Buick Invitational: Third-Round Notebook

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LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Tiger Woods' 66 on Saturday marked his 25th consecutive round at par-or-better in the Buick Invitational. Woods' only above-par score in 42 total rounds dating back to 1998 is a second-round 77 in 2002. Woods has never finished worse than tied for 10th in his 10 career starts in this event.

Tiger Woods is rewriting the record books yet again. (Miralle/WireImage)

Woods' results in

his first starts of the year

Year Event Result 1997 Mercedes Championships Won 1998 Mercedes Championships T2 1999 Mercedes Championships T5 2000 Mercedes Championships Won 2001 Mercedes Championships T8 2002 Mercedes Championships T10 2003 Buick Invitational Won 2004 Mercedes Championships T4 2005 Mercedes Championships T3 2006 Buick Invitational Won 2007 Buick Invitational Won

• Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink each have recorded only one bogey for the week at Torrey Pines. Woods posted a bogey on No. 16 on the South Course on Thursday, while Cink had a bogey at No. 4 on the South Course on Friday. There have been three bogey-free rounds at the South Course this week -- Rod Pampling (1st), Stewart Cink (3rd) and Tiger Woods (3rd).

• In the history of the PGA TOUR, six players have held leads of 10 shots or better with 18 holes to play. Bobby Locke led the 1948 Chicago Victory National Championship by 13 and won by 16; Gene Sarazen led the 1927 Long Island Open by 11 and won by 11; Walter Hagen led the 1920 Florida West Coast Open by 10 and won by 12; Ben Hogan led the 1945 Portland Invitational by 10 and won by 14; Gene Littler led the 1955 Tournament of Champions by 10 and won by 13; and Tiger Woods led the 2000 U.S. Open by 10 and won by 15.

• In the last two years, Woods has won 15 of 31 starts (48.4 percent). Five different players (total of nine times) since 1970 have won seven or more times in a season. Woods has four of the nine.

• The Southern California native has 11 wins in his home state just ahead of the 10 he has in his adopted state of Florida.

• Woods has finished inside the top five of nine of 10 starts at Torrey Pines, with five wins during that time. He is in position to tie Arnold Palmer in total victories on the PGA TOUR with 62. Palmer's last victory on the PGA TOUR was the 1973 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, 2 years, 10 months and 19 days before Woods was born.

• Sam Snead leads the all-time PGA TOUR victory list with 82, and he won his 61st at the age of 39 years, 1 month, 6 days. Jack Nicklaus is second the list with 73, with Ben Hogan third with 64 and Arnold Palmer fourth with 62. Palmer won his 61st at the age of 41 years, 10 months, 22 days, while Tiger Woods won his 61st at the age of 31 years, 8 months, 17 days.

• Tiger Woods is looking for his sixth Buick Invitational victory this week. He has six wins at both the World Golf Championships-CA Championship and World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. The record number of wins at a single PGA TOUR event is Sam Snead (8) at the Greater Greensboro Open.

• Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink are the only player left in the field who could post four rounds in the 60s this week. Since 1990, just 15 players have posted four rounds in the 60s at the Buick Invitational -- none have done so since 2001, when four players accomplished the feat: Frank Lickliter (tied for second), Mike Weir (tied for fifth), Jay Don Blake (tied for seventh) and Shigeki Maruyama (tied for 13th). It was the second time for Blake who also did so en route to his 1991 victory. The only other player to record four rounds in the 60s twice since 1990 was Hal Sutton in 1994 and 1995. Just three winners have posted four rounds in the 60s since 1990 -- Blake (1991), Craig Stadler (1994) and Peter Jacobsen (1995).

• Up for grabs in Sunday's final round are a total of 25,000 FedExCup points, with 4,500 going to the winner. The way is stands after three rounds, K.J. Choi, who missed the cut on Friday, should maintain his position in the top spot in the FedExCup standings. Justin Leonard (3,592) and Rory Sabbatini (3,463 points) need to finish in a two-way tie for fourth to catch Choi, who has 4,681 points on the season.

• Justin Leonard, who finished second, last week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, posted the low round of the day with a 7-under 65 on Saturday. It matches Troy Matteson (rd 1- 65) for the low round of the week at the South Course.

• After three rounds, Tiger Woods is 18 under par and eight shots ahead of second place. As the 54-hole leader, Woods had a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 Saturday.Woods' longest par putt on Saturday was on the 12th hole, a distance of 20 feet, 10 inches.

• Leading the field in greens in regulation this week, Tiger was very accurate Saturday with his irons. Hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation, he averaged 26 feet 3 inches from the hole on all approach shots, bettering the field average by almost 10 feet (Rd 3 average: 35 feet 0 inches).

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