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LAS VEGAS, Oct 16: American Ted Purdy took advantage of ideal early conditions by firing birdies on his first four holes to grab a two-shot third round lead at the Las Vegas championships on Saturday.
Purdy, who claimed his first PGA Tour win in May at the Byron Nelson, got off to a blistering start with six birdies on his outward nine to reach the turn at six-under 30 before gusting desert winds whipped across the TPC at Summerlin layout.
Despite worsening conditions, Purdy battled through his back nine with little trouble, mixing a pair of birdies with a single bogey for a seven-under 65 and three-day total of 18-under 197.
Lurking two shots back at 16-under 199 are compatriots Charles Howell III (67), Harrison Frazar (68) and Steve Lowery, who returned the lowest round of the day with an eight-under 64.
Sitting one shot further adrift are two more Americans, Kevin Stadler (70) and Wes Short Jr (66).
Leading third round scores:
197 — Ted Purdy (US) 67, 65, 65.
199 — Steve Lowery (US) 67, 68, 64; Charles Howell III (US) 63, 69, 67; Harrison Frazar (US) 68, 63, 68.
200 — Wes Short Jr (US) 67, 67, 66; Kevin Stadler (US) 64, 66, 70.
201 — Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 65, 69, 67; Jim Furyk (US) 66, 66, 69.
202 — Scott Gutschewski (US) 64, 71, 67; Phillip Price (Britain) 68, 66, 68; Ryan Palmer (US) 62, 72, 68; Jeff Sluman (US) 67, 69 ,66; Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 66, 68, 68; Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 65, 65, 72.
203 — Tjaart van der Walt (South Africa) 64, 71, 68; Bo Van Pelt (US) 70, 66, 67; Stephen Leaney (Australia) 67, 67, 69; Jerry Kelly (US) 67, 69, 67; Tom Pernice Jr (US) 65, 68, 70; Paul Goydos (US) 65, 65, 73; Bart Bryant (US) 64, 66, 73.
JACQUELIN AHEAD BY MILES
MADRID: Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin shot his third seven-under-par 64 of the week to take a seven-stroke lead into Sunday’s Madrid Open final round as he aims for his maiden European Tour title.
Despite missing three putts inside five feet, Jacquelin forged to 21-under-par 192 to lead playing-partner Darren Clarke of Britain (68) and Portuguese Jose-Filipe Lima (67) with 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie of Britain (66) a further stroke back.
Leading third round scores:
192 — Raphael Jacquelin (France) 64, 64, 64.
199 — Darren Clarke (Britain) 64, 67, 68; Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal) 66, 66, 67.
200 — Paul Lawrie (Britain) 68, 66, 66.
201 — Stuart Little (Britain) 67, 66, 68.
202 — Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 67, 69, 66; Anders Hansen (Denmark) 67, 69, 66; Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 72, 64, 66; David Park (Britain) 68, 67, 67; Ian Woosnam (Britain) 69, 65, 68.
203 — Philip Archer (Britain) 70, 67, 66; Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 67, 71, 65; Ivo Giner (Spain) 75, 60, 68; Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 72, 67, 64; David Lynn (Britain) 69, 69, 65; Andrew Marshall (Britain) 70, 68, 65; Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 72, 66, 65.—Reuters
