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| April 28, 2003 | Monday | Safar 25, 1424 |
Couples edges ahead
HUMBLE (Texas), April 27: Fred Couples birdied the 18th hole to take a one-shot lead over Mark Calcavecchia after three rounds of the Houston Open on Saturday.
Couples’s five-under-par 67 left him on 16-under 200 for the tournament, one ahead of Calcavecchia who fired a 68.
Australia’s Stuart Appleby held third place on 202, with South Africa’s Trevor Immelman in fourth place another stroke back after a sparkling round of 65.
World number two Ernie Els recorded his third straight 69 to tie for 21st, seven shots behind Couples and level with world number four Phil Mickelson.
Couples and Calcavecchia began the day tied for the lead with Hank Kuehne, who bogeyed the first three holes and dropped away with an even-par 72 at Redstone Golf Club.
The front nine proved to be a real test for the 43-year-old Couples. He birdied the par-five first hole, bogeyed the third and birdied the fourth.
A double-bogey six at the par-four seventh when he hit into the water dropped him to one-over for the round.
After taking the double at number seven, Couples left an eight-foot birdie putt short on the eighth hole.
The pep talk seemed to work.
Couples birdied the ninth to finish the nine in par and the back nine was an entirely different matter as the 1992 U.S. Masters champion birdied four consecutive holes, beginning at the 12th, before making birdie at the last.
The last time Couples held a 54-hole lead was in the 1998 Memorial, his last victory and he knows winning on Sunday will be difficult.
Calcavecchia is looking forward to playing with Couples again.
Leading third round scores (U.S. unless stated):
200 Fred Couples 65 68 67
201 Mark Calcavecchia 68 65 68
202 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 66 70 66
203 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 70 68 65
204 Robert Gamez 71 66 67, Scott McCarron 69 68 67, David Sutherland 69 67 68, Jay Haas 67 67 70
205 Greg Chalmers (Australia) 73 68 64, John Daly 69 69 67, John Riegger 70 68 67, Steve Flesch 72 66 67, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 67 68 70, Hank Kuehne 69 64 72
206 Alex Cejka (Germany) 70 70 66, Kevin Sutherland 69 70 67, Briny Baird 67 71 68, Olin Browne 67 70 69, Bob May 69 68 69, Paul Stankowski 69 66 71—Reuters
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