Shell Houston Open: Third-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff HUMBLE, Texas -- Heavy thunderstorms rolled through the Houston area on Saturday morning and dumped 1.49 inches of rain on the golf course. Third-round play in the Shell Houston Open did not begin on time due to the inclement weather. Play finally began at 1:20 p.m., resulting in a delay of six hours.  Johnson Wagner is looking for a breakthrough performance Sunday. (Kevin C. Cox/WireImage)
• Saturday's delay marked the seventh time a tournament on the 2007 PGA TOUR has been delayed/suspended due to weather. The delay of six hours was the longest on the TOUR this year. • This is the second time in the last four years that the weather problems have prevented the third round from being completed at the Shell Houston Open on Saturday. In 2004, none of the 71 players who made the cut were able to finish round three on time. • Saturday's morning rains prevented the third round from being completed. Play was suspended at 7:20 p.m. due to darkness. A total of 27 players (out of 78) have yet to finish and will return to the course at 7:45 a.m. Sunday to conclude round three (five groups on the front/four groups on the back). The players will then be re-paired and fourth-round tee times will run from approximately 10 a.m. to noon. Play will be in threesomes off the first and 10th tees. • Rookie Johnson Wagner blistered the Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course with a record 8-under-par 64, breaking the mark of 65 set by Greg Owen in the second round here last year. For Wagner, making his 11th career start, it's also a career-best on TOUR. His previous best was a 65 in the opening round at the Buick Invitational back on Jan. 25. The 8-under score also matches his career-low round on the Nationwide Tour (an 8-under 63 in the final round of the 2006 Cox Classic in Omaha, Neb., which he won). • Johnson Wagner has never led a PGA TOUR event after 54 holes and his best showing after three rounds came at the 2007 Buick Invitational, where he was tied for 15th heading into the final 18. Wagner is currently tied for third place at 11-under par. He shared the 54-hole lead twice in his four-year Nationwide Tour career. Wagner was part of a three-way tie at the 2005 ING New Zealand PGA Championship and shared the lead at the 2005 Chattanooga Classic. • The top six players on the leaderboard when play was halted -- Bubba Watson, Jeff Maggert, Johnson Wagner, Adam Scott, Paul Stankowski and Stuart Appleby -- have combined for 43 total birdies and only two bogeys (Watson -1; Maggert -1). • Bubba Watson is currently 9 under through 15 holes and stands atop the leaderboard at 15 under par with three holes to complete on Sunday morning. Watson leads by three strokes over three-time Shell Houston Open runner-up Jeff Maggert. Watson has never held a lead after any round in his PGA TOUR career. His best 54-hole position was at the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, where he was in second place, two shots back of leader Duffy Waldorf. Watson also never held a 54-hole lead on the Nationwide Tour. • Bubba Watson will try to become only the second lefty to win the Shell Houston Open. New Zealand's Bob Charles won the Houston Classic in 1963, thus becoming the first left-handed player to win a PGA TOUR event. There have been eight different left-handed players who have won tournaments over the years: Phil Mickelson (29 wins), Mike Weir (7), Bob Charles (6), Steve Flesch (2), Sam Adams (1), Ernie Gonzalez (1), Russ Cochran (1) and Eric Axley (1). 1 • Adam Scott and Paul Stankowski played together on Saturday and each posted 7-under-par 65s to get to 11-under 205. The two are currently tied with Johnson Wagner for third place, four back of overnight leader Bubba Watson. Stankowski's 65 matches his career-best in 12 starts at the SHO, a final-round 65 in 2000. The trio (including Justin Leonard) was on the final hole when play was called and chose to finish their rounds. • While Johnson Wagner was grabbing the spotlight on the front nine with his 6-under-par 30, Jeff Gove was matching his score on the back nine. Gove began the day at 1 over and started his round on the back. The former Pepperdine star rolled in birdie putts at 10, 12, 13, 15, 17 and 18 to turn in 6 under. Gove is 1 under on the front nine, 7 under for the third round and has two holes to complete his round. • Johnson Wagner ran off a string of five consecutive birdies for the second time this year. Wagner's streak started at No. 5 and ended when he missed a 13-foot birdie putt on No. 10. He also ran off five in a row in the second round of the Buick Invitational back in late January. The streak of five in a row also matches the best on the PGA TOUR this year (10 times, including Wagner's earlier streak). • Players who completed bogey-free rounds on Saturday were Johnson Wagner (64), Paul Stankowski and Adam Scott (65), Padraig Harrington and Anthony Kim (66), and Wes Short, Jr. and Marco Dawson (69). • Defending champion Stuart Appleby is 4 under through 15 holes and 10 under for the tournament. With Watson at 15 under and Maggert at 12 under, it's likely Appleby won't be the 54-hole leader, bringing an end to his run of six consecutive rounds as the leader/co-leader over the past two years. Appleby led wire-to-wire in winning here last year and shared both the first- and second-round leads this week. • Jeff Maggert is close to the 54-hole lead and still has three holes to finish up the third round. Should Maggert tie or overtake current clubhouse leader Bubba Watson, it would mark the 10th time in his PGA TOUR career he has been at the top following 54 holes, and the fifth time in this event. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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