Round 4, The Honda Classic

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Mar. 8, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM staff

The first group will soon tee off in today's fourth round of The Honda Classic. Here's how it sets up:

Groups We're Watching
Tee time Players  
10:09 am ET
No. 1
Justin Leonard, George McNeill
Leonard leads the field by hitting 78.6 percent of his fairways, yet he's only made seven birdies. Can his putter heat up? Track 'em
11:03 pm ET
No. 1
Davis Love III, Nick O'Hern
Love and O'Hern have both carded rounds of 73, 69 and 69. Love is averaging a whopping 306 yards off the tee. Track 'em
1:27 pm ET
No. 1
Brett Quigley, John Rollins
Rollins is the only player in the top six through 54 holes who owns a PGA TOUR victory. Will his experience pay off? Track 'em

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR Network on-site correspondent Bob Stevens previews Sunday's final round:

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One swing's the thing: The difference between success and disaster on the PGA TOUR? Jeff Overton knows how fine the line is. He admitted to me after triple-bogeying the par-4 11th hole that he made one bad swing from the fairway, which drowned his approach shot to the green, but after moving up 10 yards and making a better swing, he was sure his second approach was perfect, until it, too, trickled back off the bank in front of the green into the pond below.

Sunday's forecast

Mostly Sunny
Temp: 80 high/61 low
It will be mostly sunny, but windy throughout the day. Winds will come out of the east-southeast at 10 to 20 mph.

If that triple were just a single bogey, Overton -- and not Y.E. Yang -- would be leading heading into today's final round.

Calculating his chances: Mark Calcavecchia has to think he has the edge heading into the final round, even though he's three shots back. He's the last guy whose name has been on this trophy before (twice, in '87 and '98). He remembers how to play at PGA National and was tied for the lead headed into the final round just a year ago before hitting three balls in the water during a Sunday 73, which led to him finishing three shots behind Ernie Els.

Nobody has played better over the last 36 holes, as he rallied from an ugly opening 74 to shoot 8 under (67 and 65). Also, John Rollins is the only one ahead of him who's ever won on the PGA TOUR.

Good experience, or bad? Speaking of Rollins, he's the only player in the last three groups to win on the PGA TOUR. But any edge he might have from having won before might be negated when he let his most recent Saturday night lead, at the Buick Invitational in San Diego this year, turn sour on Sunday as Nick Watney came from five back to defeat him.

The other five players in the final three pairings have a combined 563 starts without a single PGA TOUR win. Yes, we all set our clocks ahead an hour overnight Saturday, but you've got to imagine that group lost a lot more than an hour of sleep last night. Interestingly, four of those winless five are deep into their 30s now, grinders who've rarely played a Sunday as important as this one.

Stat of the day
Ben Crane made a hole-in-one on No. 5 on Saturday, using a 9-iron on the 162-yard hole. It was Crane's second ace on the PGA TOUR and the eighth hole-in-one on the PGA TOUR this year. Should Crane win today, he would become the first player to make an ace and go on to win the event since Jim Furyk did so at the 2007 Canadian Open.

NOTEWORTHY NUGGETS:

• Third-round leader Y.E. Yang is bidding to become just the second South Korean-born player to capture a PGA TOUR event. The only other player is seven-time winner K.J. Choi. He and Choi are the only South Korean players to win on the European Tour.

• Surprisingly, Y.E. Yang has made just nine birdies through 54 holes but, more importantly, he has just two bogeys on his card and just one in his last 42 holes. He has hit 26 of 42 fairways (61.9% ), has hit 39 of 54 greens in regulation (72.2%), is averaging 28.7 putts per round, and is averaging 302.8 yards per drive.

Jeff Klauk, who's tied for second, is playing in just his eighth PGA TOUR event and seventh this year. He has made the cut in all seven of his starts in 2009 with his best effort a tie for 11th at the Buick Invitational. His father, Fred, served several years as the course superintendent at the TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship, before retiring in 2008.

Thus far at PGA National
Round Leader Low round (par 70) Key links
Robert Allenby (-4) 66: Robert Allenby Daily Wrap-Up | Live Report
Dolch column | Notebook
Round Leader Low round (par 70) Key links
Y.E. Yang (-7) 64: Greg Chalmers Daily Wrap-Up | Live Report
Dolch column | Notebook
Round Leader Low round (par 70) Key links
Y.E. Yang (-11) 65: Mark Calcavecchia, Charlie Wi Daily Wrap-Up | Live Report
Dolch column | Notebook
The Film Room
PGA TOUR Today
Win McMurry updates action from the third round of the 2009 Honda Classic and previews what to watch for in the final round. Watch it
Shot of the day
Ben Crane makes an ace on the par-3 fifth hole, then backs it up with a chip-in birdie on the very next hole. Watch it
Round 3 highlights
Y.E. Yang pulls ahead of the field and is in position for his first PGA TOUR victory at the 2009 Honda Classic. Watch it

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