Zurich Classic: Third-round notebook

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AVONDALE, La. -- Jerry Kelly (69-203) is at 13 under par and owns a three-stroke lead heading into Sunday's final round. Kelly is seeking his third career win. Both of Kelly's career victories came during the 2002 season. His last win came on July 7, 2002, at the Advil Western Open -- or 6 years, 9 months and 18 days ago.

• Kelly had to withdraw from last week's Verizon Heritage because of a dislocated rib? It was the first time Kelly had withdrawn from a tournament since the 2005 84 LUMBER Classic.

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Rory Sabbatini has hit a respectable 71 percent of his fairways so far this week.

Inside the Numbers

54-Hole Leaderboard

Player Score 1. Jerry Kelly 203 -13 2. Steve Marino 206 -10 T3. Rod Pampling 207 -9 T3. Aaron Watkins 207 -9 T3. Charles Howell III 207 -9 T3. John Rollins 207 -9 T3. Charlie Wi 207 -9 T8. Jeff Overton 208 -8 T8. Joe Ogilvie 208 -8 T8. Roland Thatcher 208 -8 T8. Rory Sabbatini 208 -8 T8. Kevin Stadler 208 -8 T8. John Merrick 208 -8 T8. David Toms 208 -8

• Kelly will take a three-stroke lead into the final day. In the past eight years, only two 54-hole leaders have gone on to win this event: Chris Couch in 2006 and Nick Watney in 2007.

• Kelly's three-stroke lead is the largest 54-hole lead in this event since Calvin Peete owned a five-shot advantage back in 1986. Peete went on to win by five strokes.

• Kelly becomes the fourth player in the past 20 years of this event to take a three-stroke lead into the final round. The others who owned similar leads did not fare so well. In 2003, Scott Verplank shot 74 and finished two shots back; in 2001, Phil Mickelson shot 72 and finished 2 shots back; and in 1991, Jim Hallet shot 70 and lost a playoff to Ian Woosnam.

• The last player to lead by three shots after 54 holes and go on to win was Chip Beck in 1988. Beck held a three-shot lead on the field, then posted a 64 on the last day and won by seven strokes.

• Kelly has held/shared the 54-hole lead six times previously in his career and gone on to win only one of those tournaments. That victory came at the 2002 Sony Open in Hawaii, where he led by two shots and won by one.

• Third-round leaders/co-leaders have enjoyed great success on the PGA TOUR this year, as 13 of 16 have gone on to win the tournament.

• Ryan Palmer eagled the par-4 13th hole Saturday morning by taking the "shortest distance between two points" route. Palmer went for the green off the tee, and hit his drive to within 27 feet, 5 inches of the cup on the dogleg-left hole and then rolled in the putt. The hole measures 370 yards but Palmer needed to hit his drive only 336 yards to get in position for an eagle.

• Todd Hamilton had an interesting start to his round. The former British Open champion played the front nine in even-par despite not actually making a par until the ninth hole. Hamilton pieced together four birdies and four bogeys in his first eight holes before making a par at No. 9.

• George McNeill made a run at the TPC Louisiana course record early Saturday but ran into trouble down the stretch. McNeill birdied four holes in a row (Nos. 2-5) and was 7 under for the day after a birdie at No. 13. His run at the course record of 64 was derailed by a tee shot into the water at the par-4 16th hole, where he made bogey. Two more penalty strokes at the closing par-5 18th resulted in a triple bogey and a final score of 69.

• Joe Ogilvie and Paul Goydos have played together each of the first three days but won't be paired together for the final round after Ogilvie distanced himself from his playing partner with a 5-under 31 on the back nine. Ogilvie finished with a 3-under 69 and is 8 under for the week (tied for eighth). Goydos double bogeyed the final hole for a back nine 39 and posted a 73, winding up at 4-under 212 (tied for 41st).

• Kevin Stadler continues his solid play this week, despite a triple bogey on the final hole Saturday. Stadler carded a 1-under 71 and is tied for eighth, five shots back of leader Jerry Kelly. Stadler gained entry into the field this week as a Monday qualifier after shooting a 66 at The Bridges Golf Club in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

• The last Monday Qualifier to win on the PGA TOUR was Fred Wadsworth at the 1986 Southern Open. Wadsworth posted scores of 67-67-68-67 to finish at 11 under par at Green Island Country Club in Columbus, Ga., and win by two shots over George Archer, Tim Simpson, Jim Thorpe and John Cook. A few players who played in that event also teed it up this week, including Bob Tway, Scott Verplank and Russ Cochran.

• Lucas Glover (66) and Greg Chalmers (67) made significant moves up the leaderboard Saturday and go into the day tied for 15th place, six shots off the lead. Glover started the day tied for 55th and Chalmers started tied for 49th.

• Glover birdied the final hole Friday to make the 36-hole cut on the number (1-under 143). The former Clemson star is currently six shots back of Kelly. Glover is trying to become the first player to make the cut on the number and go on to win since Couch did it right here at the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

• Auburn grad Roland Thatcher is making the most of his start this week, just the second one for him on the PGA TOUR in 2009. Thatcher missed the cut at the Mayakoba Classic earlier this year. He has posted scores of 68-70-70 and is 8 under par, tied for eighth. This is his 69th career start on TOUR and he has four top-10s to his credit, the best being a tie for fifth at the 2004 Reno-Tahoe Open, where he held the 54-hole lead.

• Steve Marino (68-206) finished at 10 under par after a bogey at the final hole and holds down second place after three rounds. Marino is in his third full season on TOUR and is seeking his first career win. Marino's career best finish a runner-up at the 2008 Mayakoba Golf Classic. For his career, Marino has now made the cut in 57 of 77 TOUR starts. This year, Marino has made the cut in eight of 12 starts with his best finish a tie for seventh at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

• TPC Louisiana is playing to a scoring average of 71.922 so far this week. The daily scoring averages are 71.942 on Thursday, 71.981 on Friday and 71.750 on Saturday.

• There were a total of six eagles in Thursday's opening round and nine eagles during the second Friday but only two on Saturday -- Ryan Palmer at the par-413th and Ian Poulter at the par-5 18th, where he holed a bunker shot from 88 feet.

• Rod Pampling birdied the final four holes Saturday for a 4-under 68 and a 9-under 207 total.

• Louisiana native David Toms is making his 16th career start in this event. He won the tournament in 2001 when it was contested at English Turn G&CC. The victory was the fifth of his 12 career titles. Toms has made two starts at TPC New Orleans, missing the cut in 2005 and tying for 44th place last year.