Round 4, Crowne Plaza Invitational

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May. 31, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM staff

The first groups are ready to tee off in today's fourth round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Here's how it sets up:

Groups We're Watching
Tee time Players  
2:10 p.m. ET
No. 1
Tim Clark, Steve Marino
Both are looking for their first PGA TOUR titles. Marino fired Saturday's low round of 62.
1:50 p.m. ET
No. 1
Justin Leonard, Vijay Singh
Leonard, a native Texan, and Singh would both love to win at Colonial. Singh, though, needs another 64, like he shot in the first two rounds.
1:30 p.m. ET
No. 1
Sean O'Hair, Zach Johnson
O'Hair and Johnson have both won within the past two months, so they've got experience and confidence to help them down the stretch.

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR Network on-site correspondent John Maginnes looks ahead to Sunday's third round:

xm_maginnes.jpg

I bet you thought that we were finished talking about Ian Baker-Finch this week after he missed the cut at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, his first start in nearly a decade on the PGA TOUR. But we have to reference him once again because he was the last guy to make the Crowne Plaza Invitational his first PGA TOUR win two full decades ago. This is significant because the top three names on the leaderboard all belong to guys who have never won before.

Sunday's forecast

Sunny
Temp: 93 high/67 low
Mainly sunny and hot with light winds.

Tim Clark is the richest man never to have won on the PGA TOUR. He has made more money than any other non-winner. He has a chance to move Briny Baird's name to the top of that list if he can hold onto his two-shot lead through Sunday afternoon. But he will certainly have his hands full, as Steve Marino, young Jason Day and the veteran Steve Stricker are all two shots behind him. There are a total of 14 players within seven shots of the lead.

Seven shots may seem like an awfully big deficit to overcome but, when you consider the scoring so far at Colonial, it is not out of the realm of possibility. The weather forecast for Sunday calls for more sun and steam with very little breeze, so expect the low scoring to continue. If one of the guys at the top of this leaderboard shoots another low round, like a fourth consecutive 65 for Jason Day, then it could be over pretty quickly. However, if the non-winners come out slowly, they will be overtaken quickly. It could happen before they even get a chance to put up a defense. The first two holes are the easiest holes on the golf course. This presents a wonderful opportunity for a player to get off to a hot start and ride that wave all the way to the plaid jacket.

Stat of the day
Tim Clark, last year's runner-up at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, enters the final round of a PGA TOUR event as a leader for the third time in his career. He has never finished better than 10th when doing so.
The Film Room
PGA TOUR Today
Win McMurry updates action from the third round and previews the final round. Watch it
Shot of the Day
Steve Marino hits his tee shot on the par-3 13th hole to 14 inches, leading to a birdie. Watch it
Round 3 Highlights
Tim Clark pulls ahead of the field to take the solo lead into Sunday's final round. He's looking for his first TOUR win. Watch it
Thus far at Colonial Country Club
Round Leader Low round (par 70) Key links
Tim Clark (-17) 62: Steve Marino Daily Wrap-Up | Live Report
Notebook
Steve Stricker (-14) 63: Steve Stricker, Ryan Palmer Daily Wrap-Up | Live Report
Notebook
Steve Stricker, Woody Austin, Tim Clark (-7) 63: Steve Stricker, Woody Austin, Tim Clark Daily Wrap-Up | Live Report
Notebook
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