Round 3 Notes – Northern Trust Open
Third-Round Notes – Saturday, February 16, 2008Sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-50s defined the day at Riviera Country Club Saturday. Winds were light and variable out of the WSW between 5-10 mph.
One group on each side (six players) completed their second round on Saturday morning, which led to an 8:15 am start of round three, consisting of 78 players at+3 to make the cut.
At 37 years and 8 months to the day, Phil Mickelson took his 26th outright third-round lead. Of the previous 25 54-hole leads, Mickelson has parlayed an impressive 18 into victories. Last year alone, Mickelson was one-for-two in said position. In 2007, Mickelson claimed his 30th PGA TOUR win after holding the third-round lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. A week later, Mickelson lost his 54-hole lead via a playoff to Charles Howell III here at the Northern Trust Open.
Third Round Leads (18 of 25 Overall, 3-4 Majors)
Rd. 3 Final Rd
Tournament Place Total Finish Score
1991 Northern Telecom Open 2-strokes over Pavin, Peoples -15 W 71
1993 Northern Telecom Open tie Hart -15 T8 75
1993 The International +29 W n/a
1994 Mercedes Championships tie Couples - 8 W 68
1995 Northern Telecom Open tie Gallagher, Jr., Ogle -14 W 68
1996 GTE Byron Nelson Classic 1-stroke over Pavin, Rymer, Wiebe -11 W 66
1996 NEC World Series of Golf 3-strokes over Mayfair, Norman - 6 W 70
1997 Sprint International +39 W n/a
1998 Mercedes Championships 1-stroke over Duval -13 W 68
2000 Buick Invitational 2-strokes over Maruyama -16 W 70
2001 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tie Browne -14 T3 73
2001 Compaq Classic of New Orleans 3-strokes over Frazar -20 2nd 72
2001 MasterCard Colonial tie Quigley -11 T2 70
2001 Canon Greater Hartford Open 1-stroke over Berganio, Jr. -14 W 68
2004 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (*) 2-strokes over Haas -21 W n/a
2004 Masters Tournament tie DiMarco - 6 W 69
2005 FBR Open 4-strokes over Na -14 W 68
2005 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am 7-strokes over Owen -20 W 73
2005 Ford Championship at Doral 2-strokes over Woods -20 2nd 69
2005 PGA Championship tie Love - 6 W 72
2006 BellSouth Classic 8-strokes over Johnson and Byrd -21 W 65
2006 Masters Tournament 1-stroke over Couples and C. Campbell -4 W 69
2006 U.S. Open tie Ferrie +2 T2 74
2007 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tie Mallinger -14 W 66
2007 Nissan Open 1-stroke lead Harrington -13 P2 68
Jeff Quinney used a 7-iron from 163 yards at the par-3 6th hole to make an ace, temporarily over-taking Mickelson’s lead, until Mickelson made birdie on the sixth hole.
The ace was the 13th hole-in-one at the 6th and 32nd overall at Riviera since 1983, two of which came in 2007.
Player Hole # Round
Retief Goosen 16 2
Rich Beem 14 3
This is not the first time Phil Mickelson and Jeff Quinney have been head-to-head in competition. In last year’s PLAYERS Championship, Quinney played in the second-to-last group behind Mickelson, who again took a one-shot lead over Quinney into Sunday’s final round. Mickelson ultimately won by five over Quinney, who finished T6.
This marks the fourth time in six starts at the Northern Trust Open in which John Rollins has made the cut. He has recorded three top-20 finishes in those situations and has third-round scores of 67 (2007), 64 (2006), and 67 (2002).
At the conclusion of round three, 1990 Northern Trust Open champion Fred Couples was T29 after a 1-over-par 72. But if numbers are an indication, Couples could be in for a solid Sunday finish as the 48-year-old has posted top-10 finishes in four of his last seven starts at Riviera, including a solo fourth in 2006.
Past Champions Leaderboard through Round 3:
Robert Allenby (2001) 70-66-75 —211 T23
Billy Mayfair (1998) 68-69-74 —211 T23
Rory Sabbatini (2006) 72-67-74 —213 T13
Fred Couples (1990, 1992) 70-70-72 —212 T31
Charles Howell (2007) 71-70-74 —215 T57
Adam Scott (2005) 73-69-70 ---212 T31
There have been five bogey-free rounds recorded this week:
Round 1: K.J. Choi (-6), Kevin Na (-5), Cody Freeman (-1), Dustin Johnson (-3)
Round 2: none
Round 3: DJ Trahan (-5)
Scoring Averages for the first three rounds:
Thursday Friday Saturday
Morning Wave scoring average 71.28 73.78
Afternoon Wave scoring average 73..51 70.68
Scoring average for the day 72.465 71.36 70.90
The toughest hole on Saturday proved to be the par-3 fourth hole. The fourth hole surrendered just two birdies all day and claimed 26 bogeys or worse with a scoring average of 3.321.
Conversely, it was the 503-yard, par 5 first hole which ranked as the easiest Saturday, playing 35-under par with a scoring average of 4.513.
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