay Williamson is closing in on a breakthrough victory in his old college town. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

WILLIAMSON THRU 54 HOLES

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 15 T3 Pars 35 T30 Bogeys 4 T76 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 85.7% T2 Driving Distance 280.7 yds. 54 Putts per Round 28.7 T20 Putts per GIR 1.714 17 Greens in Regulation 77.8% T1 Sand Saves 0.0 T66

• Jay Williamson Player Page

Andrew Buckle was the odd man out when it came to the pairings today and was the first player off the tee as a single at 7:44 a.m. Buckle breezed around the TPC River Highlands course in 2:14, shooting a 2-over-par 72 in the process.

This is only the second time Jay Williamson has held/shared a 54-hole lead in a PGA TOUR event. Williamson was at 12-under par after three rounds of the 1996 Kemper Open and led by one stroke over David Toms and Steve Stricker. Williamson shot a final-round 79 and wound up T23, 10 shots back of the winner, Stricker.

Williamson also shared the 54-hole lead once before on the Nationwide Tour, at the 1998 Omaha Open, where he was tied with Don Walsworth for the lead. Williamson shot a final-round 71 and wound up losing a playoff to his close friend, Matt Gogel.

Williamson, currently No. 7 on the Nationwide Tour money list, is looking to become the first player to win on the Nationwide Tour and the PGA TOUR in the same year since Jason Gore accomplished the feat in 2005. Gore won three times that year on the Nationwide Tour and then captured the 84 Lumber Classic.

Williamson won the Fort Smith (AR) Classic on the Nationwide Tour this year, he was tied for 14th place after three rounds and trailed leader Justin Bolli by six strokes. Williamson posted a 7-under-par 63 at the Hardscrabble Country Club to wind up at 16-under and one better than Bolli and Garrett Willis.

Williamson finds himself atop the leaderboard on the strength of his ball-striking. Williamson has hit 36 of 42 fairways (T2 -- 85.71%) and has hit 42 of 54 greens (T1 -- 77.78%)

A 54-hole leader/co-leader has gone on to victory 26 times in 55 years at the Travelers Championship. In the last 10 years, four players have won after holding at least a share of the lead through 54 holes: Brent Geiberger (1999), Phil Mickelson (2001), Peter Jacobsen (2003) and J.J. Henry (2006).

This is the ninth consecutive year that the tournament has had an outright leader after 54 holes. The last time two or more players shared the 54-hole lead in this event was in 1998 when Scott Hoch, Larry Mize and Grant Waite were all 13-under par heading into the final round.

Fred Funk hit all 14 fairways on Saturday and shot a 3-under-par 67. He is 8-under for the tournament and alone in fourth place. Funk has made four starts on the Champions Tour this year and has finished T28, 1, T7 and 7th in those events. His victory came at the Turtle Bay Championship on Jan. 28. He has also made 13 starts on the PGA TOUR and won the inaugural Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun on Feb. 25.

Here is how the leaders have fared on the holes this week:

Players who were bogey-free on Saturday:
• 66 Billy Mayfair

Low rounds of the day on Saturday:
• 66 Vijay Singh, Billy Mayfair, Nick O'Hern, Pat Perez
• 67 Steve Allan, Fred Funk, Mathew Goggin, Hunter Mahan, Bo Van Pelt, Jay Williamson

There are several players high on the leaderboard who have never won on the PGA TOUR, including the top twosome of Jay Williamson and Hunter Mahan. A total of 12 players have made this tournament this first career victory:

• 1953 Bob Toski
• 1967 Charlie Sifford
• 1975 Don Bies
• 1982 Tim Norris
• 1985 Phil Blackmar
• 1986 Mac O'Grady
• 1988 Mark Brooks
• 1991 Billy Ray Brown
• 1997 Stewart Cink
• 1998 Olin Browne
• 1999 Brent Geiberger
• 2006 J. J. Henry