Notebook, Round 3: British Open

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Weather: Mostly dry and partly sunny. Winds WSW 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. High near 70.

Of the top 17 players, only Retief Goosen has won a major championship (2001 and 2004 U.S. Open).

Current Leaderboard, with Official World Golf Ranking:

Louis Oosthuizen

Louis Oosthuizen, a 27-year-old native of Mossel Bay, South Africa, carded a 3-under 69 on Saturday to move to 15-under 201 and a four-stroke lead over Paul Casey. It is the largest 54-hole lead at the British Open since Tiger Woods led by six at St. Andrews in 2000.

If Oosthuizen wins on Sunday:

• He will record the ninth win by an international player in the last 12 events on the PGA TOUR.

• He will be the 11th different player (12 total wins) to win in 2010 in his 20s, compared to seven in 2009.

• Will join Ernie Els (2) and Tim Clark as winners on TOUR in 2010 who hail from South Africa.

• Will be the 10th first-time winner on TOUR this season.

Oosthuizen missed the cut in each of his first three starts at the British Open, carding rounds of 74-82 at Troon in 2004, rounds of 78-69 at Hoylake in 2006 and rounds of 70-76 at Turnberry last year.

In 15 previous career starts on the PGA TOUR, Oosthuizen's only top-25 finish was T20 at the 2009 World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

Winners of the British Open from South Africa:

Bobby Locke (1949, 1950, 1952, 1957)
Gary Player (1959, 1968, 1974)
Ernie Els (2002)

Countries Represented - Winners of the Open Championship:

United States (27 winners, 42 wins)
Scotland (22 winners, 41 wins)
England (14 winners, 28 wins)
Australia (4 winners, 9 wins)
South Africa (3 winners, 8 wins)
Spain (1 winner, 3 wins)
Republic of Ireland (1 winner, 2 wins)
Argentina (1 winner, 1 win)
France (1 winner, 1 win)
New Zealand (1 winner, 1 win)
Northern Ireland (1 winner, 1 win)
Zimbabwe (1 winner, 1 win)

Lowest winning scores in relation to par since 1963: Two of the three lowest winning scores in relation to par since 1963 have occurred at St. Andrews:

19-under -- Tiger Woods, St. Andrews (2000, 269)
18-under -- Nick Faldo, St. Andrews (1990, 270), Tiger Woods, Royal Liverpool (2006, 270)

Paul Casey

Casey managed the only bogey-free round of the day with a 5-under 67. With the exception of a triple-bogey on the par-4 17th hole on Friday, Casey has played the last 46 holes without a bogey.

Casey has four top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR in 2010, including a runner-up finish at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He posted his lone TOUR win at the 2009 Shell Houston Open.

Casey is making his ninth start at the Open, with a T7 at Royal Birkdale in 2008 his only top-10 finish.

Henrik Stenson

Henrik Stenson (67) carded the round of the day (along with Robert Rock and Casey) to move to 7-under 209. He is making his seventh start in a British Open, with two top-15 finishes (T3 in 2008 and T13 in 2009). He has played 23 rounds at the Open, and all three of his sub-70 rounds have come at St. Andrews: second-round 67 in 2005, first-round 68 and third-round 67 (this week).

Stenson has eight previous starts on the PGA TOUR in 2010, with six made cuts and a T27 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial his best outing. He owns two career wins on TOUR, the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and the 2009 PLAYERS Championship.

Alejandro Canizares

Currently T4, Alejandro Canizares is seeking to become the first player to win the British Open in his first appearance since Ben Curtis in 2003 and the 10th overall. Four players have won in debut at St. Andrews:

Willie Park, Prestwick, 1860
Tom Kidd, St Andrews, 1873
Mungo Park, Musselburgh, 1874
Jock Hutchison, St Andrews, 1921
Denny Shute, St Andrews, 1933
Ben Hogan, Carnoustie, 1953
Tony Lema, St Andrews, 1964
Tom Watson, Carnoustie, 1975
Ben Curtis, Royal St. George's, 2003
Retief Goosen and Lee Westwood

Lee Westwood (T4) and Goosen (T8) are making their 16th start at the British Open. A win on Sunday by either would be the most appearances by a champion before winning the Open:

Rory McIlroy

With rounds of 63-80-69, Rory McIlroy is seeking to become the first player to win a major championship with a round in the 80s since George Duncan won the 1920 British Open with rounds of 80-80-71-72.

Dustin Johnson

Dustin Johnson (69-72-69) moved to 6-under 210 through three rounds in his second-career start at the British Open (missed cut, 2009).

Johnson entered the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open three strokes clear of his nearest challenger, but a final-round 82 dropped him to T8.

Tiger Woods

Woods, at T18, will enter the final round 12 strokes behind tournament-leader Oosthuizen. In 2009, Woods came from behind three times in the final round by a deficit of three or more strokes:

Woods recorded an eight-stroke comeback to win the European Tour's 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic after starting the final round tied for 18th place. He posted a 65 on the final 18 holes and then topped Ernie Els with a birdie on the second playoff hole for the victory.

Woods has never come from behind to win a major championship. Here's a look at his comeback victories on the PGA TOUR:

This seek represents the seventh start for Woods in 2010, with top-10 finishes at the Masters Tournament (T4) and the U.S. Open (T4). In 1998, he won the BellSouth Classic in his ninth start -- his longest stretch to start a season before winning. Here's a breakdown of his career:

1996 -- won in 8th start (three amateur and five professional) starts
1997 -- won in 1st start
1998 -- won in 9th start (longest to start a season before winning)
1999 -- won in 4th start
2000 -- won in 1st start
2001 -- won in 6th start
2002 -- won in 6th start
2003 -- won in 1st start
2004 -- won in 4th start
2005 -- won in 2nd start
2006 -- won in 1st start
2007 -- won in 1st start
2008 -- won in 1st start
2009 -- won in 4th start
2010 -- making 7th start of the season

Jin Jeong

Jin Jeong (74) fell to 4-under 212 in his attempt to become the fourth amateur to win the British Open: Bobby Jones (1926, 1927/St. Andrews, 1930), Harold Hilton (1892, 1897) and John Ball Jr. (1890).

The last amateur to win on the PGA TOUR was Phil Mickelson at the 1991 Northern Telecom Open.

The most recent top-10 finish by an amateur at the Open was Chris Wood (5th) at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

Lowest total by an amateur at the British Open:

Miscellaneous Notes

The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 13 of 28 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR this season, most recently Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic.

Dating to the 1958 British Open, the 54-hole leader/co-leader has prevailed 28 times in 52 attempts.

Here's a look at scores for third-round leaders at British Opens hosted at St. Andrews since 1970:

Oosthuizen and Casey will be seeking to become the first Open Champion to post all four rounds in the 60s since Woods at St. Andrews in 2000.

Bogey-free rounds

R1: Rory McIlroy, Steven Tiley, Bradley Dredge, Nick Watney, Y.E. Yang, Camilo Villegas, Henrik Stenson, Steve Marino, Robert Allenby, Ernie Els, Martin Kaymer

R2: 67 -- Mark Calcavecchia; 68 -- Tom Lehman; 70 -- Toru Taniguchi; 71 -- Lee Westwood

R3: 67 -- Paul Casey

The par-4 17th hole played the toughest for the third-consecutive day with a 4.73 average. The par-4 18th hole was the easiest for the second day in a row at 3.40.