Dufner In Lead After 54 Holes At Byron Nelson

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Jason Dufner shot a 69 to keep the lead going into the final day at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.  Dufner has shot 67-66-69 for a total of 8-under to lead the field.

Dufner has previously held at least a share of the 54-hole lead three times, with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans being the only one to result in a victory. The last 54-hole leader/co-leader to go on to win the HP Byron Nelson Championship was Adam Scott (2008).

With more than 78 players making the 36-hole cut (79), a 54-hole cut was made following the third round to reduce the field to the low 70 and ties (71 players).

With his third-round, 3-under 67, 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship winner Jason Day recorded his eighth round in the 60s at TPC Four Seasons Resort 11 overall. He begins the final round trailing by a stroke.

After his 2010 win in his first start in the HP Byron Nelson Championship, Day finished fifth last year.

Day is making just his eighth start of the season this week, with his only top-10 finish being a T9 at the Wells Fargo

Championship two weeks ago.

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Playing out of the Past Champions category, Dicky Pride followed opening rounds of 66-68 with a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s third round. Pride is making his seventh start at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, and first since 2007. He has missed the cut in his last four starts at

TPC Four Seasons Resort. Pride, who is making just his seventh start of the season this week, got his year off on the right foot with back-to-back

top-10 finishes. At the Mayakoba Golf Classic, he posted T5 honors, which earned him a spot in the field the following week at The Honda Classic. That start yielded a T7 finish.

Pride’s lone win on the PGA TOUR came at the 1994 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Should he win this week, he would overtake the PGA TOUR record for longest time between victories, a span of 17 years, 9 months, 19 days. The current record is held by Robert Gamez, with a time span of 15 years, 6 months. Pride is making his 380th career TOUR start this week.

J.J. Henry improved on 2-under 68s in the first two rounds with a 3-under 67 in round three. He will start Sunday’s final round one stroke off the lead with Jason Day. A key component to his improved score was due to an increased accuracy into the greens. In rounds one and two, he hit 12 and 10 of 18, respectively, but improved to 16 of 18 on Saturday.

After missing the cut in his first five starts of the season, Henry rallied with a T9 finish at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, his lone top-10 finish of the season. This week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship marks his 16th start of the season. Henry is in search of his second PGA TOUR title, the first coming at the 2006 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. Henry is making his 11th consecutive start at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, with his only missed cut coming in 2003.

Making his 13th start in the HP Byron Nelson Championship, Vijay Singh finished eagle-birdie-bogey for a 4-under 66 in round three. At 6-under, he begins the final-round just two strokes off the lead. Singh won the event in 2003 and was T3 in 2005. Last year, Singh finished T27.

Singh is making his 12th start of the season this week, coming off missed cuts the past two weeks at the Wells Fargo Championship and PLAYERS Championship. After hitting eight of 14 fairways in the first two rounds, Singh slipped a bit in round three, hitting just six. His putting

improved significantly in round three, needing just 27 putts. He took 34 in round two and 31 in Thursday’s opening round.

Phil Mickelson is making his 14th start at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and first since a T3 finish in 2007. His win in 1996 is one of four top-10 finishes at the event (1-1996, T6-1998, T2-2000, T3-2007). He is currently 2-under 208 after rounds of 70-69-69 and T21.

Double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton carded rounds of 70-71-71 and is T53 after three rounds. Compton took part in a two-day media blitz earlier this week in Dallas-Fort Worth to promote his partnership with Donate Life America – urging people to sign as organ donors (www.donatelife.net).

Third-Round Leaderboard

Jason Dufner 67-66-69—202 (-8)

Jason Day 68-68-67—203 (-7)

J.J. Henry 68-68-67—203 (-7)

Dicky Pride 66-68-69—203 (-7)

Vijay Singh 68-70-66—204 (-6)

Jonas Blixt 68-70-67—205 (-5)

Marc Leishman 65-69-71—205 (-5)

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