Third-Round Notes – Saturday, August 10, 2013
Weather: Mostly sunny with some passing clouds and a high of 74 degrees. Winds NW 10-15 mph.
Third Round Leaderboard
Jim Furyk 65-68-68—201 (-9)
Jason Dufner 68-63-71—202 (-8)
Henrik Stenson 68-66-69—203 (-7)
Jonas Blixt 68-70-66—204 (-6)
Adam Scott 65-68-72—205 (-5)
Steve Stricker 68-67-70—205 (-5)
The 54-hole leader has not won any of the previous three majors this year (see chart below).
Jim Furyk
Furyk failed to convert all four of his 54-hole leads/co-leads on the PGA TOUR in 2012:
2012 Tampa Bay Classic P2
2012 U.S. Open T4
2012 WGC Bridgestone
2012 McGladrey C’ship
Over his career, Furyk has converted nine of 21 third-round leads/co-leads on TOUR. He has converted one of two 54-hole leads in majors (Won/2003 U.S. Open, T4/2012 U.S. Open). Furyk has also converted three of four fourth-round leads/co-leads (Las Vegas Invitational was a 90 hole event).
Jim Furyk is looking for his second Major Championship success at Oak Hill. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
On Sunday, Furyk will be 43 years, 2 months, and 29 days. The last time players in their 40s won back-to-back major championships was in 1986 when Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at age 46 and Ray Floyd won the U.S. Open at age 43. Phil Mickelson won the British Open last month at age 43.
Furyk’s only major win came at the 2003 U.S. Open. He has 16 total wins on the PGA TOUR, with his last three coming in 2010 when he won the FedExCup and was named PGA TOUR Player of the Year.
Furyk is No. 46 in the current FedExCup standings. He has only missed the TOUR Championship (2011) once in the last six seasons.
Furyk is trying to join a list of 18 players who have won the U.S. Open and PGA Championships in their career:
Jim Barnes 1921 U.S. Open; 1916, 1919 PGA Championship
Walter Hagen 1914, 1919 U.S. Open; 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 PGA Championship
*Gene Sarazen 1922, 1932 U.S. Open; 1922, 1923, 1933 PGA Championship
Tommy Armour 1927 U.S. Open; 1930 PGA Championship
Olin Dutra 1934 U.S. Open; 1932 PGA Championship
Byron Nelson 1939 U.S. Open; 1940, 1945 PGA Championship
*Ben Hogan 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953 U.S. Open; 1946, 1948 PGA Championship
Julius Boros 1952, 1963 U.S. Open; 1968 PGA Championship
*Jack Nicklaus 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980 U.S. Open; 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980 PGA Championship
Gary Player 1965 U.S. Open; 1962, 1972 PGA Championship
Lee Trevino 1968, 1971 U.S. Open; 1974, 1984 PGA Championship
David Graham 1981 U.S. Open; 1979 PGA Championship
Larry Nelson 1983 U.S. Open; 1981, 1987 PGA Championship
Hubert Green 1977 U.S. Open; 1985 PGA Championship
Raymond Floyd 1986 U.S. Open; 1969, 1982 PGA Championship
Payne Stewart 1991, 1999 U.S. Open; 1989 PGA Championship
*Tiger Woods 2000, 2002, 2008 U.S. Open; 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007 PGA Championship
Rory McIlroy 2011 U.S. Open; 2012 PGA Championship
*won both in same year
Jason Dufner
Dufner entered the week No. 62 in the FedExCup rankings. He has made 15 of 18 cuts on TOUR, but only has two top 10 finishes. He had 14 combined top 10s in 2011 and 2012.
Dufner is No. 13 in the Presidents Cup standings. The top 10 U.S. players in the Presidents Cup standings through September 2, 2013 (Deutsche Bank Championship) will automatically qualify. In addition, two Captain’s Picks will be made on September 4, 2013.
Dufner held a share of the lead after the second and third rounds at the 2011 PGA Championship. He ended up losing in a playoff to Keegan Bradley. His only other leads in a major are a share of the second-round leads at the 2012 Masters and this week at the PGA Championship.
Henrik Stenson
Sweden has never produced a major championship winner. The best finish ever in a major by a Swede is Henrik Stenson (2nd at 2013 Open Championship), Jesper Parnevik (2nd at the 1994 British Open and T2 and the 1997 British Open) and Niclas Fasth (2nd in the 2001 British Open).
Stenson is looking for his first win on TOUR since the 2009 PLAYERS Championship. His only other TOUR win came at the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
Stenson is No. 12 in the current FedExCup standings. He has never played in the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. His only start in the BMW Championship, the third FedExCup Playoff event, was in 2007.
Eight Swedish players have won on the PGA TOUR: Jesper Parnevik (5), Carl Pettersson (5), Gabriel Hjertstedt (2), Daniel Chopra (2), Henrik Stenson (2), Jonas Blixt (2), Freddie Jacobson (1) and Richard S. Johnson (1).
Stenson is No. 11 in the Official World Golf Rankings. His career-best in the OWGR’s is No. 4 in 2009. In March 2012, he fell to No. 221 in the OWGR.
Jonas Blixt
Blixt is making his second career start in a major (T26/2013 Open Championship).
Blixt has a pair of TOUR wins: 2012 Frys.com Open and 2013 Greenbrier Classic.
Last year, Blixt was one of four rookies to win on TOUR.
Blixt entered the week No. 43 in the FedExCup standings.
Adam Scott
Scott is looking for his second win of the season. The only other time he recorded multiple wins on TOUR was in 2004 (THE PLAYERS and Booz Allen Classic). Scott has nine career wins on TOUR.
Scott is No. 11 in the current FedExCup standings and has made all 12 of his cuts on TOUR this season. He finished T11 last year at the PGA Championship. He is the No. 1 ranked player for the International team in the Presidents Cup standings.
Four Australian’s have won the PGA Championship including Jim Ferrier (1947), David Graham (1979), Wayne Grady (1990) and Steve Elkington (1995).
There are 17 players (30 times) with at least two major championship wins in one season.
There have been three players who have won the Masters and PGA Championship in the same season:
Jack Nicklaus 1963, 1975
Jack Burke, Jr. 1956
Sam Snead 1949
Steve Stricker
Stricker will be 46 years, 5 months and 19 days on Sunday. The oldest winner in major championship history is Julius Boros, who won the 1968 PGA Championship at the age of 48 years, 4 months and 18 days.
Below are the oldest players to win their first Major since 1960:
Jerry Barber (45 years, 3 months, 6 days/1961 PGA Championship)
Roberto de Vicenzo (44 years, 3 months, 1 day/1967 British Open)
Darren Clarke (42 years, 11 months, 3 days/2010 Open Championship)
FedExCup Notes:
Three players have competed in all four TOUR Championships by Coca-Cola since the inception of the FedExCup in 2007 – Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan. All three players are currently inside the top 20 in the FedExCup standings.
No player outside the playoff bubble entering the Wyndham Championship has successfully negotiated his way to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.
Keegan Bradley (No. 8) is the highest-ranked player in the FedExCup standings without a win this season.
Jordan Spieth (No. 15) and Russell Henley (No. 20) are the only rookies inside the top 30 in the FedExCup standings. Both missed the cut this week at the PGA Championship.
The PGA TOUR has seen five different FedExCup leaders in 2013: Dustin Johnson (2 weeks), Russell Henley (1), Brian Gay (2), Brandt Snedeker (7) and Tiger Woods (21).
The top 125 players in the FedExCup point’s standings following next weeks Wyndham Championship will qualify for The Barclays, the first event in the FedExCup Playoffs.
Recent Major Championship Trends
Only four 54-hole leaders in the last 19 majors have gone on to win:
Year Tournament 54-hole leader Margin Result Rd 4 Score
2013 British Open Lee Westwood +2 T3 75
2013 U.S. Open Phil Mickelson +1 T2 74
2013 The Masters Brandt Snedeker/Angel Cabrera +1 T6/P2 75/70
2012 PGA Championship Rory McIlroy +3 Won 66
2012 British Open Adam Scott +4 2 75
2012 U.S. Open Graeme McDowell/Jim Furyk +1 T2/T4 73/74
2012 The Masters Peter Hanson +1 T3 73
2011 PGA Championship Brendan Steele/Jason Dufner +1 2nd/T19 69/77
2011 British Open Darren Clarke +1 Won 70
2011 U.S. Open Rory McIlroy +8 Won 69
2011 The Masters Rory McIlroy +4 T15 80
2010 PGA Championship Nick Watney +3 T18 81
2010 British Open Louis Oosthuizen +4 Won 71
2010 U.S. Open Dustin Johnson +3 T8 82
2010 The Masters Lee Westwood +1 2nd 71
2009 PGA Championship Tiger Woods +2 2nd 75
2009 British Open Tom Watson +1 P2 72
2009 U.S. Open Ricky Barnes +1 T2 76
2009 The Masters Angel Cabrera/Kenny Perry +2 P1/P2 71/71
International players have won four of the last five PGA Championships (Padraig Harrington/2008, Y.E. Yang/2009, Martin Kaymer/2010 and Rory McIlroy/2012).
Since 1990, the 54-hole leader at the PGA Championship has gone on to win 14 of 23 times, but only once in the last five years.
Year Tournament 54-hole leader Margin Result Rd 4 Score
2012 PGA Championship Rory McIlroy +3 Won 66
2011 PGA Championship Brendan Steele/Jason Dufner +1 2nd/T19 69/77
2010 PGA Championship Nick Watney +3 T18 81
2009 PGA Championship Tiger Woods +2 2nd 75
2008 PGA Championship Ben Curtis +1 T2 71
2007 PGA Championship Tiger Woods +3 Won 69
2006 PGA Championship Tiger Woods/Luke Donald +2 Won/T3 68/74
2005 PGA Championship Phil Mickelson/Davis Love III +1 Won/T4 72/74
2004 PGA Championship Vijay Singh +1 PWon 76
2003 PGA Championship Shaun Micheel/Chad Campbell +3 Won/2nd 70/72
2002 PGA Championship Justin Leonard +3 T4 77
2001 PGA Championship David Toms +2 Won 69
2000 PGA Championship Tiger Woods +1 PWon 67
1999 PGA Championship Tiger Woods/Mike Weir +2 Won/T10 72/80
1998 PGA Championship Vijay Singh/Steve Stricker +4 Won/2nd 68/70
1997 PGA Championship Davis Love III/Justin Leonard +7 Won/2nd 66/71
1996 PGA Championship Russ Cochran +2 T17 77
1995 PGA Championship Ernie Els +3 T3 72
1994 PGA Championship Nick Price +3 Won 67
1993 PGA Championship Greg Norman +1 2nd 69
1992 PGA Championship Gene Sauers +2 T2 75
1991 PGA Championship John Daly +3 Won 71
1990 PGA Championship Wayne Grady +2 Won 71
