Round 3 Notes: Buick Open

text size

• Tiger Woods drained a 33-foot, 4-inch putt for birdie on the par-3 17th hole en route to a 7-under 65, good for a one-stroke lead over Michael Letzig (68) and a two-stroke cushion over second-round leader John Senden (71) at the 2009 Buick Open.

• This represents the 50th time that Woods has held the 54-hole lead/co-lead during his career, with victories in 46 of the previous 49. This includes the 1997 Mercedes Championships, when he slept on the 54-hole lead before weather forced the cancellation of the final round. Woods then defeated Tom Lehman on the first hole of a playoff. The three times he didn't win -- T5/1996 Quad City Open, 2/2000 and 2004 THE TOUR Championship.

• The 54-hole leader/co-leader has won 18 of 31 events on the 2009 PGA TOUR, most recently Tiger Woods at the AT&T National. At the Buick Open, the third-round leader/co-leader has won 20 of 44 times, including six out of the last eight, most recently Woods in 2006. This does not include unofficial events held from 1972-76.

• Letzig and Woods will be paired together on Sunday for the second time this year. During the final round of the Memorial Tournament, Woods shot 65 to win, while Letzig posted 75 to finish 14th.

• Woods, currently No. 2 on the FedExCup points list, began the week T95 after a 1-under 71 on Thursday. The worst position after the opening round of any tournament he eventually won was T83 at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational, after a first-round 70 (-1).

• Woods is competing in his ninth Buick Open. In 35 rounds, he has never posted a round worse than even-par 72, which was just once -- during his debut round at Warwick Hills in 1997.

• Letzig, a 2007 Nationwide Tour graduate making his 50th PGA TOUR start this week, finished T12 at the 2008 Buick Open (his only previous start here) with four rounds in the 60s (69-67-69-69). He now has seven consecutive sub-70 scores in as many attempts at Warwick Hills CC.

• Second-round leader Senden posted a 1-under 71 on Saturday to fall two strokes behind tournament-leader Woods. Senden, who leads the TOUR this season in Greens in Regulation Percentage (71.05 percent through the RBC Canadian Open), has hit just 18 of 42 fairways in regulation so far this week (42.9 percent), including just four of 14 on Saturday.

• Matt Bettencourt, the leading money-winner on the 2008 Nationwide Tour, posted a 7-under 65 on Saturday to move to T4. The TOUR rookie is making his 24th start of the year, with 12 made cuts and two top-10 finishes -- T5 at the Memorial Tournament (where he was the third-round leader before a final-round 75) and T10 at the U.S. Open. He is currently No. 94 on the FedExCup points list.

• The round of the day was turned in by Scott Piercy with an 8-under 64. After making the 36-hole cut on the number, the 30-year-old native of Las Vegas jumped to T9 through three rounds. The last time a player made the cut on the number and went on to win was Chris Couch at the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

• Piercy posted five top-20s in his first six events as a rookie on TOUR this year, including a career-best T5 at The Honda Classic. Piercy has had a mixed bag recently with one withdrawal, one disqualification and three missed cuts in his last eight events. He also finished T40 at last week's RBC Canadian Open and T66 at the John Deere Classic.

• Woody Austin, the 1995 Buick Open champion, enters the final 18 holes five strokes back at T9. Austin has posted two consecutive runner-up finishes at the tournament (2007-08) and is making his 15th start at the Buick Open. He has six top-10s (1-1995, T2-2008, T2-2007, T3-1996, T4-2000, T7-2006) and 10 top-25 finishes.

• Spurred on by five consecutive birdies on Nos. 12-16, David Duval posted a 5-under 67 to move to 9-under 207 through 54 holes, despite suffering a one-stroke penalty at the third hole when his ball moved on the putting green after he had addressed it. A13-time TOUR winner, Duval is making his 17th start of the season, with five made cuts and a season-best T2 finish at the U.S. Open. He is making just his third start at the Buick Open, missing the cut in 1995 and 1997.

• Kevin Na (69-69-70) made his first bogey of the week at the par-3 11th hole when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, missing an 8-foot par putt.

• After failing to qualify on Monday and subsequently flying to a Hooters Tour event in Minnesota, local favorite Matt Harmon received a sponsor's exemption into the Buick Open on Tuesday. He has made the most of the opportunity, firing rounds of 68-68-70 to sit T19. This is just his third-career start on the PGA TOUR, missing the cut at the 2007 & 2008 Buick Open.

• Since 1984, the only international player to break into the winner's circle at Warwick Hills has been Vijay Singh (1997, 2004, 2005). Three international players enter the final round inside the top 10, including Senden (3), Greg Chalmers (T6) and Marc Leishman (T9).

• Vaughn Taylor, T4, is coming off three consecutive missed cuts at the AT&T National, John Deere Classic and last week's RBC Canadian Open. Taylor has two top-20 finishes this season (T14/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, T17/Arnold Palmer Invitational). Taylor finished T4 at the 2006 Buick Open, thanks to a 9-under 63 in the third round to tie his career-low round.

• Jim Furyk posted his third-consecutive 69 on Saturday, continuing his amazing track record at Warwick Hills, with par-or-better scores in 58 of 59 rounds (98.31 percent) at the Buick Open, including a current streak of 44 straight. His only over-par effort was 3-over 75 in third round in 1997. Furyk, who enters the final round T29, finished T36 in 2008 to see his streak of seven consecutive top-10 finishes at the Buick Open snapped, dating to T2 finish in 2001.

• The par-4 15th hole is currently the toughest hole through the first three rounds this week with a 4.147 average. Since 1990, it has ranked as the toughest hole at Warwick Hills all but three times (2nd-2008, 4th-2003, 5th-1998).

• Scoring average: