Northern Trust Open: Third-round notebook
By Doug Milne, PGA TOUR Staff
LOS ANGELES -- For the second day in a row, defending Northern Trust Open champion Phil Mickelson made an eagle-3 at the par-5 first hole en route to a 9-under 62 and a four-stroke lead over Andres Romero. His 62 is just one stroke shy of the course record set by Ted Tryba in 1999.
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• Mickelson's four-stroke lead is the largest heading into a final round since Geoff Ogilvy held a six-shot lead after 54 holes at this year's season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship.
• Mickelson's three-round total of 197 is just one stroke shy of Mike Weir's record of 196 (66-64-66) in 2004.
• Mickelson's 9-under 62 is one stroke better than his previous best of 63 at Riviera, which he posted in Round 1 Thursday. It's his best score since the first round of the 2005 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
• Mickelson held a one-stroke lead at 11 under after 54 holes at last year's Northern Trust Open, before going on to win by two.
• Mickelson has previously held at least a share of the 54-hole lead 31 times. Of those, he has parlayed 23 into victory. Only once did he finish worse than third (tied for eighth at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson).
• The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win five of the six events so far this season, including Ogilvy at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and Pat Perez at the 90-hole 50th Bob Hope Classic presented by Arnold Palmer. Because of a final-round wash-out at last week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Dustin Johnson emerged victorious as the 54-hole leader.
• If Mickelson manages to hang to win the 2009 Northern Trust Open, it will mark the fifth time he has successfully defended a PGA TOUR title. The others are the 1995-1996 Northern Telecom Open, the 2000-2001 Buick Invitational, the 2001-2002 Greater Hartford Open and the 2005-2006 Bellsouth Classic.
• Should Mickelson win on Sunday, he would become only the seventh player to successfully defend a title at the Northern Trust Open. The feat was most recently achieved by fellow lefty Weir, who won at Riviera in 2003 and 2004.
• In his third start of the season, Romero put himself in great position for a solid Sunday finish after a third-round 6-under 65. It was his best round since shooting a 7-under 65 in round-three of the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, site of his first PGA TOUR win.
• 1990 and 1992 Northern Trust Open champion Fred Couples began the day five strokes off Scott McCarron's 10-under lead. But following a 5-under 30 on the front nine, Couples had caught that lead. The 49-year-old Couples ended the third-round with a 6-under 65, trailing Mickelson by five. His 65 was his best round since shooting an 8-under 64 in Round 3 of the 50th Bob Hope Classic presented by Arnold Palmer last month.
• Couples is playing in his 26th Northern Trust Open, and upon conclusion of Saturday's third round, has now competed in 100 rounds at the Northern Trust Open.
• Robert Allenby, who won the 2001 Northern Trust Open in a one-hole, six-way playoff, fired a third-round 3-under 68 to finish tied for 12th. Allenby has finished inside the top-seven in three of the last four years at the Northern Trust Open. He tied for third in 2005, missed the cut in 2006, tied for third in 2007 and tied for seventh in 2008.
• By making the cut, Allenby extended his streak of made cuts to 28, just one behind the current best of 29, held by Tiger Woods.
• Following the death of his mother on Jan. 28, Allenby is making his first start of the year. He is attempting to play his way on the 2009 Presidents Cup team after having played on the 1994, 1996, 200 and 2003 Presidents Cup International Team.
• Saturday's scoring average was 70.675, while Friday's average was 71.201 and Thursday's average was 70.451. The par-5 first hole has played the easiest over the first three rounds at 4.320. The toughest hole in Round 3 was the par-4 eighth, with an over-par average of 4.307.
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