Third-round notebook – The TOUR Championship
Tiger Woods Tiger Woods is seeking his 72ndPGA TOUR victory, which would place him just one behind Jack Nicklaus on the all-time wins list and 10 behind leader Sam Snead. Woods is making his 12th start at THE TOUR Championship, with victories in 1999 and 2007 and runner-up finishes in 2000, 2004 and 2005.
Tiger Woods
54-hole comebacks
20 of 67 stroke-play events
Tournament 54-hole status Finish Score
1996 Las Vegas Invitational 4 back Black Playoff over Love 64
1996 Disney 1 back Clements, Fehr, J. Haas by 1 over Stewart 66
1999 WGC-American Express 1 back Jimenez, Parry Playoff over Jimenez 68
2000 AT&T Pebble Beach 5 back Brooks, Gogel by 2 over Gogel, Singh 64
2001 THE PLAYERS Championship 2 back Kelly by 1 over Singh 67
2001 Memorial Tournament 1 back Azinger by 7 over Azinger, Garcia 66
2001 WGC-NEC Invitational 2 back Furyk Playoff over Furyk 69
2005 Buick Invitational 2 back Lehman, Donald by 3 over Lehman, Howell, Donald 68
2005 Ford Championship at Doral 2 back Mickelson by 1 over Mickelson 66
2005 WGC-American Express 2 back Daly Playoff over Daly 67
2006 Buick Invitational 1 back Garcia, Pampling Playoff over Green, Olazabal 72
2006 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational 1 back Cink Playoff over Cink 68
2006 Deutsche Bank Championship 3 back Singh 2 over Singh 63
2007 Buick Invitational 2 back Buckle, Snedeker 2 over Howell 66
2007 Wachovia Championship 1 back Sabbatini 2 over Stricker 69
2007 WGC- Bridgestone Invitational 1 back Sabbatini 8 over Rose, Sabbatini 65
2007 BMW Championship 1 back Stricker, Baddeley 2 over Baddeley 63
2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational 5 back O'Hair 1 over O'Hair 67
2009 the Memorial Tournament 4 back M. Wilson, Bettencourt 1 over Furyk 65
2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational 3 back P. Harrington 4 over P. Harrington, Allenby 65
Kenny Perry
Kenny Perry posted a 6-under 64 on Saturday to take the third-round lead at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the final event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. He leads by two strokes over Tiger Woods (69) and four over Phil Mickelson (66) and Sean O’Hair (70).
Kenny Perry has won 10 of 18 times when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead or 72-hole lead in a 90-hole event on the PGA TOUR, including seven out of his last nine.
Kenny Perry Third Round Leads
9 of 17 Overall, 0-1 Majors
Tournament Place Round 3 Finish
1987 Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational tie K Brown, Pohl, Sutton -11 T4 (69)
1988 Centel Classic tie Glasson, Lohr, C Perry -12 T5 (72)
1991 Memorial Tournament 2 over Pavin -14 W (71)
1994 Hardee’s Golf Classic tie McCumber -12 2nd (68)
1995 AT&T Pebble Beach 3 over Boros, Duval, Faxon, Jacobsen -13 T3 (72)
1995 Nissan Open 1 over Pavin -13 T2 (71)
2001 Buick Open 5 over Furyk, Harrington -22 W (69)
2002 Mercedes Championships tie Verplank -13 3rd (69)
2003 Bank of America Colonial 8 over Sabbatini -9 W (68)
2003 Memorial Tournament 2 over Janzen -13 W (72)
2003 Greater Milwaukee Open 1 over six players -8 W (66)
2005 Bay Hill Invitational 3 over Singh -10 W (70)
2005 Bank of America Colonial 7 over Mayfair -18 W (69)
2005 WGC-NEC Invitational tie Woods -7 T6 (74)
2008 John Deere Classic tie Axley, Adamonis -15 W (70)
2009 FBR Open 1 over Scott Piercy -12 W (69)
2009 Masters Tournament tie Cabrera -11 T2 (71)
Fourth Round Leads
1 of 1 Overall, 0-0 Majors
Tournament Place Round 4 Finish
1995 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic 2 over Duval, Strange, Taylor, Tolles -23 W (70)
Final-round scoring average with lead: 70 18/1,260
Kenny Perry, currently No. 9 on the FedExCup points list, is making his 10th start at THE TOUR Championship, with a fourth-place finish in 1996 his best outing among three top-10 finishes (none of which occurred at East Lake GC).
Perry was named the 2009 Payne Stewart Award winner earlier this week. Celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2009, the Payne Stewart Award is presented annually to a player sharing Stewart’s respect for the traditions of the game, his commitment to uphold the game’s heritage of charitable support and his professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.
Padraig Harrington
Despite a 1-over 71 on Saturday, Harrington still appears poised to record his sixth straight top-10 finish. His streak began at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (T2), where he entered the event No. 142 in the standings.
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson’s 4-under 66 propelled him to T3. The lefthander is making his 13th start at THE TOUR Championship and is seeking his fourth top-10 at the event (2000-1st, 2002-T5, 2008-T3). A win on Sunday would make him just the second multiple winner at THE TOUR Championship (Tiger Woods – 1999, 2007).
Steve Stricker
Steve Stricker posted a 4-under 66 on Saturday to jump to T7 on the leaderboard, six strokes behind Kenny Perry. It was his TOUR-leading 30th round in the 60s in PGA TOUR Playoff events. Stricker and Jim Furyk (71) have now played in all 47 rounds of the PGA TOUR Playoffs, dating to the competition’s inaugural start in 2007.
Miscellaneous Notes
The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 22 of 39 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR in 2009, most recently by Tiger Woods at the BMW Championship. In the 22-year history of THE TOUR Championship, the third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win the tournament 14 times, with the last to do so being Tiger Woods in 2007. The largest come-from-behind victory at the event was five strokes by Camilo Villegas in 2008.
A pair of Presidents Cup International teammates made a lot of noise in the first pairing of the day on Saturday. Geoff Ogilvy equaled the round of the week (Perry, R3) with a 6-under 64, while PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang posted a 4-under 66. Both players sit at 2-over through 54 holes and T17.
Players who were ranked fifth or higher in the FedExCup standings coming into the week are assured of winning the 2009 FedExCup with a win this week. The list includes No.1 Tiger Woods (2nd, currently projected first in the FedExCup standings), followed by No. 2 Steve Stricker (T7, currently projected third), No. 3 Jim Furyk (T15, projected fourth), No. 4 Zach Johnson (T24, projected sixth) and No. 5 Heath Slocum (T17, projected eighth).
Ten players are making their TOUR Championship debut this week: Steve Marino (T5), John Senden (T9), Angel Cabrera (T9), Nick Watney (T13), Y.E. Yang (T17), Jason Dufner (T17), Marc Leishman (T22), Dustin Johnson (T26), Kevin Na (28) and Brian Gay (30).
Past champions of THE TOUR Championship and their current standings: 1999 and 2007 winner Tiger Woods (72-66-64—2nd), 2000 champion Phil Mickelson (73-67-66—T3), 2001 winner Mike Weir (72-72-70—T22) and 2004 champion Retief Goosen (69-72-72—21st).
A pair of Aussies posted the first bogey-free rounds of the week at East Lake GC on Saturday: Geoff Ogilvy (64) and John Senden (69).
Scoring Averages at the par-70 East Lake Golf Club:
Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 34.533 35.967 70.500 ---
Friday 35.067 35.067 70.133 70.317
Saturday 35.100 35.400 70.500 70.378
Round-by-round scoring averages for THE TOUR Championship at East Lake GC:
Year Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Cumulative
1998 71.067 71.433 71.100 71.267 71.218
2000 70.034 69.379 70.207 69.552 69.793
2002 70.300 70.033 70.133 68.367 69.707
2004 70.633 70.867 69.931 69.345 70.203
2005 69.414 69.069 69.103 70.069 69.414
2006 72.074 71.370 69.852 69.741 70.760
2007 67.500 67.833 67.800 70.167 68.325
2008 72.233* 70.833 70.500 70.367 70.983
2009 70.500 70.133 70.500
*Highest single-round scoring average in tournament history at East Lake Golf Club.
The par-4 5th played the toughest on Saturday with a 4.333 average. The par-5 15thwas the easiest at 4.500.
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