Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Third-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff AVONDALE, La. -- In order to accommodate a large field (85 players) and a 5:00 p.m. CT scheduled finish time on Sunday, the fourth round pairings in the Zurich Clasic of New Orleans will be in threesomes off the first and 10th tees. Tee times will run from 9:40 to 11:53 a.m.  Ken Duke's Saturday 66 was the best third round of his young career. (Kevin C. Cox/WireImage)
• Nick Watney moved to the top of the leaderboard Saturday with a third-round 68. Watney leads by two over Ken Duke heading into Sunday's final round. This is the first time Watney has ever held the 54-hole lead in a PGA TOUR event. Watney's previous best standing after three rounds came at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he was tied for fourth, but a whopping seven strokes back of co-leaders Arron Oberholser and Mike Weir. • Watney's career-best finish is a T5 at the 2006 Reno-Tahoe Open and the FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. This year, the 25-year old Fresno State grad has made the cut in seven of nine starts with his best finish at T9 at the Buick Invitational. Watney turns 26 next Wednesday (April 25). • Ken Duke (66 -- second place) is making his 51st career start and his 11th this year. The 2006 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year has made seven cuts thus far and stands No. 117 on the FedExCup points list. Duke has posted rounds of 69-71-66 to get to 10-under 206 and two back of leader Nick Watney. • This is the best position Duke has ever been in at this point in a PGA TOUR event. His previous best showing after 54 holes came at last week's Verizon Heritage, where he was T10 entering the final round. Duke wound up tied for 10th, only the second top-10 finish of his career (T9 at the 2004 Reno-Tahoe Open). • Ken Duke's 66 on Saturday was the best third round of his PGA TOUR career. Duke played bogey-free for the second time in three days. He has just two bogeys for his first 54 holes. • Scott Gutschewski moved up the leaderboard with his 5-under-par 67 and now stands at 9-under 207, tied for third, three off the lead. This is the best position Gutschewski has been in during his PGA TOUR career. The Nebraska resident's previous best came at the 2006 Cialis Western Open, where he was tied for 7th after 54 holes. His career-best finish on TOUR is a T6 at the 2006 B. C. Open presented by Turning Stone Resort. • Scott Gutschewski's 5-under 67 was among the lowest third-round scores of his PGA TOUR career. Gutschewski has posted a trio of third-round 66s in his career -- all of them coming in the 2005 season. Saturday's 67 matches his fourth-best effort during third-round play. • Ken Duke (66) and Steve Stricker (70) had the only two bogey-free rounds on Saturday. Duke also had the best round of the day, while Brian Bateman and Scott Gutschewski had the only 67s. • Brian Bateman had 16 birdies so far this week to lead the field. Will MacKenzie, Jason Schultz, Kyle Reifers and Nick Watney all have 15 birdies. • The 480-yard, par-4 15th hole was the toughest of the day, with a scoring average of 4.365. The hole gave up no birdies for the day, and instead yielded 56 pars to go along with 27 bogeys and 2 "others." • Third-round leaders have enjoyed success at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Eight of the past 13 54-hole leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win, including Chris Couch in 2006. Over the past 25 years, 16 of the third-round leaders/co-leaders have won the tournament. • Last year, Chris Couch became the 15th player to win his first PGA TOUR event at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the third consecutive, joining Bill Collins (1959), Bo Wininger (1962), Larry Hinson (1969), Jim Simons (1977), Lon Hinkle (1978), Bob Eastwood (1984), Ian Woosnam (1991), Mike Standly (1993), Scott McCarron (1996), Lee Westwood (1998), Carlos Franco (1999), K.J. Choi (2002), Steve Flesch (2003) and Tim Petrovic (2005). • There is only one player in the field who can potentially shoot four rounds in the 60s: Nick Watney (69-67-68). Two years ago when the event was played at TPC Louisiana, not a single player managed to put together four rounds in the 60s. Tournament winner Tim Petrovic and Lucas Glover had three rounds in the 60s that year. • Over the years, six players over the age of 40 have gone on to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans -- Vijay Singh (41 years, 2 months, 12 days) in 2004; Ben Crenshaw in 1994 (42 years, 2 months 22 days); Calvin Peete in 1986 (42 years, 8 months, 5 days); Billy Casper in 1975 (43 years, 10 days, 24 days), Gary Player in 1972 (42 years, 6 months, 16 days); and 1965, when Dick Mayer (40 years, 8 months, 17 days) won. Mark Calcavecchia (T3) is 46 years old, Wes Short, Jr. (T6) is 43 years old and Jeff Maggert (T6) is 43 years old. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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