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Creamer In Position To Go Wire-To-Wire At Jamie Farr

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 13, 2008

SYLVANIA, Ohio - Paula Creamer is finding out how hard it is to win while leading from start to finish on the LPGA Tour.

The rest of the field is discovering how hard it is to catch her.

Creamer shot a 1-under 70 on Saturday, 10 more shots than she needed in the first round, but still held a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

"You know, winning wire-to-wire - that's difficult to do," said Creamer, who stands at 18-under 195 through 54 holes at Highland Meadows. "There's a lot of pressure on you in that situation, especially when you shoot a 60 the first day and anything higher than that everybody thinks, 'What's going on? What's wrong?'"

South Korea's Eun-Hee Ji (68) was in second place.

Ji could easily have made an even bigger dent in the lead. She cut it to three strokes when she birdied the 11th hole while Creamer, playing in the same group, was three-putting for a bogey. Creamer recovered with birdies at the 13th and 17th holes. Ji was 1 under for the final seven holes and missed two short birdie putts that could have drawn her closer.

Ji, playing her first full year on the tour, missed a 10-footer at No. 16. Then, moments after Creamer saved par with a 7-foot putt at the closing hole, Ji missed a 6-footer for birdie.

Creamer said she was fortunate to still have such a big lead.

"Obviously I wasn't very pleased with the way I played today," she said. "But at the same time I have a pretty significant lead going into tomorrow."

Rachel Hetherington, winner of the Farr in 2002, had a 67 and was alone in third at 202.

With her 62, Karrie Webb went from a tie for 50th to a tie for fourth with Chinese rookie Shanshan Feng, who shot a 64. They were both at 203.

PGA: Kenny Perry finished with a flourish to move into a three-way tie for the lead through three rounds at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill.

Perry, seeking his third victory in five starts, birdied the 18th hole to finish at 4-under 67 for the day and 15-under 198 for the tournament. That tied him with Eric Axley (67) and Brad Adamonis (66), who at 35 is the PGA Tour's oldest rookie.

Jay Williamson (62) and second-round leader Will MacKenzie (70) were one stroke back.

Perry was at 15 under after sinking a nine-foot birdie putt on the par-4 14th before hitting trouble on the 15th, hitting rough off the tee and two-putting from nine feet for a bogey. But he made up for it on the 18th, when his approach nearly hit the pin before settling just under six feet to its left. Perry then buried the putt to complete the birdie on the par-4 hole.

PGA EUROPEAN: Graeme McDowell and Simon Khan shared the third-round lead at the Scottish Open and Phil Mickelson was six shots back.

McDowell shot a 5-under 66 and Simon Khan a 68 to take a one-stroke lead. Both bogeyed the short 17th hole at Loch Lomond, but McDowell birdied the last to draw even with Khan at 10-under 203.

Mickelson had five birdies and five bogeys for a 71 a day after his hole-in-one helped him make the cut.

Four players were at 204, including last week's winner of the European Open, Ross Fisher (68). The others were Miguel-Angel Jimenez (68), Jeev Milka Singh (69) and Richard Green (70).

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