Third-round notebook: Turning Stone

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• Scott Piercy and Matt Kuchar are tied for the lead at 14-under 202 after 54 holes. Rod Pampling and Leif Olson are tied for third at 13-under 203. Nicholas Thompson is fifth at 12-under 204.

Related Links

Leaderboard: Rd. 3 Scores
Tee Times: Round 4
Live Report: Round 3
Scorecard: Scott Piercy
Scorecard: Matt Kuchar
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• For the third consecutive day preferred lies "through the green" were allowed. The rainfall total overnight was 0.75 inches.

• 56 of the 75 players in the field scored below par in the third round. 34 scored in the 60s.

• Neither Piercy nor Kuchar have held a 54-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR. Piercy was second through three rounds at the 2009 FBR Open, eventually finishing T6. Kuchar was T4 through 54 holes before shooting a final-round 6-under 66 to capture his first TOUR win at 2002 The Honda Classic.

• Rookie Piercy had a pair of top-10 finishes in his first six TOUR starts, but has not had a top-20 finish since. He finished T6 at the FBR Open in February and T5 at the Honda Classic in March.

• No rookie has won on TOUR this year -- something that hasn't happened since 1998. Piercy is looking to change that. Last year, rookies Dustin Johnson and Marc Turnesa both won during the Fall Series.

• Piercy earned his 2009 TOUR card by finishing 9th on the 2008 Nationwide Tour money list thanks mainly to victories at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open and the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic.

• Piercy won $2 million dollars on his fifth wedding anniversary, shooting 68-65 to win the 2007 Ultimate Game at the Wynn Las Vegas G&CC.

• Piercy has made just one bogey in 54 holes -- at the par-3 16th in round one -- the fewest of any player. Matt Jones (68-72-70), who Monday qualified for the tournament, is bogey-free but he did make a double bogey at No. 11 in round two.

• Piercy has hit 49 of 56 greens in regulation (90.7%) through 54 holes and ranks 2nd in that category this week. Jonathan Byrd ranks first with 50 of 54 (92.6%).

• Kuchar missed the cut in his only other appearance at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2007.

• With a top-25 finish this week, Kuchar will set a personal-best with nine for the season. He recorded eight top-25s last year.

• Pampling (T3) and John Senden (T10) are the only Australians in the top 10 after 54 holes. Eighteen Australian's teed it up this week and 15 advanced to the weekend. The three who were unsuccessful included Robert Allenby, the highest-ranked player in the field, Marc Leishman, the leading rookie on TOUR and Mathew Goggin who withdrew after a 79 in round one. Goggin posted a T3 here last year and a T5 in 2007.

• Pampling is a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR (2004/The INTERNATIONAL, 2006 Bay Hill Invitational). He also has two wins in his native Australia.

• Pampling failed to make the 54-hole cut last year in his only other appearance at Turning Stone.

• Pampling has 31 career top-10s including two this year (8/Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, T9/WGC-CA Championship).

• Olson (66-69-68) has made four cuts in 17 starts this year, including three consecutive in July. He entered this week at No. 214 on the money list with $64,966. A top-22 finish, or better, this week will guarantee he at least doubles his earnings this year. Olson's only PGA TOUR start entering 2009 was a missed cut at the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

• At No. 148 on the TOUR money list, Nicholas Thompson is looking to move inside the top 125 after finishing 41st on the money list last year. The third year player is looking for his first top-10 finish of the season after recording six last year, including a T2 at the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic.

• Thompson's 14-year-old sister Alexis is T13 at 8-under after the third round of the Navistar LPGA Classic in Alabama.

• Mathias Gronberg's 64 equaled his season-low round and also tied the Atunyote course record shot by Jarrod Lyle and Jeff Maggert, both in round two of 2007. The last time Gronberg shot 64 on the PGA TOUR was round two of the 2008 Wyndham Championship, although he did shoot 64 in the fourth round of the 2008 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. Gronberg jumped from T51 to T10.

• Gronberg entered this week No. 194 on the money list having only made four cuts in 11 starts.

• A T11 at the Valero Texas Open is Gronberg's best finish on TOUR this year. His career-best finish on TOUR also came at the Valero Texas Open -- a T3 in 2007.

• Gronberg has played six Nationwide Tour events this season with a victory at the Melwood Prince George's County Open and a playoff loss (to Gary Christian) at the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic.

• Charles Howell III (69-72-67) shared the 54-hole lead at 8-under with Tag Ridings last year at Turning Stone and finished T3. Howell is 8-under-par through three rounds and is T15, six strokes back.

• The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 22 of 40 events (55%) on the PGA TOUR this season. *Dustin Johnson won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am when it was reduced to 54 holes while Pat Perez won the Bob Hope Classic, a five round event.

• Defending champion Johnson (69-70-69) won from two strokes back in 2008. He enters the final round at 8-under and six strokes back of leaders.

• Davis Love III (71-70-66) posted 66 in the third round for the second consecutive year. The winner of 20 PGA TOUR events, including the 1997 PGA Championship, finished T3 here in 2008. Love played in six of seven Fall Series events in 2008 posting three top-10s including a win at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, the final event of the season.

• Adam Scott (68-70-70) shot a 1-under 70 in the final round of The Barclays and has now posted his fourth consecutive sub-par round on TOUR. He has 19 of 51 rounds (37%) under-par this season. Scott has made 17 birdies through 54 holes this week.

• Peter Lonard (70-72-70) birdied four of the first five holes in round three. At 186th on the money list, Lonard is having his career-worst season as a PGA TOUR member. He has missed 16 cuts this year, including the last four coming into this week. Lonard, in his eighth year as a TOUR member, has finished no worse than No. 118 on the money list in his previous seven years.

• Andres Romero (75-67-69), the 2008 Rookie of the Year, posted back-to-back rounds in the 60s in the same tournament for the first time since rounds one and two (68-69) of the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship. Romero began the week No. 117 on the PGA TOUR money list. Prior to this week, Romero had only made three of his last 11 cuts. The three cuts he did make were all majors including the Masters (T49), U.S. Open Championship (T47) and British Open (T13).

• Michael Allen (72-69-71) has posted seven bogeys in 54 holes, all coming on par-4 holes. Allen, the runner-up at Atunyote in 2007 when he posted 69-67-68-68, stands alone as the only player to have scored all four rounds in the 60s in each of the first two years at Turning Stone. The newly-minted 50-year-old this year won the 2009 Senior PGA Championship after receiving a sponsor's invitation to compete and is now fully exempt on the Champions Tour and the PGA TOUR.

• Brandt Snedeker (71-67-70) posted his third sub-par round of the week despite double bogeys at Nos. 2 and 11 in round three.

• No rookie has won on TOUR this year -- something that hasn't happened since 1998, when Steve Flesch won Rookie of the Year honors. At 41st on the money list, Australian Leishman leads all rookies. Leishman was the only rookie to play in THE TOUR Championship and finished 20th in the FedExCup standings. Other rookies that are playing well this season or this week include:

• The PGA TOUR's Fall Series events are a time for players to move into the top 125 on the money list and earn full exempt status on the TOUR in 2010. Harrison Frazar, who won PGA TOUR Qualifying School last year on the strength of a fourth round 59, found himself in the 125th spot entering the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Below are player's ranked No. 125-130 and their current standing:

• Last year, six of the seven Fall Series winners were at No. 125 or higher on the money list prior to their win. The complete list of winners from the 2008 Fall Series includes:

• The Kodak Challenge hole this week is the par-3 11th at Atunyote which played 201-yards in the first round. The competition celebrates beautiful holes and memorable moments on the PGA TOUR. Players must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes throughout the season to compete for $1 million and the Kodak Challenge title. A player's lowest score relative to par on his best 18 Kodak Challenge holes will be counted.

• The 11th hole has relinquished 34 birdies through 54 holes. A total of 25 birdies were recorded at hole No. 11 in 2008.

• The unique "Smile & Win" spotter promotion awards instant prizes to fans wearing Kodak lanyards throughout the course at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. The lucky grand prize winner, Tom Chase from Cicero, NY, received a $1,000 Frys.com gift card, which was presented by Tom Pernice Jr.

• There were nine players who were bogey-free in the third round.

• Jimmy Walker (68-69-70) posted his first bogey of the tournament at his 38th hole, the par-4 second, when he three-putted from 35 feet.