Third-round notebook – Buick Invitational
* Paul Goydos (72-66-72—210) returned to the PGA TOUR this week after a leave of absence when his ex-wife, Wendy, passed away January 17. Goydos, unsure of his schedule, told his caddie, Scott Sajinac, to find another job. Sajinac committed to Daniel Chopra for the West coast swing, so Goydos has Brian Reed looping for him this week and next week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Chopra finished T27 at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and has missed the cut in his other three starts this year. Sajinac will return to Goydos’ bag after Pebble Beach. Goydos heads into the final round T4 at 6-under.* Because more than 78 players made the 36-hole cut of 2-over, a secondary cut was made following Saturday’s third round, which came at 5-over with 71 players advancing to the final round. This marks the second straight year that 85 players have made the first cut. The last time fewer than 80 players made the cut at the Buick Invitational was in 2003 (75 players).
* For the first time this year, preferred lies were implemented for Saturday’s third round. Tee markers were also moved up on holes 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13 and 18.
* Rollins has won twice on the PGA TOUR, first at the 2002 Bell Canadian Open then at the 2006 B.C. Open presented by Turning Stone Resort. He has taken the 54-hole lead into the final round three times on TOUR, twice in 2003 (Buick Classic, FUNAI Classic-Disney) and once in 2005 (Deutsche Bank Championship). His finishes in those events were a playoff loss to Jonathan Kaye at the 2003 Buick Classic, a T5 at the 2003 FUNAI Classic-Disney and a T15 at the 2005 Deutsche Bank Championship.
* John Rollins’ three-stroke lead after 54 holes is nowhere near Tiger Woods’ eight-stroke lead heading into last year’s final round at the Buick Invitational, the largest 54-hole lead in tournament history. The good news for Rollins is the 54-hole leaders in each of the first four PGA TOUR events this season have won.
Tournament 54-hole leader Lead after 54-holes Margin of victory
Mercedes-Benz Championship Geoff Ogilvy 6 6
Sony Open in Hawaii Zach Johnson 1 2
50th Bob Hope Classic Pat Perez 2 3
FBR Kenny Perry 1 playoff
Buick Invitational John Rollins 3 TBD
* John Rollins has mixed results in early season tournaments before the Buick Invitational (see chart below). Apart from a playoff loss to Charley Hoffman at the 2007 Bob Hope Classic, Rollins has not recorded a top-10 in any tournament preceding the Buick Invitational this decade. Rollins played the Nationwide Tour in 2001, earning six top-10 finishes, including a win at the Hershey Open, finishing sixth on the money list that year.
Tournament 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
Mercedes-Benz Championship 25 T29
Sony Open in Hawaii T20 MC T40 T60 MC
50th Bob Hope Classic MC MC P2 T53 T62
FBR Open T70 T63 T11
AT&T Pebble Beach MC T47 T15 MC
Buick Invitational TBD 65 MC T4 T30 MC MC T8 MC
* Although Camilo Villegas shot 66 in the third round at the season opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, Saturday’s third-round 2-over 74 does not bode well for his third round scoring average for the remainder of the season. Villegas has played 62 times in the third-round in 90 career starts and has shot higher than 2-over-par 13 times. Below is a chart showing his third-round scoring average and ranking for the last three years.
Year Rank Third-round average
2008 T122 71.06
2007 123 71.35
2006 80 70.79
* Nick Watney, currently second in Driving Distance this year averaging 316.2 yards, was the only player with a pair of rounds in the 60s through the first two rounds. Watney shot 69-69 before a third round 1-under 71.
* Australians have quite the presence among the torrey pines and lemon-scented eucalyptus trees at the Buick Invitational. Mathew Goggin and Aaron Baddeley lead the “down-under” crew at 4-under-par and in a tie for ninth place, with Marc Leishman, Nathan Green, Jarrod Lyle and Jason Day also inside the top-20 after the third round. Not only did 12 of the 15 Australian players make the cut and advance to the weekend, they did so in the company of a true Australian tennis legend, Rod Laver, who was on site as a spectator. “Rocket Rod”, now 70 years old, was the world’s No. 1 tennis player for seven consecutive years from 1964-70. Laver is the only player to have twice won all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same year (1962 & 1969) and is the only male player during the open era to have won a calendar year Grand Slam.
* Englishman Luke Donald moved into contention with his third consecutive sub-par round (70-69-71—210) and lies T4. Donald was runner-up here in 2004 and 2005 and probably feels like Torrey Pines owes him something. It was here during the 2008 U.S. Open that Donald injured his wrist when he hit his tee on No. 15 in the final round, heard his wrist pop and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. The injury ended his 2008 season. Donald has recorded top-25 finishes at the two tournaments he has played this year, the Sony Open (T23) and the FBR Open (T25).
* Charley Hoffman (71-66-74—211), who grew up in Poway, just north of San Diego, shocked the local fans with an unfortunate start to the third round when he lost his ball up a tree after his opening hole tee shot. Hoffman, who started the day at seven-under, four strokes behind leader Camilo Villegas, incurred a one-stroke penalty and recorded a triple-bogey seven. He went on to birdie the third hole and eagled the par-five seventh, eventually finishing at 5-under, tied for sixth.
* Fellow Clemson Tigers, Lucas Glover and Charles Warren made good moves up the leaderboard during Saturdays so-called “moving day”. Warren shot 4-under 68 to jump from T32 to T6 while Glover fired a 3-under 69 and advanced from T17 to T6 also.
* While all 25 graduates from the 2008 Nationwide Tour teed off in the Buick Invitational, 12 advanced to the weekend after the 36-hole cut. Their positions after round three are:
Jeff Klauk T13
Marc Leishman T15
Jarrod Lyle T20
Aron Price T36
Ricky Barnes T36
Rick Price T60
David Mathis T60
Arjun Atwal T60
D.A. Points T68
Matt Bettencourt T68
Colt Knost MDF
Greg Owen MDF
* The season-long Kodak Challenge, where players must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes throughout the season to be eligible for the $1 million prize, includes the 435 yard, par-4, 14th hole at Torrey Pines South course. Dustin Johnson is the current season leader through the third round of the Buick Invitational – the fourth hole of the Kodak Challenge competition. The player with the lowest cumulative score relative to par wins.
* There were no bogey-free rounds in the third round.
* After utilizing both the North and the South Courses at Torrey Pines through the first two rounds, only the South course was in play during the third round. The third-round scoring average was 74.059, bringing the cumulative average for the week at the South Course to 74.496.
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