Rd. 3 Notes: Charles Schwab Cup Championship

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Weather: Variable cloudiness with isolated showers during the afternoon and temperatures only reaching the mid-50s. Winds from the SW at 10-20 mph.

Third-Round Leaderboard

• Here's a chart of how the 2011 Schwab Cup standings would look if the Schwab Cup Championship ended today. On Sunday, the player with the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.

• It appears as if Mark Calcavecchia is the only player who has a chance to thwart Tom Lehman's bid to win the Charles Schwab Cup tomorrow. Calcavecchia can win the Schwab Cup with a runner-up finish if Lehman finishes in a two-way tie for 12th or worse. Lehman is currently in a four-way tie for 16th. The last time a player came from behind to win the Charles Schwab Cup was Tom Watson in 2005. Dana Quigley led that year coming into the season-ending event.

• If the Charles Schwab Cup Championship ended today, here's the projected final 2011 official money totals:

• Don Blake's 54-hole score of 8-under 205 is the highest score to lead the Charles Schwab Cup Championship since Gil Morgan was the 54-hole leader in 1998 at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with an 8-under total. In his Champions Tour career, Blake has been a Saturday leader/co-leader only one other time and that was when he was tied for the 54-hole lead at the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado GC near Denver and went on to finish T8.

• In 2011, three of the previous five 72-hole events have been won by 54-hole leaders/co-leaders, including the last three tournaments. Russ Cochran shared the lead with Mark Calcavecchia and David Frost at the Senior British Open and went on to win by two strokes at Walton Heath GC near London. Olin Browne led by two strokes after three rounds of the U.S. Senior Open and went on to win by three at Inverness GC in Toledo, Ohio. Fred Couples led by one stroke after 54 holes of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and eventually defeated John Cook in a playoff at Westchester CC in New York.

• In the previous 21 Charles Schwab Cup Championships, players leading or tied for the lead heading into the final round went on to win 11 times. During the years from 1990-93 (54-hole event), Saturday leaders/co-leaders went on to win three of four years. Since going to 72 holes in 1994, players who led or shared the lead after 54 holes went on to win eight of 17 times, including five of the last nine winners -- Tom Watson (2002), Jim Thorpe (2003/2006), Andy Bean (2008) and John Cook (2009). The winner of this event has also come from the last group in the last three years and on the 2011 Champions Tour, the winner has come from the last group in every event since the Senior British Open in mid-July.

• Loren Roberts' 6-under 65 was the low score of the championship and vaulted him up nine spots into fifth place after three rounds. It was also Roberts' best score in the 27 career rounds he's played in this event. Roberts finished T4 in the 2006 Schwab Cup Championship and solo fourth in 2008.

• The field averaged 69.821 today compared to 71.067 yesterday and 72.367 in Round 1 on Thursday. The cumulative stroke average this year after three rounds is 71.087 vs. 69.756 last year. There have been 28 rounds in the 60 over the first three days this year compared to 37 sub-70 scores after the first three rounds last year. Through three rounds, 15 players are under par compared to 18 players under par after 54 holes last year. Michael Allen and David Frost are the only two players in this year's field with three consecutive rounds in the 60s. Allen's third straight 69 today extended his streak of sub-par rounds at this event to seven straight.

• The par-4 12th hole has played as the most difficult through 54 holes (4.322), yielding just six birdies. However, only four birdies have been made at the par-4 14th (4.311) hole. The easiest hole has been the par-5 9th (4.567), yielding two eagles and 43 birdies thus far.

• Calcavecchia birdied the first hole for the third straight day ... Kenny Perry made 18 consecutive pars today and now has made 25 pars in his last 26 holes ... Roberts has made the most birdies (14) while Kenny Perry has only made four bogeys, the fewest by a player in the field.