Northern Trust Open at Riviera, California

Steve Stricker leads by six with 18 holes to play

Steve Stricker completed a third-round, five-under-par 66 early this morning to lead by six shots going into the final round later today of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club, Palisades, California.
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Leaderboard
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Stricker faced a 30ft birdie putt on the 15th hole when play was stopped by darkness on Saturday. He returned to make the putt in chilly temperatures, then hit a seven-iron to 4 feet on the par-3 16th hole for another birdie.
His streak of 32 holes without a bogey at Riviera ended on the 18th when he missed the green to the left and chipped to 12 feet, two-putting for a bogey.
With one round to play, Stricker was at 15-under 198, six ahead of Andres Romero (70), Luke Donald (66) and J.B. Holmes (67).
The Northern Trust Open is the final event to qualify for the Match Play Championship, which is contested by the leading 64 players in the world rankings. Several players -- Ben Curtis, Chad Campbell and Scott Verplank among them -- are walking the tightrope.
THIRD ROUND COMPLETED
Par 213 (3x71)
198 Steve Stricker 67 65 66
204 J.B. Holmes 68 69 67, Andres Romero (Arg) 65 69 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 68 70 66
205 Dustin Johnson 64 67 74, Kevin Stadler 65 71 69, George McNeill 70 69 66
206 Ricky Barnes 66 71 69, Anthony Kim 71 66 69, Steve Marino 70 67 69, Alex Prugh 71 69 66
207 Scott Verplank 68 74 65, Brandt Snedeker 66 72 69, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 69 67 71
208 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 68 68 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 70 70, Kevin Sutherland 69 71 68
209 Charley Hoffman 68 71 70, Stewart Cink 71 71 67, Phil Mickelson 72 66 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 68 69, John Rollins 71 71 67, Justin Rose (Eng) 69 67 73, Paul Goydos 69 72 68, Jim Furyk 71 70 68, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 73 68 68, Bo Van Pelt 70 70 69, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 71 70 68
210 Brian Davis (Eng) 72 70 68, Kevin Na 72 67 71, Michael Allen 69 70 71, John Merrick 70 72 68, Bryce Molder 71 68 71
211 Michael Letzig 71 72 68, D.A. Points 69 72 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 69 70, Rich Beem 74 69 68, Briny Baird 70 72 69, Troy Matteson 68 69 74, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 71 68 72, Jason Bohn 69 75 67
212 Jeff Overton 70 71 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 71 71 70, Matt Kuchar 69 71 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 69 72 71, Webb Simpson 70 73 69
213 Chad Campbell 70 72 71, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 70 73, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 72 69, Woody Austin 71 72 70, Jonathan Byrd 68 74 71, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 71 71, Fred Couples 69 72 72
214 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 72 70, J J Henry 70 73 71, K J Choi (Kor) 71 72 71, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 71 73 70, Jimmy Walker 71 72 71
215 Justin Leonard 71 73 71, Vaughn Taylor 73 70 72, Brett Quigley 70 73 72, Roland Thatcher 68 73 74, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 73 71, D.J. Trahan 72 71 72
216 Steve Flesch 73 70 73, Ben Curtis 73 68 75, Matt Bettencourt 70 74 72, Parker McLachlin 71 73 72, Mark Wilson 72 72 72, Kevin Streelman 69 73 74, Craig Bowden 69 74 73, Nicholas Thompson 69 73 74
217 Bob Estes 72 72 73, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 69 74 74
218 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 68 74 76
219 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 74 77, Bill Lunde 72 72 75, David Duval 68 75 76, Ryan Moore 70 74 75
220 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 74 70 76, Cameron Beckman 67 77 76