Maggert shares 54-hole lead with Every in Hawaii
Jeff Maggert, making his 547th start on the PGA Tour, posted a 6-under 64 on Saturday to move to 12-under 198 and a share of the 54-hole lead with Matt Every (68).The 64 is Maggert’s best round since an 8-under 62 in the second round of the 2011 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (finished T29).
The last of Maggert’s three Tour wins came at the 2006 FedEx St. Jude Classic.
This is the 11th time Maggert has held the lead going into the final round in a PGA Tour event (10 72-hole events, one 90-hole event), and the first since the 2003 Masters (finished fifth). He has carried that lead on to victory just once, winning the 1993 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.
Maggert, a 47-year-old native of Columbia, MO, is making his 21st start at the Sony Open in Hawaii, with a T2 in 1999 the best of his five top-10 finishes.
Matt Every 66-64-68—198 (-12)
Matt Every followed up a bogey-free 6-under 64 with a third-round 2-under 68. At 12-under, he’ll enter the final round tied with Jeff Maggert.
This is the first time that Every has carried the lead into the final round on the PGA Tour. His previous best standing heading into the final round was T3 at the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Every’s 198 is the best first 54-hole score of his PGA Tour career, topping the 201 he posted through three rounds of the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open (finished T8).
Every finished No. 18 on the 2011 Nationwide Tour money list.
Matt Every played in the final group at the 2010 Waste Management Open with Brandt Snedeker and Scott Piercy. He trailed Snedeker by two and Piercy by one before a final-round 72 left him T8.
Additional Player Notes
Charles Howell III, currently T3 after a third-round 4-under 66, is seeking his sixth top-5 finish at the Sony Open: 2010 (T5), 2009 (4th), 2007 (T2), 2005 (T3) and 2002 (T4). Having made the cut in eight of his previous 10 starts in this event, Howell has never shot anything worse than even-par 70 in his 17 rounds on the weekend.
Despite hitting only three of 14 fairways, 2012 Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner Steve Stricker managed a 3-under 67 to move to T8. He is attempting to join Ernie Els (2003) as the only players to win the Sony Open in Hawaii and Hyundai Tournament of Champions back-to-back in the same season.
Duffy Waldorf posted a 4-under 66 on Saturday to move to T6. The Tour veteran (578 starts) is making his 16th start at the Sony Open, with top-10 finishes in 1993 (T9) and 1995 (T2). Waldorf is making his 65th start since his last top 10 finish on Tour (T3 at the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Tucson).
Two-time heart transplant and PGA Tour rookie Erik Compton, who finished birdie-eagle on his final two holes on Friday (no. 8 and No. 9) to make the cut on the number, carded a third-round even-par 70 (T64).
D.A. Points is making his fifth start at the Sony Open, with a T64 in 2005 the best of his two previous made cuts. His 64 on Saturday shaved four strokes off of his previous-best score at the event, first-round 68s in 2009 and 2012. Points, who finished T12 at last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions, is gearing up to defend his title at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in three weeks.
Twenty-three of “The 25” graduates from the 2011 Nationwide Tour are competing this week, including leading money-winner J.J. Killeen. The only two players not participating are Mathew Goggin and Garth Mulroy. Killeen has three rounds in the 60s this week and enters the final round eight strokes behind the co-leaders.
Two-time Sony Open champion Corey Pavin (1986, 1987) is 5-under-par through 54 holes in his 26th start at the Sony Open.
Miscellaneous Notes
Past champions of the Sony Open in Hawaii: K.J. Choi (T34), Corey Pavin (T34), Jerry Kelly (T41), Vijay Singh (T64), Zach Johnson (T64), David Toms (MC), Mark Wilson (MC), Ryan Palmer (MC) and Paul Goydos (MC).
Fifteen of the 24 rookies who teed it up this week made the 36-hole cut. Here’s their standing through three rounds: Sang-moon Bae (T8), Tommy Biershenk (T51), Jonas Blixt (T51), Roberto Castro (T64) Bud Cauley (T28), Will Claxton (T29), Erik Compton (T64), Harris English (T51), Brian Harman (T51), John Huh (T51), Billy Hurley III (MDF), J.J. Killeen (T41), Jason Kokrak (MDF), Seung-yul Noh (T64) and Ted Potter Jr. (T8).
Bogey-free rounds:
R1 – Carl Pettersson (65), Webb Simpson (66), Colt Knost (66), Pat Perez (66), Kyle Stanley (66), Seung-yul Noh (66), Sean O’Hair (67), John Senden (68).
R2 – Matt Every (64), Brenden de Jonge (62), Gavin Coles (66-T17), Koumei Oda (65-T39), Jonas Blixt (67-T62), Briny Baird (67-MC).
R3 – Jeff Maggert (64), Brian Gay (65), Ted Potter Jr. (66), Sang-Moon Bae (66), Tom Pernice Jr. (67), Kevin Chappell (67), Spencer Levin (68), Brendon Todd (68),
The par-4 first hole played the most difficult on Saturday at 4.300. The par-5 ninth hole played the easiest at 4.150.
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