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By Joe Chemycz
PGA TOUR Media Official

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Rookie Brandt Snedeker stands atop the 54-hole leader board (co-leader) for the first time in his PGA TOUR career after Saturday's third round of the Buick Invitational. Snedeker is making his 14th career start on TOUR and his third this year. His previous best position after 54 holes was at the 2005 MCI Heritage, when he was 21st heading into the final round. Snedeker carded a final-round 78 at Harbour Town and tied for 47th.

• Brandt Snedeker may be in unfamiliar territory on the PGA TOUR, but being atop the leader board is nothing new for the 26-year Nashville, Tenn., native. Snedeker held or shared the lead eight times during the 2006 Nationwide Tour season, when he won twice. He captured the Scholarship America Showdown in Rochester, Minn., in a playoff over Jeff Quinney and also won the Permian Basin Charity Golf Classic in Midland, Texas, in a playoff after leading each of the first three rounds.

• Fellow rookie and co-leader Andrew Buckle may be new to the PGA TOUR, but he's no stranger to the Torrey Pines South Course. Buckle, a 24-year-old from Brisbane, Australia, won back-to-back Junior World Golf Championships here in 1999 and 2000. Buckle won the 15-17 Boys title in 1999, shooting scores of 71-75-71-68--285 to win by two shots, and followed up with a four-shot win in the same division in 2000.

• Andrew Buckle is making his sixth career start on the PGA TOUR this week, but just his third in non-majors. Buckle missed the cut at the 2004 British Open, tied for 61st at the 2006 British Open and missed the cut at the 2006 PGA Championship. In his previous two PGA TOUR starts this year, the 2006 Nationwide Tour Virginia Beach Open champion tied for 28th at the Sony Open in Hawaii and tied for 18th at last week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

• Buckle also won the 2006 Virginia Beach Open on the Nationwide Tour in his first professional start in the United States. He held a two-stroke lead after 54 holes and then shot a final-round 69 to win by five and set a tournament record in the process.

• Up for grabs in Sunday's final round are a total of 25,000 FedExCup points, with 4,500 going to the winner. If Charles Howell III can overtake the leaders on the scoreboard, he'll also take over the top spot in the FedExCup standings. Howell is currently No. 7 on the season-long list with 2,251 points.

• A win will push Howell to No. 1 with 6,751 total points. Vijay Singh is the current points leader with 4,621, followed by Paul Goydos with 4,564 and Charley Hoffman at 4,500.

• Another note on Snedeker and par-5 finishing holes, such as the one he'll face Sunday at Torrey Pines (560 yards). Two times last year on the Nationwide Tour, Snedeker stood on the 72nd tee needing an eagle to force a playoff and both times he rolled in eagle putts. He went on to lose the Chattanooga Classic to Kyle Reifers, but came back to win the Scholarship America Showdown. In his win at Permian Basin, Snedeker rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt to force a playoff with Aron Price.

• Another name to consider for Sunday's final round is Mark Calcavecchia, who shot a 4-under 68 Saturday and is tied for 8th, three shots off the pace. Calcavecchia had made the cut six times in his previous 12 Buick Invitational starts and finished in the top-10 five times. His best showing came at the 1995 Buick Invitational of California when he tied for second. His fourth-round scoring average in this event is 67.80.

• The 54-hole leader board is loaded with players in their 20s: (T1) Andrew Buckle, 24, and Brandt Snedeker, 26; (T4) Charles Howell III, 27, Troy Matteson, 27, and Bill Haas, 24; (T8) Nick Watney, 25, and Jeff Quinney, 28; and (T15) Johnson Wagner, 26, and Kevin Stadler, 26.

• Tiger Woods and Nick Watney registed the first bogey-free rounds on the South Course this week. Woods shot a 3-under-par 69 and Watney posted a 2-under 70.

• Michael Bradley (80) suffered a quadruple-bogey 9 on the final hole Saturday. Bradley was 101 yards from the pin in two shots on the closing par-5 and dumped two balls into the water that guards the front of the green en route to his nine.

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