Updated at 4:43 p.m., Saturday, June 2, 2007
Pampling takes 3-stroke lead in PGA tourney
Associated Press
DUBLIN, Ohio — Rod Pampling finished the storm-delayed third round with a flourish today, holing a 40-foot birdie putt to take the lead and hitting a terrific fairway bunker shot that capped off a 4-under 68, giving him a three-shot lead at the Memorial.Pampling joined the leaders with a birdie from the bunker on the par-5 11th. He went one shot ahead on his slick, bending 40-foot birdie on the 14th.
But he saved his most impressive work for the final hole. From 153 yards away in a bunker, his shot just reached the green and checked up 3 feet from the hole, putting him at 15-under 201.
Adam Scott stayed one shot behind from the 14th with three consecutive up-and-downs, one of them for birdie on the par-5 15th, but he ran out of luck on the 18th when his tee shot strayed into a thick clump of grass in front of a slope, and he missed an 8-foot par putt. That gave him an even-par 72, and left him at 204 along with Sean O'Hair.
O'Hair stayed in the game with an eagle on the seventh, then ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine for a 69.
Will MacKenzie and Stewart Cink each shot 65, the low rounds of the day, and were at 205 with Aaron Baddeley (71).
