Pampling storms to 3-shot lead

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jun 3, 2007 | by ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Rod Pampling finished the storm-delayed third round with a flourish Saturday, 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 was just another name on the leaderboard on a gloomy afternoon at Muirfield Village. As daylight began to fade, the Australian began to take charge.

He joined the leaders with a birdie from the bunker on the par-5 11th, just as tournament host Jack Nicklaus and his grandson pulled up in a cart to watch. Pampling 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.

The biggest surprise was the margin.

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 birdied four straight on the back nine en route to a 69.

Will MacKenzie and Stewart Cink shot 65s to join Aaron Baddeley (71) at 205.

Tiger Woods was 4 under after a 70.

Ginn Tribute

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. -- Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa moved a step closer to her third LPGA Tour victory of the season, shooting a 2- under 70 to take a three-stroke lead after the third round of the rainy Ginn Tribute.

Ochoa, who bogeyed three of the final six holes, had an 11-under 205 total on the RiverTowne Country Club course. Nicole Castrale (68) was 8 under, and Cristie Kerr (67) and rookie Angela Park (71) followed at 7 under.

Ochoa is coming off a victory two weeks ago in the Sybase Classic and also won the Safeway International in March.

Tournament host Annika Sorenstam, returning from a ruptured disk in her neck and a bulging disk in her back, was 12 strokes back after a 74.

Boeing Championship

DESTIN, Fla. -- Jay Haas, winless in Florida in PGA Tour- sanctioned competition, shot a 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Tom Purtzer after the second round of the Boeing Championship.

Haas, the Champions Tour money leader and the only two-time winner this year, had a bogey-free, 13-under 129 total on the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort's Raven Golf Club course. Purtzer, the first-round co-leader after a 62, shot a 68.

Eduardo Romero, who also opened with a 62, was 11 under after a 69. Denis Watson, the Senior PGA Championship winner last week, shot a 67 to join Loren Roberts and Brad Bryant at 10 under. Roberts and Bryant also had 67s.

Haas has played 102 PGA Tour events in Florida and is making his sixth Champions Tour start in the Sunshine State.

Wales Open

NEWPORT, Wales -- Wales' Bradley Dredge and Germany's Martin Kaymer shot 4-under 65s to share the third-round lead at the Wales Open.

Dredge, trying to become the tournament's first Welsh winner, and Kaymer had 10-under 197 total on the Roman Road course.