Turning Stone Resort Championship: Third-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff VERONA, N.Y. -- Steve Flesch carded a third-round 66 on Saturday and now takes a four-shot lead heading into Sunday's final round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship.  Steve Flesch is aiming to convert his third straight 54-hole lead into a victory. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
• This is the eighth 54-hole lead of Steve Flesch's PGA TOUR career. After not capitalizing on his first five 54-hole leads, Flesch has converted his last two into victory at the 2004 Bank of America Colonial and earlier this year at the Reno-Tahoe Open. • Flesch enjoys pulling away from the field as evidenced by his five-shot lead through 54 holes of the Reno-Tahoe Open, which is the largest 54-hole lead on the 2007 PGA TOUR. • Flesch's three-round total of 19-under-par 197 ties Tiger Woods (THE TOUR Championship) for the lowest total to par through 54 holes in the 2007 PGA TOUR season. • Two-time PGA TOUR winner Carl Pettersson recorded a third-round 66 on Saturday and has not recorded a bogey since the par-4 ninth (his 18th) on Thursday. Pettersson recorded at least one top-three finish on the PGA TOUR from 2003-2006 and is looking for his first of the 2007 season. • The third-round leader has gone on to win four of the last seven events on the PGA TOUR, dating back to Flesch's victory at the Reno-Tahoe Open. • Oddly enough, this is the 34th time in 40 stroke-play events on the 2007 PGA TOUR in which there has been a single player leading through 54 holes. • It will take a low round on Sunday to catch 54-hole leader Steve Flesch. The largest come-from-behind win on the 2007 PGA TOUR occurred when Padraig Harrington came from six shots back on Sunday to win the British Open. There are only three players within six shots of Flesch. • One of those three players is Charles Warren, whose round of 68 on Saturday leaves him with a chance to catch Flesch and capture his first PGA TOUR title. Ironically enough, Warren was the only one with a chance to catch Flesch when the lefty won the Reno-Tahoe Open. He wound up tying for second that week, his best finish on TOUR to date. • Parker McLachlin's third-round 65 ties his low round of the year (FBR Open, final round) and has the PGA TOUR rookie in position to move up from his current spot of 156 on the TOUR's money list. • Why the sudden turnaround for McLachlin? He came into the week ranked 185th in Greens in Regulation on the 2007 PGA TOUR, and through three rounds, the former UCLA star has hit 43 of 54 greens in regulation. • Michael Allen's round of 68 has him in position to possibly win for the first time in his PGA TOUR career. This is the second time in the 2007 season (EDS Byron Nelson) that Allen has found himself in the top-10 heading into the final round of a TOUR event. This is only the third time since the 1995 John Deere Classic that Allen has been in the top-10 through 54 holes of a TOUR event. • A different hole has played as the most difficult at Atunyote Golf Club each round this week. On Saturday, the lengthy par-3 11th played to an average of 3.286 and in turn was the most difficult. • Chris Tidland became the 31st player to record two eagles in one round on the 2007 PGA TOUR when he carded eagles at the par-5 fifth and the par-5 18th en route to a third-round 67. • Despite the windy conditions on Saturday, Andrew Buckle and Justin Leonard each managed to hit 18 of 18 greens in regulation. |
