For the Record, It’s a Day to Remember for Campbell

Chad Campbell was going nowhere after eight holes, but he finished his round in the record books Saturday with a 10-under-par 61 that gave him a one-stroke lead in the PGA Tour Championship at Houston.

Campbell was five shots out of the lead to start the third round and knew he needed to make several birdies for a chance to end the year with his first PGA Tour victory.

He played his final 10 holes in eight under and flirted with a 59 until missing a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th. “I never knew exactly how many under I was,” Campbell said. “I kept trying to hit good golf shots and keep making birdies. And I knew I had a lot of ground to make up at the start of the day.”

Campbell broke the Champions Golf Club and the tournament record, previously held by Jim Furyk in the third round of the 2001 Tour Championship.

He was at 13-under 200 and had a one-stroke lead over Charles Howell III, who shot a 67. It was Howell’s seventh consecutive round in the 60s at the Tour Championship.

Retief Goosen, who shot a 67, and Chris Riley (66) are three strokes behind at 203.

Tiger Woods’ four-year reign atop the PGA Tour money list essentially came to an end when he missed four putts inside 10 feet and finished with an even-par 71 to wind up 11 shots out of the lead.

Woods needed a victory to overcome Vijay Singh on the money list. Singh got to within four shots of the lead but finished with a 67 and was in ninth place, eight strokes behind.

“It was all in our hands at the beginning of the week,” Woods said of player-of-the-year voting. “It’s in the voting hands now. It comes down to what they believe is a better year -- money list, Vardon Trophy, top 10s, wins, majors.”

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Annika Sorenstam wrapped up her sixth LPGA Tour player of the year award with a record-breaking victory today. She won the Mizuno Classic in Otsu, Japan, for the third straight year, closing with a six-under-par 66 to break the LPGA record for a 54-hole event with a 24-under 192 total.

She opened with two 63s and completed the nine-stroke victory with her third bogey-free round.

The Swedish star birdied the par-five closing holes for the third straight day to shatter the previous 54-hole event record that she shared with Wendy Ward at 21-under 195.

Sophie Gustafson (67), Grace Park (68) and Se Ri Pak (69) tied for second at 15 under.