HILTON HEAD ISLAND, April 18: Journeyman Ted Purdy, who two years ago was playing in Asia, built a four-shot lead on Saturday at the Heritage, posting a six-under 65 at Harbour Town Golf Links.
A Phoenix native, Purdy had seven birdies and a late bogey on the 6,973-yard layout to reach 12-under 201, comfortably ahead of fellow American Heath Slocum. It was the third straight sub-70 round for Purdy, who never has finished among the top 10 in 40 PGA Tour appearances over parts of five seasons. He has spent much of his career on the Asian PGA Tour, where he was Rookie of the Year in 1997.
Purdy will play in Sunday's final group with Slocum, who bogeyed the 18th en route to a 70. He is alone in second at eight-under 205, a shot better than Trinidad-born Canadian Stephen Ames and Patrick Sheehan.
Coming off a runner-up showing at The Masters, South African star Ernie Els shared fifth place with 50-year-old Jay Haas, Fred Funk and Kevin Na at six-under 207. Defending champion Davis Love, who has won this event five times, is tied for 26th, 10 strokes off the pace.
Leading third round scores (US unless stated):
201 - Ted Purdy 69, 67, 65.
205 - Heath Slocum 68, 67, 70.
206 - Stephen Ames (Canada) 70, 68, 68; Patrick Sheehan 71, 66, 69.
207 - Kevin Na 69, 68, 70; Ernie Els (South Africa) 69, 70, 68; Fred Funk 69, 69, 69; Jay Haas 68, 69, 70.
208 - Justin Rose (Britain) 73, 69, 66; Chad Campbell 69, 69, 70; Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland) 71, 66, 71; Jonathan Kaye 70, 70, 68.
209 - Ben Curtis 68, 66, 75; Jonathan Byrd 68, 71, 70; Rodney Pampling (South Africa) 68, 72, 69; Alexander Cejka (Germany) 70, 71, 68; Scott Hoch 70, 68, 71; Jeff Maggert 73, 66, 70; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 72, 71, 66; Scott Hend 73, 70, 66; Lucas Glover 73, 70, 66.
210 - Dean Wilson 72, 71, 67; Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 73, 69, 68; Bob Burns 73, 70, 67; Stewart Cink 72, 69, 69.
GONZALEZ AHEAD
SEVILLE: Despite another erratic day off the tee, Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez took over the Seville Open lead on Saturday in search of his third European Tour title.
The 34-year-old only hit one fairway out of 14 and that was with his two-iron. But he still carded a three-under-par 69 to move into a one-stroke lead on 11-under-par 205 over playing-partner and fellow big-hitter Emanuele Canonica of Italy and Briton Alan McLean.
Gonzalez, looking to add to his 2001 European Masters win and last year's victory in the Madrid Open, took over from compatriot Cesar Monasterio as the 40-year-old second round front-runner shot a 76 to slide six strokes off the pace.
Leading third round scores (Britain unless stated):
