The Live Report, Round 4: The Honda Classic
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
YANG HANGS ON (6:05 p.m.): The victory was anything but guaranteed after Y.E. Yang saw a four-shot lead trimmed to one as he played the par-5 18th, but Yang's two-putt from 50 feet for par sealed the deal. It was the first career PGA TOUR victory for Yang and just the second on TOUR by a Korean-born player (K.J. Choi is the other). As a result, Yang is headed to the Masters, next week's World Golf Championships-CA Championship and has locked up a two-year TOUR exemption. Not to mention the $990,000 was the biggest paycheck of his career.
Normally, a par-5 closing hole -- one that yielded just five bogeys all day -- isn't anything to worry about. But Yang's third shot to 50 feet left him a difficult putt and his reaction to the shot resulted in Johnny Miller saying it looked like "someone electrocuted him at impact." Yang gathered himself, however, and rolled it to about a foot before tapping in for his fourth straight par on PGA National's closing hole. -- Brian Wacker
ONE-SHOT LEAD, ONE TO GO (5:45 p.m.): Things just got a little more interesting after Y.E. Yang bogeyed the par-3 17th hole. As a result, his lead over John Rollins is down to one with the par-5 18th coming up. Only five bogeys have been made on the hole today, but it will be crucial for Yang, who has made par on the finishing hole each of the last three days, to find the fairway off the tee. -- Brian Wacker
MORE ON YANG (5:30 p.m.): Unless something catastrophic happens, Y.E. Yang should be able to hold on for the win. Looking closer at some of his numbers this week, it would be well-deserved.
The 37-year-old South Korean ranks T15 and T10 in birdies and pars, respectively, this week and has been long off the tee and good with the flat stick, ranking T10 in driving distance at just over 301 yards and T12 in putts per round at 27.8. He's also third in the field in greens in regulation at 72.9 percent. -- Brian Wacker
BEAR TRAP (5:05 p.m.): Y.E. Yang is closing in on his first career PGA TOUR victory and if he continues to play the Bear Trap the way he has all week, he should get it. Yang has played Nos. 15-17 in a combined 1 under with one birdie and eight pars.
Yang is on No. 15 now and how he plays the next three holes will determine whether he's able to get that inaugural win. Follow his round live with Shot Tracker by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker
ROUTE 66 (4:55 p.m.): There aren't too many low numbers being posted today. In addition to the two 65s put up by Scott Piercy and D.A. Points, there have been four 66s turned in today. Two of those came from Greg Owen and Davis Love III, both of whom moved from T41 to T15.
The other two came from 2008 Honda Classic winner Ernie Els and Tim Herron. Els jumped into the top 25 as a result, while Herron went from T64 to T32. -- Brian Wacker
ANOTHER 65 ON THE BOARD (4:25 p.m.): Scott Piercy joined D.A. Points with the lowest round of the day so far with a 5-under 65 that featured six birdies and just one bogey. That moved Piercy from T37 to T7 and means that for the fifth time in six events this year, the PGA TOUR rookie will finish in the top 20. His best finish so far was a T6 at the FBR Open.
Piercy was strong all week, undone only by over-par scores in the first and third round. On the week, he tied for fourth in birdies, fourth in driving distance and sixth in greens in regulation. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at Piercy's scorecard from today:
BIRDIE ALERT (4:15 p.m.): John Rollins is doing all he can to challenge the lead of Y.E. Yang, moving to within two thanks to birdies on four of his last five holes, including one from 26 feet on No. 11.
Rollins, you may remember, was leading at the Buick Invitational until being undone by a final-round 74. Currently in second, this will be Rollins' best finish since last month at Torrey Pines. -- Brian Wacker
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (3:55 p.m.): With Y.E. Yang in good position for his first career win on the PGA TOUR, here's a look at some numbers behind Yang's career, which has seen plenty of success outside the United States with nine worldwide wins. If he wins today, he would become just the second player from South Korea to win on TOUR, joining K.J. Choi. -- Brian Wacker
Exempt status: T18 at 2008 q-school
Best PGA TOUR finish: T9 at 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
2008 Summary: Finished in the money in 17 of 29 events with one top 10
Career earnings: $635,832 in 46 events on TOUR
Career high Offical World Ranking: 29 (after 2007 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic)
MOVING UP AND DOWN (3:40 p.m.): A week after reaching the quarterfinals and drawing immense praise from his peers, Rory McIlroy is closing in on completing his final round at The Honda Classic. Right now, he's got one of the day's best scores going at 4 under through 16 holes. As a result, he's moved from T19 to T6 at the moment.
Meanwhile, Mark Calcavecchia has gone backwards since pulling to within one of the lead. The two birdies he made earlier were erased by bogeys on Nos. 6 and 10 when Calcavecchia missed putts from 8 and 5 feet, respectively. Calcavecchia's seen his share of missed putts at this event and today's been no exception, unfortunately. -- Brian Wacker
ALLENBY BACK IN CONTENTION (3:30 p.m.): Robert Allenby has climbed up the leaderboard thanks to a birdie binge of his own. After making birdie on Nos. 2 and 3 -- a much better start than the double bogey he made on No. 2 yesterday -- Allenby has since added two more birdies and is now within two shots of the lead. -- Brian Wacker
CAREER BEST? (3:05 p.m.): If Y.E. Yang can shoot a 4-under 66 today he would not only record his first career win on the PGA TOUR, he would shoot his best career 72 hole record of 270. His career-low round, meanwhile, was a third-round 64 at the 2008 Frys.com Open. -- Brian Wacker
YANG EXTENDS LEAD (2:50 p.m.): Y.E. Yang's lead was cut to one at one point, but that didn't last long. Yang has birdied his last three holes, rolling in 12-, 20- and 3-foot putts, respectively, to get to 10 under.
Most of Yang's damage, not surprisingly, has come on the front nine here and within the first few holes. He's now played the first five holes at PGA National in a combined 7 under.
With a difficult back nine, including the Bear Trap, looming, it was extremely important that Yang give himself as much cushion as possible, especially with the added pressure of trying to win on the PGA TOUR for the first time in his career. -- Brian Wacker
MAKING UP GROUND (2:35 p.m.): D.A. Points began the day tied for 41st but has climed into the top 15 on the strength of what's been the day's best round so far.
Points hit 72 percent of his greens in regulation and took only 26 putts on his way to a 5-biride, no-bogey 65. Whether he stays in the top 15 or not, this will be far and away his best result of the year. In five previous tournaments, Points missed the cut three times and had a previous season-best of T68 at the Buick Invitational, where he didn't even break 70.
This isn't the first time Points has played well here, however. Prior to spending the last two years on the Nationwide Tour, he finished T10 in 2006. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at Points' scorecard from today:
CALC IN CONTENTION (2:18 p.m.): Mark Calcavecchia has moved to within one of Y.E. Yang's lead thanks to a couple of early birdies.
The 48-year-old resident of nearby Tequesta rolled in birdie putts of 12 and 15 feet on Nos. 3 and 4 and is now in good position to win The Honda Classic for a third time -- and the first time since 1998 -- after starting the day three back.
As Craig Dolch pointed out yesterday, no one in the field has more wins, top 10s or appearances in this tournament than Calcavecchia, who has been playing here for the last two decades. Of all the players near or at the top of the leaderboard, Calcavecchia would seem the likely choice as the one to emerge by day's end. -- Brian Wacker
SECONDARY CUT (2:05 p.m.): A total of seven players missed yesterday's secondary cut, which was needed since more than 78 players made the initial cut on Friday. Among those who were sent home last night: Rocco Mediate, Steve Lowery and J.J. Henry. -- Brian Wacker
WI GOT GAME (1:50 p.m.): Despite playing the par-3s in 5 over this week, Charlie Wi is just two strokes off the lead as he gets his final rond under way.
Wi made up for it, however, with his play on the par 4s, which has been some of the best in the field all week. He's currently ranked second in the field with a scoring average of 3.81 over 36 par-4 holes.
If Wi continues that trend, he could stay in the mix all day. The bad news? Two of the three holes that make up the Bear Trap -- Nos. 15, 16 and 17 -- are par 3s. He's played that stretch in 4 over this week. -- Brian Wacker
A FIRST FOR KLAUK (1:30 p.m.): Not only is Jeff Klauk, a rookie on the PGA TOUR this year after becoming the fifth player to top $1 million in career earnings on the Nationwide Tour, looking for his first TOUR win, he's looking for his first top 10.
Klauk has yet to miss a cut this season -- his best finish was a T11 at the Buick Invitational -- and with a win, he would move as high as fourth in the FedExCup standings. Any finish seventh or higher would move him into the top 10 in the FedExCup.
Taking a look at the below stats, it's easy to see why the son of the former TPC Sawgrass superintendent is just one shot off the lead of Y.E. Yang entering today's final round. -- Brian Wacker
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YANG ON THE GREENS (1:15 p.m.): You know scoring was tough yesterday when leader Y.E. Yang didn't make a putt outside of 10 feet ... and still had the lead at day's end. Yang has now gone 22 holes without making a putt over 10 feet, which is quite a departure from his second round, as you'll see below.
Yang is about 30 minutes away from his final-round tee time and if he's going to get his first career PGA TOUR win, he'll probably need to make some putts longer than 7 feet, which is the longest putt he made all of yesterday. -- Brian Wacker
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