Arnold Palmer Invitational: Third-round notebook
By Mark Stevens, PGA TOUR Staff
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sean O'Hair shot a 1-over 71, but was able to increase his lead from three strokes in the second round over Jason Gore to five strokes over Tiger Woods.
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• O'Hair has held the third-round lead/co-lead three other times in his PGA TOUR career, including last year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (he finished tied for third). He also led in 2007 at THE PLAYERS Championship (finished 11th) and at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship (finished second). Last year, O'Hair was tied with four other players going into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, including Woods, who went on to win his fifth Bay Hill title.
• O'Hair had only one bogey in each of the first two rounds, but tallied five in the third round.
• O'Hair is one of seven United States natives under the age of 30 with multiple PGA TOUR victories (J.B. Holmes, D.J. Trahan, Anthony Kim, Nick Watney, Charles Howell III and Dustin Johnson are the others). With a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he would be the first in this group with three victories.
• Woods' streak of four straight rounds in the 60s ended with a 1-over 71. His largest 54-hole comeback was at the 2000 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, when he was five back of Mark Brooks and Matt Gogel.
• In 2008, Woods was four strokes behind Martin Kaymer entering the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic and came back to win with birdies on five of his final seven holes.
• Gore's last top-5 finish came at the 2007 Buick Open, where he went on to tie for second.
• The tournament record for largest 54-hole lead is six strokes, which is held by Mike Nicolette (1983) and Fred Couples (1992). Nicolette ended up winning a playoff with Greg Norman.
• The third-round leader has gone on to win 10 of 12 times this year on the PGA TOUR.
• The scoring average at Bay Hill soared in the difficult conditions on Saturday. The average on Thursday was 72.118, and 72.068 on Friday. On Saturday, it was 73.459, giving the tournament a cumulative average of 72.418 through 54 holes.
• On a day that saw only four players shoot under par, Brandt Snedeker fired a 3-under 67 to move from a tie for 48th to a tie for sixth. The 67 matched his season-best score. Snedeker has five missed cuts, a tie for 42nd at the Buick Invitational and a tie for 44th at the Puerto Rico Open. Through his first nine events last year, Snedeker had only two missed cuts and four top-15 finishes, including a tie for 14th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
• Snedeker also turned in the only bogey-free round on Saturday.
• Hunter Mahan stood a good chance of breaking the PGA TOUR record for fewest putts in nine holes after chipping in on three of his first four holes. Mahan had three putts through five holes and was threatening the TOUR record of six putts in nine holes by Stan Utley. Mahan finished with 10 putts on the front nine.
• On the first hole, Mahan chipped in from 37 feet, 3 inches for a birdie. On the second, he chipped in from 22 feet, 2 inches for a birdie. On the third, he two-putted from 10 feet for a par. On the fourth, he chipped in from 51 feet, 6 inches for a birdie. And on the fifth hole, he one-putted from 2 feet, 8 inches for a par.
• All's well that ends well for Jeff Klauk and his family. Klauk was in danger of missing his brother's wedding in Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday if he made the cut. Turns out Klauk made the cut and finished his third round at 12:30 p.m., leaving him plenty of time to make the 4:30 p.m. wedding. Prior to the tournament, all parties agreed that if he made the cut he should stay and compete.
• On Friday, Mark Calcavecchia made the 500th cut of his career. Jay Haas holds the TOUR record with 592.
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