•There has been just one wire-to-wire winner at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic since the event became an official PGA TOUR tournament in 1994 -- John Huston (2003).
•Leader D.J. Trahan is making his 65th career professional
start on the TOUR this week in Madison, MS. He has never won on the
TOUR, but in his first 64 starts he has collected four top-10 finishes.
He also has 10 top-25 career finishes. Below is a list of his top-10
finishes: 2006 U.S. bank Championship T4
•D.J. Trahan has held the outright lead after the first
three rounds at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. The last player to win
his first TOUR title in wire-to-wire fashion was Tim Herron at the 1996
Honda Classic. Three players have gone wire-to-wire this year: Phil
Mickelson, BellSouth Classic
•There are a number of players sitting inside the top 10
with one round to play who need a good payday on Sunday to help get them
closer to securing their fully-exempt cards for the 2007 season. Here is
a look at those players:
•D.J.Trahan has held or shared the lead at the end of a
round four times in his career, including three times this week. During
his only other third-round lead, Trahan shared the lead with Choi in
Greensboro but shot a final-round 75. A closer look at his leads on the
TOUR: •Since 2000, three players have held/shared the third-round lead at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic and gone on to victory -- Steve Lowery (2000), John Huston (2003) and Fred Funk (2004). •Henrik Bjornstad recorded back-to-back eagles during round three on the par-5 fifth hole and the par-4 sixth hole. In doing so, he became the third player this year to record back-to-back eagles. He holed out from 135 yards on the par-4 sixth hole. •Forty-five-year-old Brad Faxon, who sits in a tie for third, is looking to win in back-to-back seasons for the first time on TOUR since the 2000 and 2001 seasons when he captured the B.C. Open and Sony Open in Hawaii, respectively. Faxon has eight career TOUR wins. •Anthony Kim, playing in just his second PGA TOUR event, made one of the biggest jumps of the day (30 spots from a tie for 57th to a tie for 27th) thanks to a 5-under 67, which matched him with seven others for best round of the day. Kim was eligible to play in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic thanks to a tie for second finish, which netted him $298,667. Another top-10 this week would get him into next week’s Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. Kim needs to make $186,676 to receive unlimited Sponsor Exemptions the remainder of the year.. After that, he’ll need to finish as high as the No. 125 player on the money list, to be able to earn his card without having to go through Q-School. In 2005, Ryan Moore became the first player to earn his TOUR card after leaving college and without going to Q-School since Tiger Woods in 1996. •Eight players posted 67s on Saturday to tie for the best round of the day -- Kris Cox, Lee Janzen, Jonathan Kaye, Anthony Kim, Ian Leggatt, Rocco Mediate, Chris Smith and Jeff Gove. Gove’s 65 allowed him to make the largest jump of the day from tied for 70th to tied for 34th, a move of 36 spots. He’s actually jumped 73 spots since an opening-round 4-over 76 (tied for 107th). •Comparing Round 1-3 at Annandale Golf Club:
Stat -- Rd. 1 -- Rd.2 -- Rd. 3 •Although Tommy Armour III withdrew from the tournament prior to the start, it was still a good week for the resident of Irving, Texas. The Southern Farm Bureau Classic brings in a Medtronic health truck backed by Mississippi Baptist Medical Center and staffed by Cardiovascular Associates, P.A. to run heart and cholesterol tests for anyone interested. Armour took them up on the opportunity and through an EKG administered by Dr. Stephen Hindman, found out that he had a condition called atrial fibrillation. Armour flew back to Dallas to see his heart doctor. He is taking medication and resting comfortable. He will be out for several weeks and should be back in action after that with no further issues. •Should Lee Janzen win on Sunday, the victory would come eight years, three months and 10 days after his last, the 1998 U.S. Open. •Players sitting inside the top 10 on the leaderboard looking for their first PGA TOUR victory -- D.J. Trahan (1), Daniel Chopra (tied for third), Troy Mattesson (tied for sixth), Kris Cox (tied for sixth), Bo Van Pelt (tied for sixth) and Nick Watney (tied for sixth). •Two of the four par-3 holes at Annandale Golf Club gave the players trouble on Saturday. The eighth hole gave up just four birdies, while the 15th gave up five. The eighth hole was the most difficult on the day with a scoring average of 3.300, while No. 15 was the third-most difficult with an average of 3.163. •There were six bogey-free rounds on Saturday – Shaun Micheel, Kris Cox, Lee Janzen, Daniel Chopra, Kevin Sutherland and Steve Elkington. Sutherland carries the longest streak into Sunday’s final round with 33 consecutive holes without a bogey. •Five times a player over 40-years-old has won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, including two players over the age of 45 – Fred Funk in 2004 and Ed Dougherty in 1995. Lee Janzen (42) and Brad Faxon (45) are both within three strokes of the leader through 54-holes.
•Southern Farm Bureau Classic over-40 Champions (since 1994) |
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