Third-round notebook – Ginn sur Mer Classic
* Vaughn Taylor (69-74-69) is the only player in the field this week with at least two rounds in the 60s. The two-time Legends Reno-Tahoe Open champion is fighting for his 2009 PGA Tour card (currently No. 129 on the money list) and will enter the final round T7 and three shots off the lead.* Due to forecasted inclement weather on Sunday, tee times will run from 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. with threesomes off split tees.
* PGA TOUR rookie Michael Letzig posted a 2-under 70 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Kenneth Ferrie, John Huston and Ryan Palmer with 18 holes remaining at the Ginn sur Mer Classic. Letzig shared the lead after Thursday’s round with fellow University of New Mexico graduate Kent Jones, but fell out of the lead after a 2-over 74 on Friday.
* This represents the first 54-hole lead of Michael Letzig’s PGA TOUR career. The TOUR rookie is making the 29th start of the season, with four top-10 finishes and season-best T7 showings at the Honda Classic and the Verizon Heritage. He earned his ticket to the PGA TOUR with a 12th place finish on the 2007 Nationwide Tour money list.
* At No. 109 on the money list in 2008, Letzig would be just the second player inside the top 125 to win a PGA TOUR Fall Series event. The complete list of winners in the Fall Series includes:
Tournament Champion $ prior to win $ after win
Viking Classic Will MacKenzie No. 178 No. 97
Turning Stone Dustin Johnson No. 128 No. 41
Valero Texas Open Zach Johnson No. 125 No. 55
Justin Timberlake Marc Turnesa No. 138 No. 75
Frys.com Open Cameron Beckman No. 175 No. 86
* Second-round leader Ryan Palmer appeared headed for the outright lead until bogeys on three of his last four holes dropped him one stroke behind Letzig. Palmer is making the 148th start of his career, with 12 top-10 finishes and a win at the 2004 Children’s Miracle Network Classic.
* A third consecutive 2-under 70 moved John Huston within one shot of the lead heading into Sunday’s final round. History will be on his side as he seeks his first win since the 2003 Southern Farm Bureau Classic. Of Huston’s seven PGA TOUR victories, five have come in Florida, including the 1990 Honda Classic, 1994 Doral-Ryder Open, 2000 Tampa Bay Classic and wins at Disney in 1992 and 1998.
* Kenneth Ferrie, currently No. 186 on the money list, posted the round of the day with a 5-under 67 to jump 21 spots on the leaderboard from T23 to T2. The 30-year-old native of Ashington, England is making his 34th career start on the PGA TOUR, with his best finish a T6 effort at the 2006 U.S. Open Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club. He shared the 54-hole lead that week with Phil Mickelson before Geoff Ogilvy’s come-from-behind victory.
* Mark Wilson matched Ferrie with a 67 of his own. Currently No. 61 on the money list, Wilson notched his lone PGA TOUR victory in the Sunshine State at the 2007 Honda Classic. He recently posted his best finish of the 2008 season with a runner-up finish to Zach Johnson at the Valero Texas Open.
* Five players currently among the top 10 on the leaderboard will be seeking their first win on Sunday, including tournament-leader Michael Letzig, Kenneth Ferrie (T2), Ken Duke (T5), Chad Collins (T10) and Nicholas Thompson (T10).
* David Duval (74) – making his first start on the First Coast since THE PLAYERS in 2006 – will enter the final round T14 and five shots off the lead. The Ginn sur Mer Classic represents the 102nd tournament for Duval since his last top-10 finish at the 2002 Invensys Classic at Las Vegas (T6).
* Jeff Overton, currently No. 126 on the money list, continued his improbable run at the Ginn sur Mer Classic with a 2-under 70 on Saturday – just 11 days after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.
* The third-round leader has won exactly half of the 44 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR in 2008, including most recently Marc Turnesa at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
* The second round was completed on Saturday morning at 7:55 a.m. Five players were forced to finish their second round on Saturday when darkness forced a suspension of play on Friday at 6:56 p.m. The list of players included Martin Laird, Kenneth Ferrie, Rod Perry, Paul Claxton and Travis Perkins. Of that group, Laird (1-under), Ferrie (1-under) and Perry (2-over) eventually made the cut – with the latter making an 11 foot 1 inch par putt on the par-5 18th hole to guarantee a spot in the final two rounds.
* Scoring Averages at the par-72 Conservatory Course:
Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 36.462 36.227 72.689
Friday 37.098 36.652 73.750 73.220
Saturday 36.644 36.027 72.671 73.101
* The par-4 fourth hole played the most difficult on Saturday, yielding a 4.342 average. The par-5 13th hole was the easiest at 4.534.
* Brett Rumford, ranked 162nd on the money list, withdrew with a back injury after five holes on Saturday. He was at even-par for the tournament at the time.
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