Bob Hope Classic: Round 4 notebook

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LA QUINTA, Calif. -- The cut: 74 professionals from a field of 128 made the cut at 9-under 279.

Coverage of Monday's finish can be seen on GOLF CHANNEL beginning at Noon local time. Tomorrow's finish will be the third Monday finish at the Bob Hope Classic -- 1978 and 1980 also saw Monday finishes.

Despite a double-bogey six at the last hole (Nicklaus Course), Bubba Watson remains tied atop the leaderboard at 23 under with Alex Prugh following a 3-under 67.

Watson has previously held the lead headed into a final round. At the 2007 Shell Houston Open, he led by three strokes over five players before ultimately finishing T2. He was one of five co-leaders beginning the final round of the 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. An even-par 72 resulted in a T8 finish.

Watson is competing in his fourth consecutive Bob Hope Classic. He missed the cut in 2007, but finished T26 and T25, respectively, in 2008 and 2009.

The fourth-round leader of the Bob Hope Classic has gone on to win 20 times previously, dating back to its 1960 inception. Most recently, Chad Campbell achieved the feat in 2006.

As the leaderboard stands after 72 holes, each of the top four players remain in search of their first win. Should Watson, Alex Prugh, Bill Haas or Tim Clark get that monkey off their back, he would become the sixth first-time winner of this event and the third in the last four years. The previous first-time winners include: Bill Rogers (1978), Craig Stadler (1980), Donnie Hammond (1986), Charley Hoffman (2007) and Pat Perez (2009).

Prugh posted a 2-under 70 on the SilverRock Course in the fourth round to claim a share of the 23-under lead with Watson.

Prugh is making just his third start on the PGA TOUR. He made his first by qualifying for the 2007 U.S. Open (MC) and his second at last week's Sony Open in Hawaii (T72). The former University of Washington standout earned a spot on the 2010 PGA TOUR by finishing 16th on the 2009 Nationwide Tour money list. He won the Nationwide Tour's 2009 Michael Hill New Zealand Open.

At T3, Haas is bidding to join his father, Jay (1988), as the winner of this tournament. If Bill Haas should win, the Haas' would become the eighth father-son combo to win on TOUR. The last combo was Al and Brent Geiberger. The younger Geiberger joined his father when he won the 1999 Canon Greater Hartford Open.

Clark is setting himself up for another solid showing. At the SilverRock Course in the fourth round, the South African native posted a bogey-free 6-under 66 to get within one of Watson and Prugh's lead. In his previous three starts here in 2005, 2006 and 2009, he has finished T2, T62 and T5, respectively.

Should Clark emerge victorious, he would be the first international player to win the Bob Hope Classic since Mike Weir in 2003 and just the fourth overall (Weir, Jesper Parnevik, Bruce Devlin). Clark is looking to pick up his first TOUR victory in his 197th start.

2003 Bob Hope Classic champion Mike Weir has proven to be a model of consistency this week. With his birdie at the 18th hole (La Quinta), he posted his fourth consecutive 5-under 67. He currently sits T6 with Matt Kuchar and Kevin Streelman.

Should Weir emerge victorious Monday, he would become the eighth multiple winner of the event. Here's a look at the others:

Martin Flores, 27, shot an even-par 70 to claim a share of sixth place. He is just three strokes off the 23-under lead.

Flores' bogey-free streak ended at 56 holes this week when he took a double-bogey five at La Quinta's par-3 third hole.

Flores grew up in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area before attending the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated in 2004. He then played multiple tours, including the Gateway, Adams and Hooters Tours. He made the cut in just four of nine starts in his rookie year on the Nationwide Tour in 2009. At the end of 2009, he managed a fourth-place finish in the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament to earn an exemption to the PGA TOUR in 2010.

Defending champion Pat Perez shot a 2-under 70 and will begin Monday's final round 10 shots back.

Sam Saunders, grandson of 5-time Bob Hope Classic champion, Arnold Palmer, posted a 2-under 70 in round four to miss the cut.

As the second year of the Kodak Challenge is underway, this week the par-3 17th at the Palmer Course is this week's featured hole. The Kodak Challenge is a first-of-its kind competition on TOUR. In order to qualify, players must play at least 18 of 30 Kodak Challenge holes over the course of the season. The player with the lowest collective score in relation to par wins the trophy and $1 million dollars.

Jeff Maggert withdrew after eight holes with flu-like symptoms.