Has started wide of the target (3,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
off the mark
'has started' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'wide of the target' is the wordplay.
'wide of' becomes 'off' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'target' becomes 'mark' (synonyms).
'off'+'the'+'mark'='OFF THE MARK'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for off the mark that I've seen before include "that's not right" , "Having started" , "Inaccurate; getting first run" , "under a misapprehension" .)