US PGA TOUR AND CHAMPIONS TOUR REPORTS, SCORES

Qualifier Atwal leads Wyndham
Championship by three

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (AP) — Arjun Atwal had to play his way into the Wyndham Championship. Having got there, he's spent most of the week outplaying everyone else.
Atwal built a three-stroke lead Saturday through three rounds of the US PGA Tour's final pre-playoff event. He shot a 5-under 65 to reach 17-under 193, and he has either led or shared the lead after each of the first three days.
Not bad for someone who lost his tour card and had to win a qualifying tournament just to earn a spot at Sedgefield Country Club.
"I'm not your typical Monday qualifier," Atwal said.
Scott McCarron closed his 63 with four consecutive birdies and was at 14 under along with Scott Piercy (64) and Lucas Glover (67). Will MacKenzie (65), Garrett Willis (65), David Toms (65), Justin Leonard (66), John Rollins (68) and second-round co-leader Brandt Snedeker (69) were at 13 under.
Kevin Na matched the tournament record with a 61 in the morning to reach 12 under.
But without question, the story at Sedgefield has been Atwal.
The 37-year-old player from India may be winless on the big tour, but he has won on the European, Asian and Nationwide tours. Now he's one good round away from becoming the first Monday qualifier to win the ensuing tournament since Fred Wadsworth at the 1986 Southern Open.
"I've never won on the PGA Tour, but I've won on almost every other tour I've played on," Atwal said. "And I don't see why it's going to be different trying to win a tournament here. If I'm hitting it well, and I'm playing well (Sunday), I don't see why I can't win."
Atwal has said his main goal this week was to move closer to securing his tour card for 2011. He lost the card last month because he was too low on the money list when his minor medical exemption ran out. That came after he returned too soon following weightlifting injuries to both shoulders.
"I couldn't hit it out of my shadow when I came back," Atwal said. "I just wanted to play, and I thought I'd be OK. ... (Rushing back) was stupid, now that I look at it."
He's ineligible for the play-offs, but kept himself in prime position. He had a two-stroke lead after one round and joined Snedeker as co-leaders after Day 2.
Atwal had three pairs of consecutive birdies during the third round, and gave himself some separation with a near-eagle on No. 15, rolling a putt around the edge of the cup before tapping in for birdie to move to 17 under.
Meanwhile, his playing partner - Snedeker, the 2007 Wyndham winner - ran into trouble on that par 5, which has played as one of the easiest this week. He splashed his second shot into the water and finished with just his second bogey of the week.
"It swayed right into the water," Snedeker said. "Unfortunately, that stuff happens in the course of a 72-hole tournament."
Andres Romero, who at No. 123 was squarely on the bubble, took another step toward playing himself into the field at The Barclays next week, shooting a 65 to move to 12 under.
Also five strokes back was Richard S. Johnson, who still has some work to do to claim an unlikely spot in the postseason; he arrived at No. 149 and needs to finish fourth to crack the top 125.
McCarron made a late charge up the leaderboard with birdies on Nos. 15-18, closing his round by making a 20-foot putt that moved him to 14 under. Piercy had a similar bonanza with four straight birdies on Nos. 5-8, then later birdied three of four holes to join him.
"For me, this is a playoff," said McCarron, No. 142 on the points list. "I don't play well, then I'm going home."
For the second time in three days, the Wyndham record round of 61 was reached. This time, it was Na's turn.
Going off in the morning's first pairing after barely making the cut, he took full advantage of the fresh greens with seven birdies through 17 holes and an eagle on No. 5. When he got to the 18th, he took aim at one more birdie.
"Honestly, you know, I wanted the course record," Na said. "I wasn't going to leave it short."
After landing his second shot near the back right corner of the green, his 40-footer wouldn't fall and he two-putted for par, settling for sharing the mark with Carl Pettersson (2008) and Atwal, who shot a first-round 61.
Total prizefund: $5.1million. Winner gets $918,000
THIRD ROUND
Par 210 (3x71)
193 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 61 67 65
196 Scott McCarron 65 68 63, Lucas Glover 64 65 67, Scott Piercy 66 66 64
197 Will MacKenzie 68 64 65, John Rollins 64 65 68, Justin Leonard 68 63 66, David Toms 64 68 65, Garrett Willis 66 66 65, Brandt Snedeker 63 65 69
198 Kevin Na 66 71 61, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 67 66 65, Andres Romero (Arg) 66 67 65, Martin Laird (Sco) 67 65 66
199 Jerry Kelly 66 67 66, Bill Haas 69 65 65, Glen Day 67 67 65, Kevin Streelman 64 65 70
200 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 64 68 68, Michael Sim (Aus) 66 68 66, Chris Riley 67 69 64, Tim Herron 67 64 69, Jeff Quinney 66 70 64, John Mallinger 65 67 68, Alex Prugh 69 64 67, Tim Petrovic 66 68 66, Tom Gillis 69 67 64, Jonathan Byrd 66 66 68
201 Michael Letzig 66 68 67, Brian Stuard 69 66 66, Aron Price (Aus) 67 69 65, Garth Mulroy (S Africa) 68 68 65, James Driscoll 67 67 67, James Nitties (Aus) 67 68 66, Greg Owen (Eng) 69 67 65, Webb Simpson 66 64 71, Joe Durant 68 67 66, Bob Estes 66 70 65, Cameron Beckman 67 69 65, Drew Weaver 67 70 64, Josh Teater 66 68 67
202 Chad Collins 68 67 67, Marc Leishman (Aus) 66 66 70, Boo Weekley 64 67 71, Briny Baird 66 68 68, Mark Wilson 68 67 67, Derek Lamely 70 66 66
203 Spencer Levin 65 67 71, Paul Stankowski 67 67 69, Jason Dufner 66 69 68, Chris DiMarco 67 68 68, Michael Connell 66 69 68, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 66 69 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 67 67 69, Trevor Immelman (S Africa) 68 69 66, Jerry Richardson 70 66 67, Troy Merritt 67 70 66, Troy Matteson 68 67 68, D.J. Trahan 69 68 66
204 Kirk Triplett 69 68 67, J J Henry 71 66 67, John Merrick 68 67 69, Omar Uresti 69 66 69, Brett Wetterich 70 66 68, Skip Kendall 66 70 68, Rocco Mediate 70 67 67, Jason Gore 65 69 70
205 John Daly 68 68 69, Charles Warren 67 69 69, Kent Jones 66 70 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 67 68 70, Blake Adams 65 71 69, Frank Lickliter II 70 67 68
206 Kris Blanks 69 68 69, Robert Garrigus 69 66 71
207 Jay Williamson 65 70 72
208 Steve Marino 69 65 74, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 70 65 73

LEHMAN'S TWO-STROKE LEAD IN

TRADITION

SUNRIVER, Oregon (AP) — Tom Lehman moved into position for his second Champions Tour major victory of the year, shooting a 3-under 69 on Saturday at Crosswater Club to take a two-stroke lead in the Jeld-Wen Tradition.
The Senior PGA winner in late May, Lehman overcame a double-bogey 6 on No. 8 with three birdies on the back nine in cool, overcast conditions. He was 11 under.
"There is potential for a low round out here. The opportunity will be out there for guys to go 5-, 6-, 7-under par," Lehman said. "A two-stroke lead is nice, but there's really no room for error."
Bernhard Langer, attempting to become the second player in Champions Tour history to win three consecutive majors, shot a 69 to join Fred Funk (70) and J.L. Lewis (66) at 9 under in the fourth of the tour's five majors.

"Langer has had such a great year the last month," Lehman said. "It's going to force me to have to play well, but he's only one of so many."

Two strokes behind D.A. Weibring after two rounds, Lehman took the outright lead with a birdie at 14, then made a 45-foot birdie putt at 17 to increase his advantage.

Lehman, who opened with rounds of 67 and 69, said the round "tee to green, was my most solid round of the week."

Langer, the Senior British Open and U.S. Senior Open winner in consecutive weeks, made a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 12th en route to his third straight 69. Gary Player won three consecutive senior majors, the final two of 1987 and first of 1988.

Langer also could join Jack Nicklaus as the only player to win three senior majors in a season. In 1991, Nicklaus won the PGA Seniors, U.S. Senior and Tradition.

The German star is in line for a possible berth on the European Ryder Cup team as a pick by captain Colin Montgomerie. Langer refused to look ahead.

"I try not to go there," he said. "It doesn't do any good, anyway. It's Saturday. Why wonder what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day?"

Lewis, who turned 50 in July, had a bogey-free round. He'll play Sunday in the final group with Lehman and Langer.

"I feel like I can be very competitive, but you still have to play good (well). I hope I'm there. That would be fun," Lewis said.

Funk continued his strong play in the Tradition. He won the 2008 event and finished fifth last year.

Weibring (74) and Chien Soon Lu (65) were 8 under along with John Cook (68), Bob Gilder (69), Bob Tway (71) and Gil Morgan (71).

Weibring made four bogeys on the back nine, though he finished with birdies at 17 and 18. Lu, who didn't play competitive golf from 2001-08 because of back problem, had the best round of the day. He birdied five of his first six holes.

Gilder, the lone Oregonian in the field, briefly tied for the lead early on the back nine, but made a bogey at 18.

Cook lost in a play-off to Mike Reid in the 2009 Tradition.


LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
205 Tom Lehman 67 69 69.
207 J L Lewis 70 71 66, Bernhard Langer (Germany) 69 69 69, Fred Funk 68 69 70.
208 Chien Soon Lu 70 73 65, John Cook 72 68 68, Bob Gilder 68 71 69, Bob Tway 70 67 71, D A Weibring 67 67 74, Gil Morgan 68 69 71.
209 Mark Wiebe 69 73 67, Scott Simpson 69 71 69, Tommy Armour III 71 68 70.
210 David Peoples 71 70 69, Michael Allen 69 71 70.
211 Eduardo Romero 71 71 69, Craig Stadler 73 69 69, Tom Watson 71 71 69, Andy Bean 70 72 69, Larry Mize 71 70 70, Hal Sutton 75 66 70, Tom Purtzer 70 69 72.
212 Bobby Wadkins 72 69 71, Russ Cochran 71 70 71, Mark Calcavecchia 69 72 71, Fulton Allem 68 72 72, David Frost (S Africa) 74 66 72, Jay Haas 73 65 74, Tom Jenkins 69 70 73.
213 Jeff Sluman 71 71 71, Mike Goodes 74 69 70, Bobby Clampett 69 70 74.
214 Loren Roberts 69 74 71, Brad Bryant 72 71 71, Corey Pavin 68 75 71, Tim Simpson 73 68 73, Jay Don Blake 69 68 77.
215 Gene Jones 71 71 73, Nick Price (Zim) 71 70 74, Peter Senior (Aus) 73 71 71, Joey Sindelar 73 72 70, Olin Browne 74 73 69.
216 Don Pooley 69 75 72, Bruce Vaughan 69 76 71, Mark O'Meara 73 73 70.
217 Mike Reid 79 69 69.
218 Morris Hatalsky 71 73 74, Ronnie Black 73 73 72, Mark James (Eng) 69 78 71.
219 Jo Ozaki (Japan) 71 74 74.
220 Hale Irwin 69 76 75, Jerry Pate 75 72 73.