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LEMONT, July 4: Stephen Ames, with eight top-10 finishes this season, believes he is on the verge of winning his first PGA tournament.
The Trinidad-born Canadian matched the tournament low round with a flawless seven-under 64 on Saturday to share the Western Open third-round lead with Australian Mark Hensby on nine-under 204.
Hensby, also seeking his first US tour victory, fired a third round 67. Defending champion Tiger Woods also sneaked up on the leaders. Woods shot a 65 to move to five-under. Woods played his way into contention with birdies on his first three holes Saturday.
Leading third round scores:
204 - Mark Hensby (Australia) 67, 70, 67; Stephen Ames (Canada) 67, 73, 64.
205 - Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 68, 69, 68.
206 - Stuart Appleby (Australia) 71, 68, 67; Steve Lowery (US) 68, 68, 70.
208 - Mike Small (US) 69, 70, 69; Tiger Woods (US) 70, 73, 65; Jim Furyk (US) 69, 71, 68.
209 - John Rollins (US) 71, 69, 69; Robert Allenby (Australia) 65, 73, 71; Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 70, 72, 67.
210 - Jonathan Byrd (US) 67, 72, 71; Charles Howell III (US) 69, 67, 74; Matt Gogel (US) 72, 64, 74; Luke Donald (Britain) 72, 68, 70; J.J. Henry (US) 69, 73, 68; Chris Smith (US) 68, 72, 70; Scott Verplank (US) 72, 71, 67; Robert Gamez (US) 67, 71, 72; Steve Pate (US) 73, 70, 67; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71, 70, 69.
GOOSEN LEADS
STRAFFAN: South Africa's Retief Goosen led after the third round of the European Open here on Saturday and is still on course for consecutive victories following his US Open triumph last month.
The South African, in his first tournament since capturing his second US Open title two weeks ago, was caught by both Britain's Lee Westwood and little-known Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara during the third round.
But a 10-foot birdie putt on the 376-yard 15th put Goosen back in sole possession of top spot and he then safely negotiated a final hole which an hour earlier had seen Swede Peter Hedblom put three balls in the water for a sextuple bogey 11.
Leading third round scores:
207 - Retief Goosen (South Africa) 69, 66, 72.
208 - Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 73, 68, 67.
209 - Lee Westwood (Britain) 69, 69, 71.
210 - Peter O'Malley (Australia) 72, 70, 68; Paul Broadhurst (Britain) 67, 74, 69.
211 - Nick O'Hern (Australia) 67, 72, 72.
212 - Gary Evans (Britain) 70, 74, 68; Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 71, 72, 69; Paul McGinley (Ireland) 70, 71, 71; Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 67, 70, 75.
213 - Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 72, 72, 69.
214 - Richard Green (Australia) 70, 78, 66; Kenneth Ferrie (Brtiain) 77, 66, 71; Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 70, 71, 73. -AFP
