The Live Report, Round 3: Verizon Heritage

text size

Halleran/Getty Images

Boo Weekley is seeking his third career Verizon Heritage title this week at Harbour Town.

Live Report essentials

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report has all the news and notes from the Verizon Heritage, and we'll be providing updates all day long for each round, so check back often. FOR COMPLETE VERIZON HERITAGE COVERAGE, click here. LIVE SCORING: Leaderboard | LISTEN: PGA TOUR Network | RESPOND: Facebook | Twitter | FanZone

FURYK FINISHES STRONG (5:35 p.m.): After not winning in more than two years, Jim Furyk is now in position for his second victory in a month. A birdie on the difficult 18th hole at Harbour Town moves him to 11 under with one round left in the Verizon Heritage.

Furyk had missed other makeable putts -- as recent as on No. 17 -- but his putt on No. 18 was perfect and gives him a one-shot lead after 54 holes.

Forget about the 80 that Furyk shot at Augusta -- he already has. It's a course that doesn't always suit him. Harbour Town, on the other hand, fits his eye perfectly. If Furyk continues to putt the way he has all week -- he's tied for the fewest putts per round in the field -- he should get the win. He'll have company, though, with a dozen players, including two-time winner Boo Weekley, within three shots of the lead in what should be a total shootout on Sunday. -- Brian Wacker

FURYK CLOSING FAST (5:21 p.m.): The third round in winding down, but not before Jim Furyk can grab the lead by himself. He has a share of the lead at 10 under, though he missed an 8-footer for birdie on No. 17.

Furyk is making his 12th appearance at the Verizon Heritage, where he has a stellar record with nine made cuts and top-15 finishes in five of his last six starts (T15-2002, T10-2003, T2-2005, 2-2006, 4-2008) prior to 2010.

Furyk led after the second round -- something he's done 17 times with just two victories -- and now he's in position to lead again. -- Brian Wacker

HEATH HANGING ON (4:42 p.m.): It's been an up-and-down back nine for Heath Slocum, who has two bogeys in his last five holes. Of course, he also has three birdies over that same stretch after making the turn in 31. As a result, Slocum, who is in the top 10 in greens in regulation and putting, is alone in the lead -- for now -- at 11 under.

Speaking of his greens in regulation, the fact that he's in the top 10 in the field at 67.3 percent for the week should tell you just how hard it is to hit the greens at Harbour Town, which has the smallest greens on TOUR. -- Brian Wacker

NOW THERE ARE TWO, THREE (4:24 p.m.): The jockeying continues at Harbour Town with Heath Slocum now grabbing a share of the lead with Brian Davis. Each of them are 10 under. So is Jim Furyk, who just made a birdie of his own to get to double digits. That's how fast things have been moving at Harbour Town. -- Brian Wacker

BACK AND FORTH (4:12 p.m.): Nick O'Hern knew what he was talking about when he said his 8 under total wouldn't be too far off the lead by the end of the third round.

We're deep into Round 3 and back to a logjam with seven players tied for the top spot at 9 under. Another six players, including O'Hern, are just one back. At this rate, Sunday will be the true moving day. -- Brian Wacker

SLOCUM BACK ON TOP (3:56 p.m.): Heath Slocum is back on top of the leaderboard at 10 under after a bounce-back birdie on the par-4 13th. He has plenty of company, though, with 16 players within three shots of the lead deep in Round 3 at Harbour Town. -- Brian Wacker

MORE MOVES (3:41 p.m.): A bogey by Heath Slocum has dropped him into a four-way tie for the lead at 9 under. One of those players tied for the top spot is Stephen Ames, who recorded his second straight 65.

That's a far cry from Ames' opening round, a 3-over 74. Since then, however, Ames hasn't made a bogey. He's done most of his damage on the back nine at Harbour Town, shooting a 31 there today and a 32 on Friday. One reason: His putting. Ames is averaging 1.6 and 1.5 putts per green in regulation, respectively, each of the last two rounds. Click here to replay Ames' round with Shot Tracker. See his scorecard below. -- Brian Wacker

MORE ON O'HERN'S ROUND (3:15 p.m.): How good did Nick O'Hern have it going Saturday morning?

"I thought how many birdies do I have to make to shoot 59?," O'Hern said.

O'Hern obviously didn't get there, but his 64 leaves him in good shape, even with Heath Slocum having already passed him.

"I had the greens probably at their best this morning, quite receptive," O'Hern said. "But it's hard to say where the lead is going to be"

O'Hern, who barely made the cut after a 1-over 72 in the second round, also noted that if you can put a few birdies together, you can go from 50th to 20th -- or 58th to fifth in his case.

"We're out there, we play golf tournaments, and if you can get that bit of a roll now, you can give yourself a chance," O'Hern said. "That's nice to be in those last few groups on Sunday." -- Brian Wacker

SLOCUM ON TOP (3 p.m.): Two-time Verizon Heritage winner Boo Weekley came out of Milton (Fla.) High School. So did Heath Slocum. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised then that Slocum is now in the lead.

Slocum just made the turn in 31 at Harbour Town, having made three birdies and an eagle through his first nine holes. The eagle came on the par-5 second -- his second of the week there -- and Slocum's start has him to 10 under for the week. -- Brian Wacker

ACES UP (2:44 p.m.): Davis Love III might not make the secondary cut here -- scores are low and he's in a tie for 67th at even par after three rounds -- but he hit maybe the shot of the week so far, making an ace on the 200-yard par-3 fourth hole. It was the second ace on the hole this week and 14th of the season (see chart below). -- Brian Wacker

YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (2:37 p.m.): "Very crowded top of the leaderboard. What's the most players involved in a playoff?" -- @Kimpga01

Well, we're a long way from the end of this tournament, but with that many players bunched near the top of the board, a playoff wouldn't be surprising. To answer your question, the biggest playoff in PGA TOUR history was a six-man playoff, which happened twice. The last time it did was at the 2001 Nissan Open, where Robert Allenby won. The other six-man extra-hole affair came at the 1994 GTE Byron Nelson Classic, where Neal Lancaster emerged the winner. -- Brian Wacker

LOGJAM FOR THE LEAD (2:20 p.m.): There are now eight players tied for the lead at 8 under with Stephen Ames, Briny Baird, Luke Donald, Brian Davis, Brett Quigley, Heath Slocum and Chad Campbell all even with Nick O'Hern, who shot 64 in the morning wave.

Meanwhile, there are 12 players just one shot back. Among that group is Will MacKenzie, who shot a 66. MacKenzie, though, is the only player among that group already finished. -- Brian Wacker

MOLDER SLIPS UP (1:57 p.m.): If Bryce Molder is going to become the sixth player ever to win the Verizon Heritage in his first appearance, it's going to take some work. Molder bogeyed the first hole before bouncing back with a birdie on the par-5 second. Others to win there in their first trip include: Stewart Cink (2000), Jose Coceres (2001), Bob Goalby (1970), Arnold Palmer (1969) and Boo Weekley (2007). -- Brian Wacker

CROWDED LEADERBOARD (1:40 p.m.): Nick O'Hern was right in saying his lead wouldn't last. He's already been caught by Luke Donald and J.J. Henry, who are 3 and 2 under, respectively, so far.

Just one stroke back from that trio are a group of 10 players. And another stroke back from that are 14 more players. This might be the biggest moving day of the year. -- Brian Wacker

MOLDER MAGIC (1:25 p.m.): Bryce Molder is about to tee off and when he does he will be the only player in the field without a bogey.

Molder is just the sixth player to do that at Harbour Town (Jeff Sluman in 1996 was the last; see chart below for more).

Molder's bogey-free play can be directly attributed to his efforts on and around the greens. For the week, he's gone a field-leading 15-for-15 when salvaging par or better from around the greens. His average chip shot from around the green has finished 4 feet, 3 inches from the hole (T9 in the field) and on the greens he's gone an almost perfect 13 of 14 when putting from 4 to 8 feet (8th in the field). -- Brian Wacker

MORE FROM O'HERN (1:12 p.m.): So how was Nick O'Hern, who was just 1 under entering the third round, able to turn things around so quickly at Harbour Town?

"It really fits my eye nicely," he said of the golf course. Indeed. Because O'Hern isn't one of the longer players on TOUR, he was able to hit a lot of drivers, putting his ball well down the fairway and in good position. It helps he hit it straight, of course, too.

"It's the same old cliche of one shot at a time," O'Hern told GOLF CHANNEL. "You don't really think about it when you start out."

As for whether he thinks his lead will stand up, O'Hern quickly said, "No, it will be overtaken very quickly." As he noted, though, if the winds pick up and the greens firm up, he could still be within a shot or two of the lead by the end of the day. -- Brian Wacker

BIRDIE BARRAGE (1 p.m.): Charles Howell III has been a birdie machine this year. In his first 10 starts on TOUR he's converted a TOUR-leading 141 birdies (tied with Ricky Barnes). This week hasn't been any different. Howell has made 10 birdies in his first two rounds and will tee off in about 45 minutes just one shot off the clubhouse lead. -- Brian Wacker

FURYK'S FLAT STICK (12:45 p.m.): A big reason Jim Furyk will enter the third round near the lead is his putting. He's made all 30 of his putts from inside 10 feet and at one point in the opening round, he had nine straight one-putts.

Expect Furyk to continue to play well here in Round 3, too. He has the best third-round stroke average (67.80) on the PGA TOUR and has five consecutive third rounds in the 60s. He's also shot four consecutive third rounds of par or better at Harbour Town. -- Brian Wacker

NEW LEADER (12:30 p.m.): The leaders won't tee off for more than an hour from now and when they do, they'll have company. That's because Nick O'Hern shot a 7-under 64 Saturday morning, which gets him to 8 under for the week and into the lead by himself for now.

O'Hern, who moved up 57 spots on the leaderboard, was perfect off the tee, hitting every fairway. More importantly, though, he took just 22 putts. About the only thing that went wrong for O'Hern was on the 18th hole, where O'Hern bailed out to the right on his approach and wasn't able to get up-and-down to make par.

Still, O'Hern is in excellent shape on a golf course that can yield low numbers. Remember, Brian Gay won by 10 at Harbour Town a year ago on his way to setting a tournament record with a 20-under 264 total.

O'Hern wasn't the only player to go low Saturday, either. Fredrik Jacobson, like O'Hern, turned the front nine in 31, before finishing with a 65 to move up 64 spots into a tie for fifth. -- Brian Wacker

Groups We're Watching

Tee time Players   1:25 p.m. ET, No. 1 Bryce Molder, Boo Weekley Molder continues to work towards his first PGA TOUR win, while Weekley is in the best shape of the former Heritage champs. 1:35 p.m. ET, No. 1 Chad Campbell, Greg Owen Like Weekley, Campbell would like to end a victory drought. Like Molder, Owen would like a first TOUR win. 1:45 p.m. ET No. 1 Jim Furyk, Charles Howell III Furyk and Howell have mixed together 67s and 68s in the first two rounds and make for a solid veteran final pairing.

MORE ROUND 3: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course