Third-round notebook – Mercedes-Benz Championship
* Justin 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 Justin Leonard’s 10th start in the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Of those previous nine, he has posted four top-10 finishes, including 8-place finishes in his last two events here in 2006 and 2008.
* Geoff Ogilvy continued his massive attack towards the winner’s circle in round three of the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship with an eight-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 David Duval’s 54-hole record. In 1999, Duval led by seven after Saturday’s third round.
* Geoff Ogilvy has held a third-round lead three times before today. He held a share of the 54-hole lead at the 2005 Honda Classic (finished T6) 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.
* Geoff 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 Geoff Ogilvy’s third trip to Kapalua and is shaping up to be his best. In 2006, he finished T13, and in 2007, Ogilvy claimed T19. 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 three. 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 two in 2002.
* After posting a front-nine, 6-under 30, Zach 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 Long Horn fired a bogey-free, 8-under 65 to get to 13-under and take T2 honors with D.J. Trahan after 54 holes. He began the day T10.
* 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 in round three, despite a double-bogey at the first. As part of his comeback after that dreaded double at the first, 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.
* K.J. 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.
* In Saturday’s third round, there were seven bogey-free rounds, as opposed to one in round two and two in Thursday’s first round.
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