2016 Wells Fargo Championship
(The 26th of 43 events in the PGA TOUR Season)
Charlotte, N.C.
Quail Hollow Club
May 5-8, 2016
Par/Yardage: 36-36—72/7,575
FedExCup Points: 500
Purse: $7,300,000 ($1,314,000)
Third-Round Notes – Saturday, May 7, 2016
Weather: Partly cloudy/breezy, with a high of 78 degrees. Winds WSW 10-15 mph.
Third-Round Leaderboard
Rickie Fowler
71-68-68—207 (-9)
Roberto Castro
71-66-71—208 (-8)
James Hahn
70-71-68—209 (-7)
Justin Rose
70-70-68—209 (-7)
Third-round lead notes
Only five third-round leaders of the Wells Fargo Championship have held on for the win; David Toms (2003),
Jim Furyk (2006), Anthony Kim (2008), J.B. Holmes (2014) and Rory McIlroy (2015). The other 54-hole leaders
averaged 73.77 in the final round, with none of them breaking par.
The largest come-from-behind win after 54 holes was in 2005, when Vijay Singh overcame a six-stroke deficit.
Only nine of 25 third-round leaders/ co-leaders on the PGA TOUR this season have been able to convert for the
win in stroke-play events. Most recently, Jim Herman achieved the feat at the Shell Houston Open.
Rickie Fowler
Rickie Fowler birdied holes 14-16 and parred the final two holes for a 4-under 68, tying the low round of the day.
Fowler’s 9-under 207 total gives him a one-stroke advantage over Roberto Castro heading into the final round.
Fowler has previously held a lead/co-lead after 54 holes two times. Neither resulted in victory. He finished 2 nd at the
2010 Memorial Tournament and T13 at the 2011 Quicken Loans National.
Fowler has now shot par-or-better in 18 of 22 rounds at Quail Hollow.
Fowler is 6-under on the 12 par fives through 54 holes, though he has not birdied No. 5 in three trips around.
Fowler has played the “Green Mile” of Nos. 16-18 in 1-over this week. His only blemish, a double bogey, came
at the par-3 17th in Thursday’s first round.
Fowler has made 15 birdies in 54 holes this week, compared to 22 in 72 holes the year he won (2012).
Fowler is in search of his fourth career PGA TOUR win: 2012 Wells Fargo Championship. 2015 THE PLAYERS
Championship, 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship.
Fowler is making his 12th start of the season on the PGA TOUR this week. He has finished inside the top ten
five times (5 – Hyundai Tournament of Champions, P2 – Waste Management Phoenix Open, T6 – The Honda
Classic, T8 – WGC-Cadillac Championship, T10 – Shell Houston Open).
In the 2012 edition of the Wells Fargo Championship, Fowler carded a final-round 69 to tie D.A. Points and Rory
McIlroy at 14-under 274 after 72 holes. Fowler made birdie on the first extra hole (No. 18) to earn his maiden
TOUR win.
With a victory on Sunday, Fowler would become only the second two-time champion in tournament history
(Rory McIlroy – 2010, 2015).
If Fowler finishes solo second or better this week, he would move to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
This week, Fowler is wearing a button on his cap to bring awareness to the recent earthquakes in Japan. Hideki
Matsuyama made them available to players and Fowler opted to aid in the effort in large-part because of his
Japanese heritage.
Fowler’s 54-hole detail:
Fairways
Greens in Regulation
Scrambling
Putts
27 of 42
38 of 54
11 of 16
86
Roberto Castro
Roberto Castro bogeyed the difficult 18th hole to fall out of a share of the lead. Castro trails Fowler by one
entering the final round at 8-under 208.
Castro’s final-round scoring average when in contention (fifth or better) after 54 holes is 71.50.
Castro is an alternate in next week’s PLAYERS Championship and can only earn a spot into the field with a win
this week.
Castro remains in search of his first PGA TOUR win in his 116th start this week. His best finish is solo-second at
the 2013 Quicken Loans National, where he held a share of the 54-hole lead.
Castro is making his fourth start in the Wells Fargo Championship this week, with his best finish being a T8 in
2014. Castro did not play at Quail Hollow last year.
Four players have earned their first PGA TOUR win at the Wells Fargo Championship (Anthony Kim – 2008,
Rory McIlroy – 2010, Rickie Fowler – 2012, Derek Ernst – 2013).
On Friday, Castro became the third player to hole-out for an eagle-2 on No. 18. From 221 yards in the right
rough, Castro used a 5-wood to hole his approach shot. The others to achieve the feat were Paul Goydos in
2003 and Gary Woodland in 2013.
Only five players have ever recorded an eagle on the “Green Mile” during the wells Fargo Championship:
Paul Goydos
2003 R1
No. 18
Rory Sabbatini
2011 R3
No. 16
Gary Woodland
2013 R3
No. 18
Colt Knost
2015 R2
No. 17
Roberto Castro
2016 R2
No. 18
James Hahn
Making his fourth start in the Wells Fargo Championship, James Hahn is two back at 7-under 209 and T4
heading into the final round.
Saturday’s 68 marked the first time Hahn has broken 70 at Quail Hollow Club. In three previous appearances at
the Wells Fargo Championship, Hahn had broken par once in 10 tries (2015 – R2, 71). His scoring average was
73.90 entering the week.
Hahn is currently ranked 120th in the FedExCup standings. He came into the week on the heels of eight straight
missed cuts. His lone top 10, a solo sixth, came at the CIMB Classic in the fall of last year.
At the 2015 Northern Trust Open, Hahn was four back after the third round and fired 69 to get into a playoff with
Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey. Casey was eliminated on the first extra hole and Hahn defeated Johnson on
the third sudden-death hole to earn his first career PGA TOUR victory in his 65th career start.
Justin Rose
Justin Rose played his final 13 holes in 4-under to card a third-round 69. Rose will begin the round two shots
behind Fowler.
Rose has won seven times on the PGA TOUR (2010 – the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance,
2010 – Quicken Loans National, 2011 – BMW Championship, 2012 – World Golf Championships-Cadillac
Championship, 2013 – U.S. Open, 2014 – Quicken Loans National, 2015 – Zurich Classic of New Orleans).
Rose has come from behind to win four out of seven times on TOUR, most notably the 2013 U.S. Open. Rose was
two back of Phil Mickelson after the third round and carded a 1-under 70 to earn his first major championship trophy.
In nine TOUR starts this season, Rose has four top 10s (T6 – Safeway Open, T6 – AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro
Am, T9 – Arnold Palmer Invitational, T10 – Masters Tournament).
In six previous starts at the Wells Fargo Championship, Rose has recorded one top 10 (2014 – 5). His final-round
scoring average at Quail Hollow is 72.25.
A win tomorrow would give Rose at least one TOUR victory in seven straight seasons.
Andrew Loupe
36-hole leader Andrew Loupe struggled in the third round, posting a 2-over 74, ending with a double-bogey six
at the par-4 18th.
In his only other appearance at the Wells Fargo Championship, Loupe missed the cut in 2014.
Loupe, who spent time on the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour last season, made his way back to the PGA
TOUR this season by virtue of his eighth–place finish on the Web.com Tour priority list last season. On that
Tour last year, he captured the title at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. The OSU Golf Club –
Scarlet Course, where Loupe earned his maiden Tour win, was the third hardest course on Tour last season
(72.773). Loupe trailed Roberto Castro by three strokes heading into the final round, carded a 1-under 70 and
won by two.
Loupe is coming off two missed cuts at the Valero Texas Open and Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In 15 starts
this season he has three top-10s, all which occurred in his first six starts of the season.
Loupe is in search of his first PGA TOUR victory in his 54th start this week.
Additional player notes
Defending champion and two-time Wells Fargo Championship winner (2010) Rory McIlroy carded a 1-over 73
in the third round to post 1-under 215 through 54 holes, eight strokes back. The highlight of Saturday’s round
came when McIlroy drained a bomb for birdie on the par-3 17th. The 79 feet 9-inch putt is the longest make of
McIlroy’s career on TOUR.
McIlroy has now played 51 consecutive par-5s in the event without a bogey. His last bogey on a par-5 at Quail Hollow
came at No. 5 in round three of 2013.
Miscellaneous Notes
During today’s third round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Carlos Ortiz aced the 17th hole with a 50-degree wedge
from 135 yards. The last eagle at No. 17 came in 2015 where Colt Knost rolled in a 3-iron from 227 yards for a one
during the second round. Ortiz is the third player in tournament history to accomplish this feat (2008 – Jay Williamson,
second round, No.6).
As the Official Mortgage Sponsor of the PGA TOUR, Quicken Loans will award one year’s worth of mortgage
payments to Jimmy O. from Cheswick, Pa. to celebrate the ace.
The Quicken Loans’ Hole-In-One Sweepstakes awards one year’s worth of mortgage payments to a randomly
selected entrant for every ace during official PGA TOUR events from the Waste Management Phoenix Open through
the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. Fans can enter the sweepstakes by visiting www.pgatour.com/quickenloans.
Previous participants in the Sweepstakes must re-register to be eligible in 2016. There have now been 50? total
winners since the Sweepstakes began in 2014, which equals 49 years' worth of mortgage payments.
Three players with Charlotte connections made the cut this week: Harold Varner III (-1/T19), Johnson Wagner (1/T19), Kyle Reifers (+1/T40).
Most consecutive rounds at par or better (active streaks):
 11, Gary Woodland
 11, Brendan Steele
The three holes that make up the “Green Mile” (Nos. 16-18) were among the most difficult in round three:
Hole
Rank
Stroke Average
No. 16
T5
4.167
No. 17
No. 18
13
1
3.013
4.487
Bogey-free rounds:
R1 – Anirban Lahiri (66), Andrew Loupe (65) and Ian Poulter (70).
R2 – None
R3 – None
Scoring Averages:
R1
R2
R3
Front
36.006
36.578
36.590
Back
36.590
36.636
37.102
Total
72.596
73.214
73.692
Cumulative
----73.062
The par-4 18th hole again played the most difficult in the third round at 4.487. The par-5 15th was again the easiest at
4.487.