Notebook: Round 3, THE PLAYERS Championship

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Third-round coverage

CAN WESTWOOD DO IT?: We've heard it before. Lee Westwood is on the verge of a breakthrough victory. Will it happen this time? Column PHIL'S FOCUS: Phil Mickelson heads into the final round thinking about winning rather than the spoils that come with it. Column MOTHER'S DAY MOTIVATION: Heath Slocum's wife won't be in Ponte Vedra Beach to see the final round, but she'll be on his mind. Story FIRST-TIMER: An unheralded first-time PLAYERS participant is lighting up the Stadium Course. Story NO. 17 ... EASY?: A surprising stat reveals that the 17th hole isn't as daunting as in years' past. Story DON'T COUNT 'EM OUT: If TPC Sawgrass or history has a say, plenty of players still have a shot at the title. Story CONTENDERS CHART: We break down every player within earshot of the lead going into the deciding day. Chart

• Since THE PLAYERS Championship moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, the third-round leader has gone on to win 11-of-28 times (39 percent). In the last 10 years, only Stephen Ames (2006), Adam Scott (2004) and Hal Sutton (2000) have managed to turn a 54-hole lead into victory at THE PLAYERS.

• The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 10-of-18 (55 percent) stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR in 2010.

• With three of the top-five positions on the leaderboard occupied by international players, should either Lee Westwood, Robert Allenby or Francesco Molinari go on to victory, they would become the sixth international winner of THE PLAYERS in the last 10 years. Of the 18 winners of stroke-play events on the 2010 PGA TOUR, five were born outside of the United States.

• In the 28 years THE PLAYERS Championship has been contested at TPC Sawgrass, the champion has not started from farther back than T7 entering the final round and gone on to win (Hal Sutton, 1983, four-strokes back). The largest-stroke deficit an eventual winner has overcome entering the final round at THE PLAYERS is five by Justin Leonard in 1998 (started in third, won by two) and Henrik Stenson in 2009 (started T2, won by four).

• Three of the last five winners of THE PLAYERS have led/co-led in both Greens In Regulation and Driving Accuracy (Fred Funk/2005, Stephen Ames/2006, Sergio Garcia/2008). Through three rounds 54-hole leader Lee Westwood ranks T33 in driving accuracy while Robert Allenby is T25. Westwood stand T7 in Greens In Regulation while Allenby is T2.

Lee Westwood, 67-65-70 -- 202 (-14)

• The 54-hole leader Lee Westwood is in search of his second-career PGA TOUR victory. Since his only TOUR victory at the 1998 Freeport-McDermott Classic in New Orleans, Westwood has made 121 starts on the PGA TOUR, including major championships and World Golf Championship events, and posted 18 top-10 finishes.

• Westwood has been the leader/co-leader after 54 holes three times on the PGA TOUR, most recently last month at The Masters Tournament where he went on to finish solo second. He converted one of those opportunities into victory at the 1998 Freeport-McDermott Classic and finished T2 at the 2008 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

• Westwood is the first player in 33 years to lead both the Masters Tournament and THE PLAYERS at the end of round three in the same year. Tom Watson did that in 1977 and he ended up winning the Masters Tournament and finishing tied for fifth at The Players Championship.

• Westwood is making his seventh start on the PGA TOUR this season. The World No. 4 has three top-10s, including a solo runner-up at the Masters Tournament. He also has a runner-up (Omega Dubai Desert Classic) and a T3 (Commercialbank Qatar Masters).

• Westwood is trying to become the 11th international player, fourth European and first Englishman to win THE PLAYERS. Five of the last eight winners of THE PLAYERS have been born outside the United States. In eight previous appearances at THE PLAYERS, Westwood's best results were a T5 in 1998 and a T6 in 1999.

Robert Allenby, 66-70-67 -- 203 (-13)

• In search of his first victory since the 2002 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic, a span of 223 starts on the PGA TOUR (including this week), Robert Allenby enters the final round one stroke off Lee Westwood's 54-hole lead. Of his four PGA TOUR victories, two came in come-from-behind fashion. Allenby erased three-shot deficits to win both the 2000 Advil Western Open and the 2001 Nissan Open.

• In 13 previous starts at THE PLAYERS, Allenby has posted just one top-10 finish, a T4 in 2003 and four top-25 results. This week performance is an extension of what was already a solid start to the 2010 campaign for Allenby. He has made nine cuts and posted three top 10's in 11 starts on the PGA TOUR with his best result a solo second at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

Lucas Glover, 70-65-69 -- 204 (-12)

• Lucas Glover followed up his first sub-70 round at THE PLAYERS with a 3-under par 69 Saturday and enters the final round two strokes off the lead. Prior to this week, Glover had never posted a score better than 1-over-par 73 (R1, 2009) at TPC Sawgrass and had never made the cut at THE PLAYERS.

• Glover is in search of his third PGA TOUR victory and first since last year's U.S. Open. Glover has made 22 starts on the PGA TOUR since his victory last summer at the U.S. Open and has produced four top 10's, highlighted by a T5 at the 2009 AT&T National and a solo fifth at the 2009 PGA Championship.

Francesco Molinari, 68-65-71 -- 204 (-12)

• Molinari is looking to become the fourth player to win his first PLAYERS start -- joining Jack Nicklaus (1974), Craig Perks (2002) and Hal Sutton (1983). Should Molinari go on to victory at THE PLAYERS, he would have done so in his ninth PGA TOUR start, the fewest of any PLAYERS Champion in the tournament's history. The current record for fewest PGA TOUR starts by an eventual PLAYERS Champion is Adam Scott with 41, followed by Henrik Stenson with 44.

Ben Crane, 67-69-68 -- 204 (-12)

• Ben Crane is in search of his second PGA TOUR victory this season and third-consecutive top-10 finish at THE PLAYERS. Crane earned his third-career PGA TOUR title earlier this season at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego and has finished T6 and T5 at THE PLAYERS in 2008 and 2009, respectively. He is currently No. 11 in the FedExCup standings.

• Crane has posted sub-70 rounds in four of his last seven trips around TPC Sawgrass (2009: R1-65, R2-73, R3-72, R4-72, 2010: R1-67, R2-69, R3-68) for a scoring average of 69.4. He is a cumulative 18-under-par over the course of those seven rounds.

Tim Clark, 68-71-66 -- 205 (-11)

• Tim Clark posted a 6-under-par 66 in Saturday's third round, his career-low round at TPC Sawgrass, and enters the final round T6. His 5-under-par 31 on the front nine, also a career-low at TPC Sawgrass, was highlighted by an eagle on the par-4 6th, where he holed a wedge from 118 yards. The eagle at No. 6 was the fourth in tournament history and the first since Tim Petrovic during the final round in 2006.

• Should he go on to victory, Tim Clark would become just the second player to make THE PLAYERS his first PGA TOUR victory, joining Craig Perks in 2002. Clark has either finished solo second or T2 seven times on the PGA TOUR, most recently earlier this year where he T2 at the Bob Hope Classic. He is the highest ranked player on the career money list without a victory with $14,722,653. Clark has the second-most career top 10's among players without a victory with 39, trailing only Bobby Wadkins' 50.

• In 10 events on the PGA TOUR in 2010, Clark has made 8 cuts and finished in the top 10 three times (T2, Bob Hope Classic; T10, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and a T9 at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship). In seven previous appearances at THE PLAYERS, Clark has made the 36-hole cut three times with his best finish a T9 in 2009.

Chris Stroud, 70-69-66 -- 205 (-11)

• Chris Stroud (T6) enters the final round three shots off the lead and will look to join Jack Nicklaus (1974), Hal Sutton (1983) and Craig Perks (2002) as the only players to win THE PLAYERS in their first appearance. He would also join Perks as just the second player to make THE PLAYERS his first PGA TOUR victory. Stroud moved into position with a third-round 66, equaling his lowest-round on the PGA TOUR in 2010. Stroud also posted a 6-under-par 66 in the second round of the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular in March.

• In 11 events in 2010, Stroud has made 5-of-11 cuts with his best finish a T21 two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. His career-best position entering the final round in 94 PGA TOUR events is a T2 at the 2009 Frys.com Open where he went on to finish T8. His career-best finish on the PGA TOUR was a T5 at the 2007 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Phil Mickelson, 70-71-66 -- 207 (-9)

• Phil Mickelson posted a 6-under-par 66 in the third round, his lowest round at TPC Sawgrass since an 8-under-par 64 in the first round in 2002. Both today's third-round 66 and the first-round 64 in 2002's were highlighted by 5-under-par 31's on the front nine, his career-low nine-hole score on the front nine at TPC Sawgrass. Mickelson's lowest nine hole-score at THE PLAYERS was a 6-under-par 30 on the back nine in 1996.

• Mickelson enters the final round five shots behind 54-hole leader Lee Westwood. His largest come-from-behind victory on the PGA TOUR is six strokes at the 2000 MasterCard Colonial.

Miscellaneous

• Tiger Woods carded a 1-under-par 71 in the third round and stands at 4-under-par 212, T45. Woods has made the cut in all 13 appearances at THE PLAYERS and has finished outside of the top 25 four times with his lowest finish a T53 in 2005.

• Heath Slocum (67-66-72 --205, (-11)) came to the par-3 island-green 17th at 13-under-par and tied with Lee Westwood for the tournament lead, but found the water with his tee shot and made a double-bogey 5. He enters the final round T6, three shots off the lead. The double bogey was just the fourth made on No. 17 during the third round. Should he bounce back to win Sunday, Slocum would become the third player born in Florida to win THE PLAYERS, joining Mark McCumber (1988) and David Duval (1999)

• Chris Couch (74-68-67 -- 209 (-7)) eagled both the par-5 11th and par-5 16th en route to a 5-under-par 67 in Saturday's third round. Couch's two eagles marked the 15th time at THE PLAYERS that a player has eagled two holes in one round and the first in 2010. The only other player in tournament history to eagle the 11th and 16th holes in the same round was Craig Parry during the third round in 2004.

• Off in the first pairing of the day, Ponte Vedra resident Fred Funk (72-70-66 -- 208 -8) posted a 6-under-par 66 in the third round, his second-lowest 18-hole score in 70 trips around THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Funk opened with a 7-under-par 65 on his way to victory in 2005.

• Fred Funk's 6-under-par 66 today represented his first round in the 60's on the PGA TOUR since the 2008 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee when he shot 67 in round two. This is Funk's fourth TOUR event of 2010. He played six events in 2009.

• Through 54 holes, three players in the field are 4-under-par on No. 16:

Bo Van Pelt -- Birdie, Eagle, Birdie

Zach Johnson -- Birdie, Birdie, Eagle

James Nitties -- Eagle, Birdie, Birdie

• Six players have birdied No. 16 all three days: Kenny Perry, Y.E. Yang, Alex Prugh, Troy Matteson, Brett Quigley and Chris Stroud.

• Andres Romero and Paul Goydos have each birdied the par-3 17th in all three rounds of the 2010 PLAYERS, the first players to birdie the hole in the first three rounds since 2003 (John Daly). Should either player birdie No. 17 in Sunday's final round they would join Paul Azinger in 1987 as the only players to birdie the hole in all four rounds of a single PLAYERS Championship.

• Eleven of the 20 first-time participants (and two PGA TOUR rookies -- Troy Merritt, Alex Prugh) make the 36-hole cut at this year's PLAYERS Championship. In the 36-year history of THE PLAYERS, Jack Nicklaus (1974), Hal Sutton (1983) and Craig Perks (2002) are the only players to win the tournament in their first attempt. Here's how the first-timers have fared through 54 holes:

• Balls in the water on the famed par-3 17th hole since 2003:

• Scoring Averages at the par-72 TPC Sawgrass:

• The all-time lowest round three scoring average was 70.351 in 1996. The 71.214 third-round scoring average in 2010 is the third-lowest in tournament history.

Birdies for Charity

• The Birdies for Charity program annually leads up to THE PLAYERS Championship and allows the community to support local charities through tracking the exciting, high-level of play during the tournament. Similar to a walk-a-thon, Birdies for Charity participants make a pledge to a local organization for each birdie made by professional golfers during THE PLAYERS. A record 92 organizations are participating this year, up from 68 in 2009 and 51 in 2008, a strong indication that the generosity of First Coast residents will allow for a record fundraising effort.

• The Birdies for Charity program generated $230,000 in 2009, part of the record $4.15 million THE PLAYERS raised last year for charitable organizations throughout the region. Birdies for Charity and THE PLAYERS are part of "Together, anything's possible," the PGA TOUR's charity platform that brings together all of the TOUR'S stakeholders -- players, tournaments and sponsors, volunteers, charities and fans -- to tell the story of the tremendous impact their collective efforts are having in communities throughout the world.

554 birdies = $130,965.44

563 birdies = $131,030.87

264 birdies = $128,857.14

Total: 1,381 birdies = $390,853.45