GRAND BLANC (Michigan), Aug 3: US Open champion Jim Furyk birdied the par-four 18th for a seven-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead after the third round of the $4 million Buick Open on Saturday

Furyk finished with a 17-under total of 199, one ahead of Carl Paulson (65). Neal Lancaster, without a win on the PGA Tour since the 1994 Byron Nelson Classic, carded a 66 to move into third place on 201.

Paul Goydos (66), Kenny Perry (66), Chris DiMarco (71) and Australia’s Paul Gow (69) were tied for fourth on 202, 14 under. Defending champion and world number one Tiger Woods (69) was one of three players on 203.

Furyk has 12 top-10 finishes in 18 starts this season and moved to the top of the leaderboard with a bogey-free round on Saturday.

He birdied the first, third and seventh holes en route to an outward 33 at the Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club. On the back nine, Furyk birdied the 10th, 13th and 14th before picking up another stroke at the last.

Leading third round scores (US unless stated):

199 — Jim Furyk 68, 66, 65.

200 — Carl Paulson 66, 69, 65.

201 — Neal Lancaster 67, 68, 66.

202 — Paul Goydos 68, 68, 66; Kenny Perry 69, 67, 66; Chris DiMarco 67, 64, 71; Paul Gow (Australia) 66, 67, 69.

203 — Briny Baird 70, 68, 65; Woody Austin 69, 66, 68; Tiger Woods 69, 65, 69.

204 — Bob Estes 72, 66, 66; Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70, 65, 69.

205 — Jay Delsing 71, 67, 67; Heath Slocum 67, 71, 67; Craig Perks (New Zealand) 66, 71, 68; Scott Verplank 69, 70, 66; Hank Kuehne 69, 68, 68; Paul Azinger 71, 66, 68; Fred Funk 68, 68, 69; Garrett Willis 67, 68, 70.

206 — Steve Flesch 70, 68, 68; Dicky Pride 70, 69, 67; Jeff Sluman 71, 68, 67; Charles Howell III 71, 66, 69; John Daly 68, 69, 69; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 69, 67, 70; Hal Sutton 72, 64, 70; Andrew Magee 71, 64, 71.

Other international players:

207 — Stuart Appleby (Australia) 67, 72, 68.

208 — Grant Waite (New Zealand) 68, 71, 69.

209 — Carlos Franco (Paraquay) 70, 68, 71; Stephen Ames (Trinidad and Tobago) 69, 70, 70; Kaname Yokoo (Japan) 69, 68, 72; Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 72, 68, 69.

210 — Thomas Levet (France) 67, 69, 74; Greg Chalmers (Australia) 72, 67, 71; Ian Leggatt (Canada) 71, 69, 70.—Reuters