Third round: Verplank, Marino share 54-hole lead
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Steve Marino shot a 6-under par 66 Saturday to tie Scott Verplank for the lead heading into the final round of the $4.6 million Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-mart.
The second-year PGA TOUR member will play with Verplank and Davis Love III, two players with Ryder Cup experience, PGA TOUR wins and who were in each other's wedding, in the final threesome Sunday. Verplank and Marino are tied at 19-under 197 after three rounds.
"Those guys are legendary for me. I watched them growing up," said Marino, seeking his first TOUR win in 65 starts. "They won't intimidate me, make me nervous, but at the same time I know where they've been, what they've done."
Troy Matteson, tied for the second round lead, shot a 69 to fall into a tie for fifth, three shots back.
After 64s in his first two rounds, Verplank shot a 69. He bogeyed No. 18 at the Magnolia course after doing the same on the Palm course Friday. Love shot a day-low of 64 to tie Scott Sterling for third, two shots back at 199.
"I'm happy that I'm sitting here," said Verplank, who is leading this tournament after three rounds for the third time. "I'm not disappointed. I wouldn't be happy if I was spinning my wheels."
Last year Verplank led after three rounds, but finished in a tie for third. In 2003, he led but finished in a tie for second.
"I'm hoping this time it will work out a little better for me," he said.
Erik Compton, who's had two heart transplants and got a sponsor's exemption, shot a 72 and is 13 strokes off the lead. He'll be playing in the second-round of q-school next week, only six months after his second transplant.
With the tees moved back on several holes, and fairways still soft from early week rain, the course played tougher than earlier in the tournament.
Marino has made it through three rounds without shooting worse than par on any hole.
Love, coming off an ankle injury that kept him out for six weeks this summer, is playing the Fall Series, something he normally does not do.
"When I walked out, I said, 'I don't know who these guys are,'" he said. "I met them on the first tee."
Verplank said he's impressed by how well Love is playing so soon after his injury.
"When you do that, it takes a while to get back," he said. "As long as you even think about it even a little bit, it bugs you."
Love is ranked 96th in the latest money winning projections ($1.13 million), and will retain his PGA TOUR card. Golfers need to finish in the top 125 to keep their card.
A win Sunday, though, would be his 20th career victory, giving him a lifetime exemption.
"I'm not worried about the exemption," he said. "I just want to win."
Verplank and Marino will be trying to keep streaks alive. Verplank has played 14 straight TOUR rounds at par or better since the BMW Championship in September. Marino is trying to become the first player to play a bogey-free tournament and win since Lee Trevino at the 1974 Greater New Orleans Open.
"I've got something to shoot for tomorrow," Marino said.
Marino's three-round total is the lowest of his career and marks the first time he's led a tournament heading into the final round.
Verplank is ranked first this weekend in putting. Marino is ranked first in hitting fairways and greens in regulation.
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| Saturday's Best |
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The par-5, 526-yard 10th was the easiest with a Saturday scoring
average of 4.408.
The par-4, 492-yard fifth was the toughest with a Saturday scoring
average of 4.268.
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Jason Gore's hole-out from 118 yards on the par-5 eighth hole for an impressive eagle. Gore wound up shooting a 69. 
Davis Love III fired a brilliant round of 8-under 64 on Saturday to pull within two shots of the lead at 17 under. It was the day's best round by two shots. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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THIRD-ROUND NOTEBOOK
By Chris Reimer, PGA TOUR Media Official
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- This is the 17th time that Scott Verplank has led or shared the lead through three rounds of a tournament and the 15th time during a 72-hole event. Verplank has converted three of those leads into victories. The last time Verplank held or shared a lead through 54 holes was at this event last year, when he finished tied for third. The last time Verplank converted a 54-hole lead into a victory was the Bell Canadian Open in 2001.
• Verplank has a streak of 14 straight rounds at par or better dating back to the first round at the BMW Championship in September. The current leader in rounds at par or better is Steve Marino at 17, who is tied with Verplank at 19 under.
• Verplank has now made 13 consecutive cuts at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, which is the longest active streak for the tournament.
• Verplank has been at par or better at the Disney event since 2004, a streak of 18 straight rounds. Verplank only has five rounds over par in the 53 career rounds at the Children's Miracle Network Classic.
• Marino's three-round total of 65-66-66--197 is the lowest 54-hole total of his PGA TOUR career. This is the first time that Marino has held or shared the 54-hole lead.
• Marino is bogey-free through 54 holes this week. The last player to go bogey-free and win a tournament was Lee Trevino in 1974 (Greater New Orleans Open). The last player to go bogey-free and not win a tournament was Bubba Watson at the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, where he finished tied for third.
• Marino is looking for his first PGA TOUR victory in his 65th career start. Marino has tallied 49 cuts (counting this event), 22 top-25 finishes and nine top-10 finishes. His best career finish (second) came this year at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He has gone 58 holes without a bogey going back to the 14th hole of the final round of the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
To read the remainder of these notes, click here.
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Satellite Radio announcer Bob Stevens offers these observations from Saturday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
PGA TOUR rules officials are like baseball umpires. If nobody sees them, they did a great job. One of them had to pull a little extra duty in the third round of the Children's Miracle Network Classic Saturday.
Gary Young was summoned to a greenside bunker at the fifth hole to help Cameron Beckman and Charles Howell III sort out their situation with golf balls sitting less than an inch apart on the upslope of the sand. Beckman put a tee in the sand to mark his ball, then another tee a putter's length to the side so that Howell could play first, all under the careful watch of Young, who orchestrated the entire operation.
After Howell blasted out, neither player felt comfortable asking their caddy to "recreate the lie" in the bunker for Beckman's shot, so Young did the raking himself. After I asked Gary how often he'd done that and he said it was a rarity and asked how I thought he'd done. My reply was, "both players got up and down for par, so you did just fine."
And while much of the focus in the final round will be on the final group of well-known veterans Scott Verplank and Davis Love III with up-and-coming star Steve Marino looking to crack the winner's circle, I'll be curious to watch the penultimate group of Scott Sterling, Robert Garrigus and Tommy "Two-Gloves" Gainey.
None of the trio has clinched his card for next year yet and all three say they'll be free-wheeling, though what got Sterling and Garrigus to this point are runs of 46 and 45 consecutive holes since their only bogeys of the tourney. Gainey has four bogeys and a double, but leads the field with an incredible 22 birdies in 54 holes.
Free-wheeling with your job on the line? Why not? Second stage of q-school begins in the middle of next week.
THINGS TO WATCH ON SUNDAY
1. Steve Marino. The second-year TOUR player has never had a better chance to claim his first PGA TOUR win. He'll start the final round on Sunday tied for the lead at 19 under with Scott Verplank. Can he control his nerves -- and perhaps remain bogey-free -- for 18 more holes and taste victory in the last event of the 2008 season?
2. Gritty veterans. Along with Verplank, Davis Love III will also be joining Marino in the final threesome of the day. Love starts the round just two shots off the lead. Will the elder statesmen of the TOUR teach the young gun a lesson?
3. Expect a shootout. As we see year after year, the Magnolia course yields plenty of low scores. For that reason, you can't rule out any player within six shots of the lead. Post an early number and wait to see what unfolds as the day wears on.
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