World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions: Round 3 notebook

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Nov. 7, 2009
By Joel Schuchmann, PGA TOUR Staff

SHANGHAI -- Here is a look at the Wolrd Golf Championships-HSBC Champions leaderboard through 54 holes and where each player is currently ranked in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Position Player OWGR
1 Phil Mickelson No. 2
T2 Tiger Woods No. 1
T2 Nick Watney No. 32
4 Ryan Moore No. 75
5 Lee Westwood No. 5
T6 Anthony Kim No. 22
T6 Jyoti Randhawa No. 235
T8 Ernie Els No. 24
T8 Martin Kaymer No. 11
T8 Ryo Ishikawa No. 36
T8 Lin Wen-Tang No. 104

• Of the four previous HSBC Champions, two players have come from behind to win, and two have converted a 54-hole lead into a victory.

Come-from-behind wins
Year Winner Scenario
2008 Sergio Garcia Garcia trailed Oliver Wilson by two shots. In the final round, Garcia shot 68 to force a playoff with Wilson.
2006 Y.E. Yang Yang trailed Retief Goosen by one shot. In the final round, Yang shot 69 and won by two over Tiger Woods.
54-hole leaders who went on to win
Year Winner Scenario
2007 Phil Mickelson Mickelson led Ross Fisher by two shots. In the final round, Mickelson shot 76 and then won a playoff over Fisher and Lee Westwood.
2005 David Howell Howell led Tiger Woods by one shot. In the final round, Howell shot 68 to win by three over Woods.

• Woods and Mickelson will play in final group in final round for the first time since the 2005 Ford Championship at Doral, won by Woods. Mickelson entered the final round with a two-stroke lead over Woods, shot 69 and lost by one as Woods posted a 66.

• Mickelson and Woods have been paired together 24 times in official PGA TOUR-sanctioned events. Woods has scored better in 12 of those rounds, Mickelson eight, and they have shot the same score four times. In final rounds, they have been paired together seven times previously.

Year Tournament Round Mickelson's score Woods' score
1997 PGA Championship 4 75 75
1997 NEC Invitational 2 72 72
1997 THE TOUR Championship 2 72 68
1998 Nissan Open 1 67 68
1998 Nissan Open 2 76 73
1999 U.S. Open 3 73 72
2000 NEC Invitational 3 69 67
2000 Buick Open 3 65 67
2000 THE TOUR Championship 1 67 68
2001 THE PLAYERS Championship 3 72 66
2001 Masters 4 70 68
2002 THE TOUR Championship 1 70 71
2002 THE TOUR Championship 4 69 70
2003 Buick Invitational 4 72 68
2005 Ford Championship at Doral 4 69 66
2006 Ford Championship at Doral 3 72 68
2006 PGA Championship 1 69 69
2006 PGA Championship 2 71 68
2007 Deutsche Bank Championship 1 70 72
2007 Deutsche Bank Championship 2 64 64
2007 Deutsche Bank Championship 4 66 67
2008 U.S. Open 1 71 72
2008 U.S. Open 2 75 68
2009 Masters 4 67 68
2009 HSBC Champions 4    

• Mickelson, the 2007 HSBC Champions winner, has carded rounds of 69-66-67 to take a two-shot lead over Tiger Woods and Nick Watney after 54 holes.

• Mickelson has won five tournaments in his career during which Tiger Woods finished in second place or tied for second -- the most of any player. Mickelson led by two in 2007 when he won this event, although it took two holes of a sudden-death playoff to do so.

• Mickelson has won 22 of 30 events on the PGA TOUR when leading or co-leading heading into the final round. Two of his three wins this season have come when Mickelson held the 54-hole lead: 2009 Northern Trust Open led by 4 shots; shot 72 on Sunday and won by 1 (over Steve Stricker) and 2009 World Golf Championships-CA Championship tied with Nick Watney; shot 69 on Sunday and won by 1 (over Watney)

• The last time Mickelson held/shared a 54-hole lead and did not go on to win was at the 2008 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He was tied with Lee Westwood and Vijay Singh after 54 holes but shot 70 on Sunday to tie for fourth.

• Woods, 67-67-70--204 (12 under) is tied for second with Watney and two shots off of Mickelson's lead after 54 holes.

• Woods is a six-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2009 and is making his third appearance at the HSBC Champions, but the first since 2006. He finished as runner-up in both appearances (2005, 2006).

• Of Woods' 71 PGA TOUR wins, 20 have come when he was trailing heading into the final round. His most recent come-from-behind win came at this year's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He was three shots down to Padraig Harrington entering the final round, shot 65 on Sunday and won by four. In all, Woods' has won five of the 13 stroke-play World Golf Championships when trailing to start the final round.

• Woods has won events in 12 countries, but never before in China. Countries where he has won: United States, Thailand, Germany, Spain, Scotland, Canada, Ireland, Japan, United Arab Emirates, England and in the World Golf Championships-World Cup -- Malaysia and Argentina.

• Watney made eagle on No. 18 to post a 70 (2 under) and earn a spot in the final group with Tiger Woods, who is also at 204 (12 under), and Phil Mickelson.

• In his win earlier this year at the Buick Invitational -- his second PGA TOUR win -- Watney was in third place heading into the final round. Trailing leader John Rollins by five strokes, Watney shot 68 on Sunday to win by one (over Rollins).

• Ryan Moore (tied for third) is competing in his first World Golf Championships event this week at the HSBC Champions. Moore qualified by winning the Wyndham Championship, the final event in the PGA TOUR Regular Season.

• Anthony Kim, a two-time PGA TOUR winner, has had a mediocre year by his standards but seems to be rounding into form following a runner-up finish to Ross Fisher at the Volvo World Match Play Championship last week on the European Tour. With rounds of 67-69-72, Kim is tied for sixth after 54 holes and within four shots of Phil Mickelson's lead. It could have been better for Kim, if not for a double-bogey on the par-4 16th. That double cost Kim a third consecutive under-par round this week, something he has only managed to do three times this season on the PGA TOUR.

Kim: Three consecutive under-par rounds in 2009
Tournament Scores Finish
RBC Canadian Open 69-66-66-73 T3
Travelers Championship 66-66-67-67 T11
Crowne Plaza Invitational 69-68-68-72 T54

• Geoff Ogilvy put together the best nine-hole score of the tournament thus far with a 6-under 30 on the back nine (his first nine holes). Ogilvy made birdie on Nos. 10 and 13, then finished the back nine with an eagle-birdie-birdie string. He was bogey free until his last hole of the day, No. 9. Ogilvy shot 7-under 65 and is now 5-under 211 and tied for 17th heading into the final round.

• The name Jyoti Randhawa may sound familiar to those who have followed the HSBC Champions over the past few years. Currently ranked No. 235 in the World, Randhawa led the event after the first (65) and second (69) rounds in 2006. He shot 72-75 on the weekend to tie for ninth, his best performance here in three starts. Randhawa could improve on that mark if he continues to post under-par rounds, as he did the first three days of this week's HSBC Champions: 68-70-70--208 (8 under) and tied for sixth. Randhawa has 10 wins worldwide: Eight on the Asian Tour, one on the Japan Tour and one on the Indian Tour.

• There were five eagles on the day, compared to three during the first round and 11 in the second round.

Hole Players with eagle
Par-5 second Ryan Moore, Thomas Levet
Par-4 16th Geoff Ogilvy, Henrik Stenson
Par-5 18th Retief Goosen, Nick Watney

• There were no bogey-free rounds on Saturday. Only Mickelson has gone bogey free in one round this week (Friday).

• Over the first four holes at Sheshan International Golf Club, Robert Allenby is 9 under on the week. Allenby began the third round with three consecutive birdies on holes Nos. 1-3. During the second round, he birdied Nos. 1-4, and on Thursday, he made birdies on No. 2 and 4. He is 5 over on the 12 other holes and is currently tied for 22nd at 4-under 212.

Scoring statistics
Round Sub 70 Par breakers
1 20 of 78 players 37 players broke par, 47 were at par or better
2 22 of 78 players 40 players broke par, 51 were at par or better
3 7 of 78 players 28 players broke par, 39 were at par or better
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