Mercedes-Benz Championship: Third-round notebook

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Jan. 10, 2009
By Doug Milne, PGA TOUR Staff

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Due to the threat of inclement weather, the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship will begin Sunday at 8:00 a.m. local time in threesomes off tees one and 10.

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With a 6-under 30 on Saturday, Zach Johnson had the hottest front nine of the week.

Inside the Numbers

54-Hole Leaderboard

Player	Score
1. Geoff Ogilvy	200 -19
T2. Justin Leonard	206 -13
T2. D.J. Trahan	206 -13
T4. Camilo Villegas	207 -12
T4. Davis Love III	207 -12
T4. Kenny Perry	207 -12
T4. Anthony Kim	207 -12
8. K.J. Choi	208 -11
T9. Boo Weekley	209 -10
T9. Johnson Wagner	209 -10

• The only other instance in which tee times were moved up at Kapalua due to weather was the second round of the 1999 Mercedes-Benz Championship, a round noted for David Duval's 10-under 63. Duval won that year by a record nine strokes.

• Geoff Ogilvy continued his massive attack toward the winner's circle in Round 3 with an 8-under 65 to take a six-stroke lead over Justin Leonard and D.J. Trahan heading into Sunday's final round. His lead is just one stroke shy of Duval's 54-hole record. In 1999, Duval led by seven after Saturday's third round.

• Ogilvy has held a third-round lead three times before Saturday. He held a share of the 54-hole lead at the 2005 Honda Classic (finished tied for sixth) and at the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, where he claimed his first win. He also was the leader after round three of the 2008 World Golf Championships-CA Championship, in which he went on to win.

• Ogilvy has led the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship each of the first three rounds. If he manages to hang on and win in wire-to-wire fashion, it will be the second time he has done so. Of his previous four wins, only the World Golf Championships-CA Championship produced a wire-to-wire victory.

• This is Ogilvy's third trip to Kapalua and is shaping up to be his best. In 2006, he finished tied for 13th, and in 2007, Ogilvy claimed a tie for 19th. Of those two previous two starts, he did not post a single round in the 60s. Through three rounds this week, he has not been out of the 60s with rounds of 67-68-65.

• Zach Johnson had the hottest front nine of the week in Round 3. Highlighted by four birdies and an eagle, Johnson made the turn at 6 under on the day. The record for the lowest front-nine in history at Kapalua belongs to Mike Weir, who shot a 7-under 29 in Round 2 in 2002.

• After posting a front-nine, 6-under 30, Johnson added three more birdies on the back en route to a bogey-free, 9-under 64. Johnson's round was just two shy of K.J. Choi's 11-under 62 in 2003.

• Off the strength of his win at the 2008 Stanford St. Jude Championship, Justin Leonard is making the most of his spot in the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship. In Saturday's third round, the Texas Longhorn fired a bogey-free, 8-under 65 to get to 13 under and take share second place with D.J. Trahan after 54 holes. He began the day tied for 10th.

• Leonard's 8-under 65 was his lowest round since shooting an 8-under 64 in round two of the 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

• This is Leonard's 10th start in the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Of those previous nine, he has posted four top-10 finishes, including eighth-place finishes in his last two events here in 2006 and 2008.

• Playing in his first Mercedes-Benz Championship, Camilo Villegas took advantage of mild and inviting conditions in Saturday's third round by posting a 7-under 65 despite a double-bogey at the first. As part of his comeback after that dreaded double, Villegas made six consecutive birdies on holes five through 10. His seventh, eight and ninth birdies of the day came at holes 12, 14 and 15.

• Choi certainly likes golf in Hawaii. Choi, who will be defending his title next week at the Sony Open in Hawaii, made nine birdies en route to a 7-under 66.

• Of the 33 players in the field of the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship, there was just one above-par score posted. Since moving to Kapalua in 1999, only two rounds have yielded all scores of par or better. In the third rounds of 2001 and 2005, every player in the field posted a score of par or better.

• Of the 33 players in the field, 17 posted scores in the 60s on Saturday. In 2003's final round, a record 25 players posted sub-70 rounds.

• Scoring Averages through three rounds: 72.36 (Round 1), 70.79 (Round 2) and 69.15 (Round 3)

• In Saturday's third round, there were seven bogey-free rounds, as opposed to one on Friday and two in Thursday's first round.