Rd. 3 Notes: Constellation Energy Senior Players

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Weather: A quarter of an inch of rain fell overnight. Mostly sunny and humid with high temperatures in the mid-80s and winds from the WNW at 5-10 mph. Lift, clean and place rules were in effect.

Fred Couples, 68-66-68 -- 202, 11-under, 1
• Fred Couples bogey-free 68 today puts him in prime position to claim his first major championship on the Champions Tour. Couples has been bothered for most of this year with back problems with only four official starts prior to this week and this event is only his second start on the circuit since mid-May (Regions Tradition). He did play in the Memorial Tournament on the PGA TOUR in early June but missed the cut.

• This marks the first time Couples has sole possession of the lead after 54 holes of a 72-hole event on the Champions Tour. He was tied for Bernhard Langer for the lead through three rounds of the 2010 U.S. Senior Open and eventually finished second to Langer at Sahalee Golf Club near Seattle.

• Couples, a two-time winner of The Players (1984, 1996), is attempting to become just the third player to win both The Players and the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. Jack Nicklaus, won The Players in 1974, 1976 and 1978 and then claimed the 1990 Senior Players in record fashion with a 27-under 261 total at Dearborn Country Club, the Champions Tour's all-time lowest score in a four-round event. Raymond Floyd won the 1981 Players and then won the 1996 Senior Players at TPC Michigan.

• Couples has not won since last year's Administaff Small Business Classic in Houston and the 15-time PGA TOUR winner is trying for his fifth title on the Champions Tour in his 22nd career start.

Peter Senior, 66-69-68 -- 203, 10-under, T2
• Seeking to become the first Australian to win a major championship on the Champions Tour since Stewart Ginn claimed the 2002 Ford Senior Players Championship. Graham Marsh also won the 1997 U.S. Senior Open.

• Has finished among the top-10 eight times in 15 starts, including top-10s in three of the previous four majors this year (P2-Regions Tradition, T5-Senior PGA Championship, 6-U.S. Senior Open).

• Has played in the final group three times this year, including last week at the 3M Championship (T2).

• Others were Allianz Championship (T17), Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with Sandy Lyle (T8).

• Trying to become the third player to win for the first-time in 2011 and the second consecutive to make his first victory on the Champions Tour a major. John Huston won the Dick's Sporting Goods Open for his first win on the circuit and Olin Browne's victory at the U.S. Senior Open at Inverness was his first Champions Tour title.

• This week is Peter Senior's 41st career start on the Champions Tour.

John Cook, 69-68-66 -- 203, 10-under, T2
• Searching for his fourth victory of the 2011 season (Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, Montreal Championship).

• Will play in the final grouping for the third time this year and he won both the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am and the Montreal Championship from the final grouping on Sunday.

Miscellaneous Notes
• Third-round leaders at 2011 senior majors and where they finished:

• Third-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win this event 12 of 21 times since 1990, including Mark O'Meara last year. Players leading/co-leading heading into the final round have gone on to win just six of the previous 17 official events on the Champions Tour in 2011.

• The winner of this event has come out of the last group in three of the last four years. Five of the last six Champions Tour events have had the winner come from the last group, including the last three events.

• Lift, clean and place rules were again in effect for the third straight day. There were 35 rounds below 70 today compared to 14 sub-70 scores yesterday and 15 scores in the 60s on Thursday. A total of 42 players were under par compared to 25 players under par in each of the first two days.

• The hardest hole at Westchester through the first three rounds has been the par-4 12th hole, yielding just 10 total birdies (4.372)...The easiest hole has been the par-5 9th, giving up 1 eagle and 102 birdies (4.620).

• Bogey-free rounds:
Round 1 -- Peter Senior (66), John Cook (69)
Round 2 -- Tom Kite (68)
Round 3 -- Joe Ozaki (65), Bernhard Langer (66), John Cook (66), Bob Tway (67), Mark Calcavecchia (67), Bruce Vaughan (67), Loren Roberts (67), Mark Wiebe (68), Fred Couples, (68)

• Scoring Averages:

• Corey Pavin's 2-under 69 today extended his streak of rounds under par to 13 straight and he's now been par/better in his last 24 rounds. The last time Pavin was over par came on Sunday at the Regions Tradition when he carded a 2-over 74 at Shoal Creek.

• Tom Lehman, the current Charles Schwab Cup leader, carded his second consecutive 67 and is T5 through 54 holes. Olin Browne, who is currently in second place in the Schwab Cup race, 291 points back of Lehman, also shot 67 today and is T10 after three rounds this week. Tomorrow's winner will earn 810 Charles Schwab Cup points and there could be some significant movement in the standings.

• At the end of the official season, the player with the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.

• Hale Irwin's 68 today was his 31st round in the 60s at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in 63 rounds played, the most career sub-70 scores by a player in this event. Irwin won this championship in 1999 and is the even'ts all-time leading money-winner with $1,544,405 coming into the week.

• The all-time biggest comeback in the history of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship is six strokes by Raymond Floyd in 2000. Jay Haas came from five strokes back to win in 2009.

• Joe Ozaki's 6-under 65 was the low round of the day and jumped him up 30 spots into a T27, the biggest move by a player in the field today...There were three eagles made today including Chip Beck's deuce on the par-4 10th hole which played at 277 yards....Bruce Fleisher has hit 39/42 fairways through the first 54 holes (92.86%)...Fred Couples leads in greens hit with 48 of 54 (88.9%)...David Frost leads in putting with 28 putts per round through the first three days...Fred Couples and Corey Pavin have both made the most birdies (15) while John Cook has just one bogey through the first three rounds.

• With rain expected in the New York area tomorrow afternoon, final-round tee times have been moved up. Threesomes will go off both the 1stand 10th tees from 8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.