Notebook: Round 3, Transitions Championship
By Doug Milne, PGA TOUR Staff
Weather: Sunny skies with an afternoon high of 74 degrees. Winds SE 5-10, shifting to SW 10mph late in the day.
• In anticipation of possible late-afternoon thunderstorms tomorrow, Sunday's fourth-round tee times will be moved up. The final round will be played in groups of three off the first and tenth tees. Times will begin at approximately 7:45 a.m. with an anticipated finish of 3 p.m. The final group will consist of Jim Furyk and a pair of two-time winners of this event -- Retief Goosen and K.J. Choi.
• A total of 86 players made the 36-hole cut. When more than 78 professionals make the cut, the field is cut again following the third round to the low 70 players and ties. A total of 71 players at 2-over 215 have advanced to Sunday's final round. This is the third time this year (in 13 events) that the TOUR has used a 54-hole cut -- Sony Open in Hawaii, 80 players to 71; Northern Trust Open, 81 players to 72. The TOUR began using the secondary cut policy in 2008. There were 14 events in 2008 that were affected, eight others in 2009 and three this year -- bringing the total to 25 thus far.
• Among those players falling victim to the 54-hole secondary cut: Zach Johnson, Aaron Baddeley, Trevor Immelman, Will MacKenzie, 2000 champion John Huston and first-round leader Garrett Willis.
• Florida resident Jim Furyk grabbed the 54-hole lead Saturday with a 4-under 67. Furyk stands at 11-under 202 and holds a three-shot lead over K.J. Choi, Retief Goosen, Bubba Watson and Carl Pettersson. This is the 14th time in his career that Furyk has held/shared the lead after 54 holes but the first time since the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, where he lost in a three-way playoff with Rory Sabbatini and Bernhard Langer. In his previous 13 times as a leader, Furyk has registered six wins, five runner-up finishes, a T4 and a T7.
• Jim Furyk is seeking his 14thcareer win this week. His last victory came at the 2007 Canadian Open presented by Franklin Templeton Investments -- a span of 59 starts on TOUR and a little more than two years and seven months.
• Of the top eight players on the leaderboard, Bubba Watson is the only one without a PGA TOUR win on his resume.
• Jim Furyk has only one bogey on his scorecard through 54 holes. Furyk bogeyed his final hole (No. 9) during Friday's second round.
• You can't blame Aussie Geoff Ogilvy for being tired today. The 2006 U.S. Open champion carded a 6-under 65 today to get to 4-under 209. Ogilvy posted rounds of 73-71 144 and thought he had missed the 36-hole cut, which hovered around 1-over par during most of Friday's second round. He boarded a plane and was about to return home to Scottsdale, AZ Friday evening when he got word the cut line was 2-over par and he had a Saturday morning tee time. Ogilvy got off the plane but realized he wouldn't be able to retrieve his luggage, which was already tagged for Phoenix. He wound up flying to Phoenix, arrived approximately 1 am ET, turned around and chartered a flight back to Tampa which arrived about 5 a.m. He had barely enough time to get to his hotel, sleep for about an hour, shower, change and get to the golf course for his 8:50 tee time. He was T15 when he completed his round. He is currently T18.
• Jim Furyk was the first player to reach double digits under-par this week when he rolled in a birdie putt from 32 feet, 10 inches on the 12th hole. Furyk also became the first player to get to -10 at this event since 2007 when tournament winner Mark Calcavecchia reached 10-under after two holes in the final round. Calcavecchia went on to reach 12-under at one point before making bogeys on his final two holes to finish the week at -10.
• Two-time champion K.J. Choi made a run up the board Saturday with a 4-under 67 to reach -8 and T2. Choi, the tournament winner in 2002 and 2006, is proving that you don't have to hit every fairway to play well at Copperhead. Choi hit 7 of 13 fairways today and has managed to hit only 21 of 39 this week, which ranks him T72 in the field. He does rank T14 in greens in regulation and T13 in putting.
• Webb Simpson has made steady progress up the leaderboard this week. The former Wake Forest standout shot 73 in the opening round and was T81. He posted a 69 in the second round to move up to T40. Today, he shot a bogey-free, 6-under 65 and is currently T9.
• Luke Donald continues his stellar play of late. Donald has carded rounds of 71-68-67 and is T6. The former Northwestern standout has finished 2nd, T16, T9 and T26 in his last four starts this year. This is Donald's third start in this tournament, but the first since 2003.
• Third-round leaders have gone on to win this event seven of ten times. John Huston (2000), Sean O'Hair (2008) and Retief Goosen (2009) are the only players to have come from behind in the final round to win here. Huston trailed by 4 strokes, after 54 holes, O'Hair was three back and Goosen was one behind last year.
• Jonathan Byrd fell victim to "The Snake Pit" (holes 16-18) today. Byrd was among the leaders at 8-under par when he reached the par-4, 16th. Byrd suffered a bogey at No. 16 after missing the green with his second shot. He then three-putted from 3 feet, 3 inches and wound up with a double-bogey at the par-3, 17th. Byrd rallied with a 12 foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 1-under 70. He is at 6-under and T9.
• Retief Goosen, 2009 champion, birdied the final hole for a 1-under 70 today. He is tied for second place and is looking to become the first tournament winner to successfully defend a title. Below is a chart of how past champions have fared in this event the following year:
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• Retief Goosen has seven PGA TOUR wins and 23 international wins but has successfully defended a title only once in his career. Goosen won the Volkswagen China Masters in 2005 by six strokes over New Zealand's Michael Campbell and then returned to win again in 2006, this time by three strokes over Campbell again.
• Dunedin resident Bob Heintz, a Monday qualifier this week, fired a 1-under 70 today and is T21 heading into the final round. Heintz, a Nationwide Tour member this year, has missed the cut in three of his previous four starts at this event and was T68 in 2007 when gained entry as a sponsor exemption.
• John Daly birdied three of his final four holes, all from inside of 15 feet, and shot a 1-over-par 72. Daly is at even-par 213 and T46 heading into tomorrow.
• Five lefties made the cut this week, increasing the odds that a left-hander will finish in the top-10 for only the second time in tournament history. Steve Flesch finished solo 7th last year to become the first to crack the top-10 since the tournament's inception in 2000.. This week, Bubba Watson (T2), Nick O'Hern (T9), Greg Chalmers (T21), Steve Flesch (T33) and Tim Wilkinson (T54) all made the cut.
Scoring averages for the week:
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