Ogilvy and Wetterich Share Honda Lead

The windy conditions made it difficult for players to go low in the third round of the Honda Classic. However, Geoff Ogilvy overcame an eight-stroke deficit to join Brent Wetterich at –12 to sit atop a crowded leaderboard. Lee Janzen, who bogeyed the last hole to shoot 72, is in a tie for third with Pat Perez at -11. Ogilvy fired a third round 64, while Wetterich followed his opening 66s with a 72. Ogilvy is looking to win his second tournament of the year, after winning in Tuscon last month, while Wetterich is looking for his first PGA win.

Throughout the week, many players have complained about the difficulty of the course, with the shouldered greens, unfavorable bounces, and the inability to hold shots to the green. Conditions remained the same on Saturday as they were for Friday’s round, causing a logjam on the leaderboard. 20 players sit within six shots of the lead after play on Saturday.

In addition to Ogilvy, there were a few players who thrived in the windy conditions, moving themselves up the leaderboard. Fred Couples shot 66 to move from a tie for 46th to a tie for 8th. Joe Ogilvie shot a 67 to move into 5th position and Mark Hensby shot 66 to jump 57 places in a tie for 11th.

Other notables include Vijay Singh (-6), David Toms (-7), and Justin Leonard (-5). Defending champion Todd Hamilton is at 4 under par. First-round leader Chad Campbell has struggled since his opening round 64, sitting in a tie for 52. He cranked out a big ol’ 80 in Saturday’s windy conditions, and his card included a stretch of six straight bogeys. Also struggling on Saturday was Davis Love III. DLIII double-bogeyed three of the final five holes to shoot 78. He has been the runner-up the last two years at the Honda Classic.

Pos    Player           Tot    R1    R2    R3    Total
T1     Geoff Ogilvy     -12    73    67    64     204
T1     Brett Wetterich  -12    66    66    72     204
T3     Pat Perez        -11    69    69    67     205
T3     Lee Janzen       -11    69    64    72     205
5      Joe Ogilvie      -10    73    66    67     206
T6     Robert Damron     -8    70    65    73     208
T6     Fred Couples      -8    71    71    67     209
T9     Kevin Stadler     -7    71    70    68     209
T9     Sean O’Hair       -7    69    72    68     209 
10 others tied at –6

Television coverage concludes Sunday from 3pm to 6pm ET on NBC.

Photo Credit: © Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News