Round 3 Notes – Sony Open in Hawaii
Third-Round Notes – Saturday, January 12, 2008Weather: High temperature of 79 degrees under partly cloudy skies; winds variable at 5-10 mph.
Six-time PGA TOUR winner K.J. Choi fired a third-round 66 on Saturday at the Sony Open in Hawaii and will now take a four-shot lead over rookie Tim Wilkinson into Sunday’s final round.
K.J. Choi’s final-round scoring average when leading after 54 holes of a PGA TOUR event is 67.00.
This marks the fifth 54-hole lead/co-lead of Choi’s PGA TOUR career:
Year Event Scores Finish
2006 Chrysler Championship 68-66-70-67—271 Won
2005 Chrysler Cl. of Greensboro 64-69-67-66—266 Won
2002 Tampa Bay Classic 63-68-68-68—267 Won
2002 COMPAQ Classic 68-65-71-67—271 Won
Choi’s dominance thus far has him in position to become the sixth wire-to-wire winner in Sony Open history and the first on the PGA TOUR since Steve Flesch did the same at last year’s Reno-Tahoe Open.
Choi’s four-shot lead is the largest 54-hole lead at the Sony Open since Paul Azinger led by five shots heading into the final round in 2000.
PGA TOUR rookie Tim Wilkinson carded the round of the week thus far with a 62 on Saturday. Wilkinson is playing in only the third TOUR event of his career this week and his first since the 2004 Buick Championship, where a final-round 64 gave him a T27 finish.
Wilkinson earned his 2008 PGA TOUR card via the Qualifying Tournament last year after rounds of 73-70-68-70-67-68—416. After his first-round 73 that week, Wilkinson was T117 before climbing his way back into the top 25.
Chad Campbell’s third-round 66 was a nice change of pace for the four-time PGA TOUR winner. Coming into this week, Campbell had made five of six cuts at the Sony Open, yet had only broken par on the weekend twice.
In the third round, Campbell became the first player this week to hit 14 of 14 fairways in a single round at Waialae Country Club.
Parker McLachlan, the only native Hawaiian to make the cut this year, fired a third-round 65 to move from T59 to T21. McLachlan began his tournament five over through his first 15 holes before playing the next 39 holes in 11-under.
Top Rookies This Week:
Player Score Standing Exemption
Tim Wilkinson 68-69-62—199 2nd Qualifying Tournament
Dustin Johnson 68-68-67—203 T14 Qualifying Tournament
Chez Reavie 68-66-69—203 T14 Nationwide Tour
Brad Adamonis 66-68-70—204 T21 Qualifying Tournament
Matt Jones 68-69-68—205 T26 Nationwide Tour
Alejandro Canizares 67-67-71—205 T26 Qualifying Tournament
Y.E. Yang 69-68-69—206 T30 Qualifying Tournament
Scott Sterling 70-69-69—208 T46 Nationwide Tour
Martin Laird 69-70-70—209 T52 Nationwide Tour
Kevin Streelman 68-69-72—209 T52 Qualifying Tournament
Chad Collins 67-70-73—210 T59 Nationwide Tour
Three of the four Monday qualifiers made the cut this week at the Sony Open. The most Monday qualifiers to have made the weekend on the PGA TOUR in 2007 was two:
Player Score Standing
Doug LaBelle II 67-69-66—202 T9
Spencer Levin 67-68-73—208 T46
Mitsuhiro Tateyama 66-70-75—211 T65
Bogey-free rounds: Tim Wilkinson, Troy Matteson, Doug LaBelle II, Matt Jones, and Bubba Watson.
Tournament statistical leaders through 54 holes:
Stat Player Average
Driving Distance J.B. Holmes 335.7 yards
Driving Accuracy Fred Funk 33 of 42 (78.57 %)
Greens in Regulation Chad Campbell 46 of 54 (85.19 %)
Putting Average Paul Azinger 1.571 putts per GIR
Kenneth Ferrie withdrew prior to the start of the round due to illness.
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