Third-round notebook – AT&T Classic
* The 65 Omar Uresti shot Saturday is the low 18-hole round of the tournament. In 16 previous rounds at this event (12 at TPC Sugarloaf), he had never broken 70. After opening with a 74, Uresti has reeled off back-to-back rounds of 69-65. He enters the final round tied for ninth. In eight 2008 starts, Uresti’s best finish is a tie for 39th at the Shell Houston Open.* With TPC Sugarloaf still wet and soft, officials elected to allow players to use preferred lies in the third round. The high temperature reached 77, with winds west at 8-15 mph.
* Because of predicted inclement weather Sunday, tournament officials made the decision to send players out in threesomes Sunday from both the first and 10th tees, with the first group going off at 8:15 a.m. and the leaders teeing off at 10:15 a.m.
* Omar Uresti's 65 is his lowest third-round score in a PGA TOUR event since he joined the TOUR in 1995. Uresti most recently shot a 5-under 66 in the third round of the 1998 CVS Charity Classic. The last time Uresti shot a 65 in any round of a PGA TOUR event was in the first round of this year's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
* In 2007, Ryuji Imada held a share of the AT&T Classic 54-hole lead with Troy Matteson. He eventually settled for a second-place finish when he lost a playoff to Zach Johnson. A year later, Imada is in tied for sixth place after shooting a 6-under 66 Saturday. Since making the cut in 2003 but finishing at 9-over (tied for 74th), Imada is 40-under in his last 14 rounds. In his last 11 rounds, he’s had 57 birdies and one eagle.
* After bogeying his final hole in the first round (No. 9), Imada has played bogey-free golf at TPC Sugarloaf. The seventh, eighth and ninth holes have traditionally given Imada difficulties, though, and his performance there bears watching Sunday. He is 3-over this week on those three holes and is a cumulative 10-over going back to his first tournament in 2003 (18 rounds).
* Charles Howell III, Kenny Perry, Heath Slocum and David Toms are the only players who will have the opportunity to match what only three players have accomplished since the AT&T Classic moved to TPC Sugarloaf in 1997—post four rounds in the 60s. David Duval accomplished the feat when he won the 1999 tournament. That same year Davis Love III did the same en route to a tie for seventh. In 2006, Phil Mickelson posted four rounds in the 60s when he won by a record 13 strokes.
* David Toms, tied for third going into Sunday’s final round, is looking to join a select group of players who have won the AT&T Classic as well as another PGA TOUR event in the Atlanta metro area. Toms won the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in 2001.
* There is definitely something about the state of Georgia that Zach Johnson enjoys. By making the cut this week, Johnson is 12 for 13 in made cuts in Georgia tournaments, with five top 10s and eight top 25s. He is tied for 18th going into Sunday’s final round.
* In his career, in 37 career PGA TOUR starts, Justin Bolli, a former walk-on at the University of Georgia, is in position to earn the first top-10 of his career. He is eighth. Bolli, who finished as one of the top-25 money-winners on the 2007 Nationwide Tour (No. 8) to earn his 2008 PGA TOUR card, tied for 15th at the 2005 AT&T Classic for his best TOUR finish.
* Charles Howell III leads the field in par-5 performance this week. He is 10-under on TPC Sugarloaf’s four par-5s. His stroke average is 4.17, with at least one birdie on every hole and eight total birdies total plus one eagle.
* Defending champion Zach Johnson’s streak of 11 consecutive under-par rounds at TPC Sugarloaf continues. Johnson shot a 1-under 71 Saturday and is tied for 18th going into the final round. His last non-under-par round was the even-par 72 he shot in the final round of the rain-shortened 2005 event. Johnson also has 13 consecutive par-or-better rounds at the AT&T Classic. His last over-par round was a 3-over 75 in the first round in 2005.
* Of the 28 players competing in their first AT&T Classics, 13 made the cut and are playing on the weekend. Best among that group is Chris Kirk and John Mallinger, tied for 25th, eight strokes behind Charles Howell III.
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