EDS Byron Nelson Championship: Third-Round Notebook
By Stewart Moore, PGA TOUR Staff
IRVING, Texas -- Five-time PGA TOUR winner Adam Scott carded a third-round 67 on Saturday and will now take a three-shot lead over Bart Bryant, Kevin Sutherland, Charley Hoffman and Ryan Moore into Sunday's final round of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
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• Adam Scott's 54-hole total of 8-under 202 is the highest three-round total to lead at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since 1984, when Craig Stadler stood at 5-under 205 through three rounds.
• The last 54-hole leader at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship to convert that lead into victory on Sunday was Sergio Garcia in 2004.
• Through 18 tournaments on the PGA TOUR in 2008, the third-round leader has gone on to win 10 times, including each of the past three weeks: Boo Weekley (Verizon Heritage), Trevor Immelman (Masters) and Johnson Wagner (Shell Houston Open).
• Kevin Sutherland is making his 12th career start at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, where he has made the cut nine times; however, his best finish came in 2000, when he finished tied for 25th.
• Since winning the 2002 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, Kevin Sutherland has 16 top-10 finishes to his name, but only three top-5 finishes. Sutherland is arguably off to the most consistent start of his 13-year PGA TOUR career with four top-15 finishes in nine starts. This week marks Sutherland's 166th start on TOUR since that victory.
• Charley Hoffman (ited for second) entered the week ranked No. 137 on the 2008 PGA TOUR in Putting Average, but needed only 22 putts on Saturday en route to carding a third-round 68.
• Through 54 holes, Adam Scott (68-67-67) and Charley Hoffman (69-68-68) are the only players in the field to card all three rounds in the 60s.
• Players who find themselves more than four shots behind leader Adam Scott do not have history on their side. The largest final-round deficit to be made up in EDS Byron Nelson Championship history is four shots: John Cook (1998), Bob Eastwood (1985), and Lanny Wadkins (1973).
• Ryan Moore fired a third-round 68 and is currently tied for second, in good position to record his first top-10 finish of the season. Moore took a five-week hiatus from the PGA TOUR following the PODS Championship in March to allow a hand and shoulder injury to better heal.
• Sergio Garcia's third-round 65 matched the low round of the week (Frank Lickliter in Round 2) and in turn moved him from a tie for 33rd to a tie for sixth. Garcia carded a third-round 65 as well when he won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in 2004.
• Dudley Hart carded a bogey-free third-round 66 on Saturday, in turn matching his low round of the 2008 season (The Honda Classic, Round 2).
• Local favorite Justin Leonard entered the third round two shots out of the lead and in a five-way tie for fifth. Leonard actually birdied the par-4 first before stumbling with a double bogey at the third and a triple bogey at the 11th. A third-round 75 left the former Texas Longhorn star tied for 28th and nine shots out of the lead.
• Through three rounds, three players currently looking for their first PGA TOUR title find themselves in the top 10: Ryan Moore, Ken Duke and Matthew Goggin. Five players in tournament history have made the EDS Byron Nelson Championship their first TOUR title: Brett Wetterich (2006), Ted Purdy (2005), Robert Damron (2001), Neal Lancaster (1994), and Mark Hayes (1976).
• Through three rounds of the 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the 504-yard, par-4 15th has played as the most difficult hole with an average of 4.412. For comparison, the most difficult hole on the 2008 PGA TOUR to date was the par-4 seventh at Torrey Pines (South), which played to an average of 4.491.
• Bogey-free rounds: Dudley Hart (66), Brian Gay (68), and Tim Herron (67).
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