Notebook, Round 3: Turning Stone Resort Championship

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Weather: Mostly sunny with afternoon temperatures reaching 75 degrees. Light winds in the morning changed to W 5-10 mph in the afternoon.

• Alex Cejka moved to 15-under 201 after the third round to take a two shot lead over Chris Couch. Billy Mayfair is three strokes off the pace while Bill Lunde, Robert Garrigus, Chris Tidland and Charles Warren are at 11-under.

• Chris Couch and Charles Warren's 9-under 63s in the third round tied the course record. Peter Lonard shot a 63 in the final round last year.

TURNING STONE

Leaderboard
Rd. 4 Tee Times
Full coverage
Card: Cejka
Card: Couch
Card: Mayfair

Alex Cejka
• Cejka has held the third-round lead/co-lead twice on TOUR, finishing T13 at the 2001 British Open and T9 in 2009 at THE PLAYERS Championship.

• Cejka is making his third start at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. He finished 53 rd in 2007 and T59 in 2009. In his previous eight rounds at Atunyote Golf Club, Cejka recorded only two rounds in the 60s. He opened this week with a 66, 68 and a 67.

• Cejka's three day total of 15-under 201 equals his best career three round total on TOUR. He has shot 201 four other times on TOUR.

• Cejka is making the 228 th start of his TOUR career. He has two runner-up finishes and one third-place finish in his career.

• Cejka is seeking to become the TOUR's 12 th first-time winner in 2010.

Chris Couch
• Couch shot 9-under 63 in the third round to jump from T20 to second. Couch is looking for his second PGA TOUR victory. His first win came at the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

• Couch's 63 included nine birdies and nine pars. His best birdie streak of the day came on the back nine where he birdied Nos. 12-15.

• The last time Couch was within two strokes of the lead entering the final round was the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro when he was tied for the lead after 54-holes. He would up finishing T12.

• Couch's 63 equaled his best career round (The 50 th Bob Hope Classic/2009).

• With $780,528 in earnings this season in 18 events, Couch (Gainesville, FL/U. of Florida) has three events remaining to make $15,559 and earn Major Medical Extension status, allowing him to play out of the top 125 category for the remainder of the season. Couch had been limited to just eight events over the last two years due to a shoulder injury.

• Couch missed the cut at Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2007, his only other start here.

Billy Mayfair
• Mayfair shot 6-under 66 in the third round which included a 6-under 30 on the front nine.

• Mayfair has made 11 of 20 cuts on TOUR this year. His best finish this year is seventh at the St. Jude Classic.

• The last time Mayfair had multiple top-10 finishes in the same year was in 2008. He had four top-10 finishes that year including two runner-up finishes.

• After this week there are only two weeks left in the race to the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. The top 125 players in the FedExCup standings after the Wyndham Championship qualify for the first Playoff event. Below is where the top players in the Turning Stone Resort Championship rank in the FedExCup Standings.

• The third-round leader/co-leader has won 14 of 32 times on the PGA TOUR this season. The last third-round leader to win was Louis Oosthuizen at the British Open.

Charles Warren
• Charles Warren's 63 equaled his best career third-round score. He has shot 63 in the third round three previous times in his career including, twice at the Bob Hope Classic (2001 and 2009) and the 2008 RBC Canadian Open.

• Warren's bogey-free round included seven birdies, one eagle and 10 pars in route to posting his low round of the year. He shot 6-under 30 on the back nine.

• Warren went from making the cut on the number to vaulting 53 spots to finish T4 entering the final round. Teeing off at 8:16 a.m., Warren posted his 63 nearly six hours before leader Alex Cejka finished his third round.

• This is Warren's fourth time playing the Turning Stone Resort Championship. He finished T10 in 2007 and 2008 and missed the cut in 2009.

Chris Tidland
• Tidland is looking for his third career top-10 finish on TOUR in his 78 th start. The 2009 Nationwide Tour graduate had five missed cuts and one WD in his last six starts on TOUR coming into this week.

• Tidland's best finish on TOUR this year was T9 at the Honda Classic. His best finish overall on TOUR is T6 at the 2007 AT&T Classic.

• Tidland finished T18 in his only other appearance at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2007.

• Tidland has two wins on the Nationwide Tour (Albertsons Boise Open/2008 and Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open/2009).

Other Notes
• Lunde's 64 included one eagle, seven birdies, nine pars and one bogey. Lunde has two top-10 finishes this year.

• Scott McCarron's 8-under 64 in the third round is his low round of the year and one shot off his best career third-round score.

• McCarron's bogey-free round included eight birdies and 10 pars. He has one top-10 finish this year (Quail Hollow Championship/T7).

• McCarron went from making the cut on the number to T8 and 10-under entering the final round.

• International players have won 11 of the last 15 events on TOUR. International players account for 17 wins on TOUR this year. An American has won the first three years at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

• Brendon de Jonge (T14), the highest ranked player in the FedExCup point standings (20) in the field, is six strokes back of Alex Cejka. He has five top-15 finishes in his last seven starts.

• Monday qualifier Billy Hurley III is playing in his first TOUR event since the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational (MC) and eighth TOUR event overall. He made his first cut since the 2006 John Deere Classic. He's currently T62. He had six starts in 2006 and made two cuts.

• The third-round leader/co-leader has won the Turning Stone Resort Championship twice in the three year history of the event. The only come-from-behind win was by Dustin Johnson in 2008 (2 strokes).

• Bogey-free rounds at the par-72 Atunyote Golf Club:

Thursday: Rory Sabbatini (65), Omar Uresti (65), Alex Cejka (66), Brian Davis (66), Brad Faxon (66), Steve Elkington (66), Robert Garrigus (68), Todd Hamilton (68), Brent Delahoussaye (69), Jerry Kelly (70).

Friday: Dean Wilson (67), Jay Williamson (70), Josh Teater (67), Brett Quigley (71), Stephen Ames (68), Aron Price (69) D.A. Points (68), Brenden Pappas (66), Rich Barcelo (69), Tom Gillis (70).

Saturday: Chris Couch (63), Charles Warren (63), Scott McCarron (64), Brendon de Jonge (66), Billy Mayfair (66), D.A. Points (66), Michael Connell (67), Tim Petrovic (68), Alex Prugh (68)

• D.A. Points (-9/T14) has not made a bogey since his 15 th hole in the first round.

• The par-4 13 th hole is playing the most difficult through the first three rounds, yielding a 4.272 stroke average. The par-5 8 th hole is the easiest with a 4.548 stroke average.