Frys.com Open: Third-round notebook

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Because 79 players made the cut after Round Two, there was a subsequent second, 54-hole cut that reduced the field to 71 players for Sunday's final round. When more than 78 players make the 36-hole cut, an additional cut is put in place for the final round.

George McNeill has missed just three greens in regulation through 54 holes. (Feldman/Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

54-Hole Leaderboard

Player Score 1. Kevin Sutherland 196 -14 2. George McNeill 197 -13 T3. Paul Goydos 198 -12 T3. John Mallinger 198 -12 T3. Steve Allan 198 -12 T6. Cameron Beckman 199 -11 T6. Woody Austin 199 -11 T8. Bob Tway 200 -10 T8. Mathew Goggin 200 -10 T8. Arron Oberholser 200 -10

• This marks the second consecutive week a second cut has been used. At last week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, a second cut reduced the field from 83 players to 71 players in the final round.

• Kevin Sutherland followed opening rounds of 67-66 with a third-round 7-under 63 to take a one-shot lead headed into Sunday's final round.

• Headed into the 2008 Frys.com Open, Sutherland had made 21 cuts in 25 starts, five of which he parlayed into top-10 finishes. One of those top-10s, a tie for fourth, came right down the road at the FBR Open at the TPC Scottsdale. His best finish of the year came with a playoff loss to Vijay Singh at The Barclays, the first of four events that comprise the PGA TOUR Playoffs.

• Sutherland's year was so strong that it earned him a spot in THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, where he finished 15th.

• The key to Sutherland's success in Round Three of the Frys.com Open can clearly be attributed to his accuracy. Off the tee, he hit 12 of 14 fairways, and was 17 for 18 in greens in regulation.

• Sutherland, who joined the PGA TOUR in 1996, will be vying for his second PGA TOUR title. At the 2002 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, Sutherland beat Scott McCarron 1-up in the 36-hole final.

• Sutherland has held a share of the lead two times previously in his PGA TOUR career. He finished second in both, the 2007 AT&T Pebble Beach National and the 1997 Shell Houston Open.

• 2007 Frys.com Open champion (in Las Vegas) George McNeill fired a 4-under-par 66 in Round Three of the Frys.com Open to move to within one of Sutherland's 14-under lead.

• Accuracy into the greens was the key to McNeill's success as he was 100 percent in hitting greens in regulation. So far this week, he has missed just three greens in regulation through 54 holes. The three he missed each came on Friday.

• A week after winning in Las Vegas last year, McNeill came to Grayhawk for the Fry's Electronics Open, where he tied for 16th. The two-week combination was worth $802,500.00.

• Following his second-round, 8-under 62, 44-year-old Paul Goydos kept himself in the game in Round Three with a 4-under 66.

• Since his playoff loss to Sergio Garcia in May at THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, Goydos has struggled somewhat until two weeks ago, when he posted a tie for 19th at the Valero Texas Open. His combined second and third round 128 total is the lowest 36-hole combination of his career.

• Highlighted by two third-place finishes, John Mallinger is amidst a strong sophomore season. He kept the heat on in Round Three of the Frys.com Open with a 4-under 66 to sit two shots behind Sutherland.

• In addition to his two third-place finishes this year, Mallinger claimed third-place honors three times in his rookie season last year.

• Last year, the PGA TOUR Fall Series proved beneficial to Mallinger. His third-place finish at the 2007 Turning Stone Resort Championship was followed a week later with a tie for 15th at the Valero Texas Open. Heading into the PGA TOUR Fall Series, he was ranked 177th in the World Golf Rankings. After the Valero Texas Open two weeks later, he had jumped 40 spots to No. 137.

• Part-time Scottsdale resident Steve Allan began the third round one shot back of Arron Oberholser's lead, but quickly eliminated that deficit by holing out from 160 yards on the first hole for an eagle-2 to take a one shot lead early in the third round. A 2-under 68 left him trailing Sutherland by two strokes.

• Headed into this week, Allan had made just eight of 19 cuts in 2008. His PGA TOUR Fall Series performance, however, would indicate anything other than a tough year. At the Viking Classic in September, Allan posted a tie for fourth thanks largely to a final round, 6-under 66. In the next Fall Series event, the Turning Stone Resort Championship, he posted his best finish of the year with a tie for third. At the Valero Texas Open, he finished tied for 19th.

• Of just the three PGA TOUR Fall Series events in which Allan has competed, he has amassed $440, 864. 29. Collectively, in his 16 starts before the PGA TOUR Fall Series, he made $152,480.63.

• Allan missed most of last fall due to surgery on a double hernia. He began the 2008 PGA TOUR season with a Minor Medical Exemption in which he had six events to earn $217,121 (combined with 2007 earnings of $568,059 to equal 2007's No. 125 earnings).

• With a third-round, 6-under 64, Cameron Beckman put himself in position to claim his second PGA TOUR victory, the first of which being the 2001 Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

• Like he is after three rounds of the Frys.com Open, Beckman also began the final round of the 2001 Southern Farm Bureau Classic tied for third before going on to victory.

• Beckman's 6-under 64 in Round Three of the Frys.com Open matches his lowest round of the year. In the final round of the John Deere Classic, he closed with a 6-under 65. He finished tied for 35tg at Grayhawk Golf Club, site of the 2007 Fry's Electronics Open.

• The third-round scoring average at the Frys.com Open was 70.00.