WATNEY AND NA SHARE LEAD IN US PGA TOUR EVENT

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nick Watney shot a 7-under 64 on Saturday for a share of the third-round lead with Kevin Na in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Watney, a two-time winner this year, birdied the final three holes and five of the last six at TPC Summerlin to match Na at 17 under in the Fall Series opener. Na followed his second-round 63 with a 66.

"I'm trying to keep it really simple," Watney said. "I've driven the ball pretty well and it's just been fairly easy to hit quite a bit of greens. I think that's what you need to do out here is give yourself as many chances as possible. I've been able to do that so far.

"This course is right out there in front of you. It's fairly short for Tour standards, so it's just about execution."

He won the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March and the AT and T National in July.

Robert Garrigus (63) and Kris Blanks (66) were a stroke back, and Tommy Gainey (64), Paul Goydos (66) and Tim Herron (67) followed at 15 under.

Na, tied for the lead with Jhonattan Vegas and Charlie Wi after the second round, played the front nine in 4 under with five birdies and a bogey, and added a birdie on the par-5 16th to reach 17 under.

"I got off to a really good start on the front nine, made five birdies," Na said. "I felt like I could go real low with a bunch of birdie holes on the back. Unfortunately, I slowed down a bit and missed a few short ones. But to finish 5-under for the day, I was pretty pleased."

Robert Garrigus had nine birdies and a bogey in his 63. Hospitalised for dehydration on Monday in Phoenix, Garrigus opened the round with four straight birdies, then birdied three of the last four.

"I started off on fire," he said. "It was just one of those days when everything was going in early, and I knew if I could sprinkle in some (birdies) late it would be a really good day, and it ended up being nice.

Vegas (69), Roland Thatcher (63), Spencer Levin (64) and Carl Pettersson (66) were 14 under.

The 36-hole cut came at 4-under 138, with 80 players advancing. Because more than 78 players made the cut, there was a secondary cut at 4-under 209 after the third round to the low 70 players and ties.

The 4-under cut tied for the lowest on the US PGA Tour this season with the Travelers Championship, John Deere Classic, Viking Classic and The Barclays.

Fran Quinn was the only player left on the course when play was suspended due to darkness Friday. He came back Saturday morning and made a 14-foot birdie putt for a 67 to make the cut. He shot a 76 in the third round to drop out of the tournament.

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STATEN LEADS BY TWO ON NATIONWIDE TOUR

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE

MIDLAND, Texas -- B.J. Staten knows the task at hand facing him on Sunday. The former University of Houston golfer will begin Sunday's final round at the 20th annual WNB Golf Classic with a two-stroke lead over Gavin Coles and three strokes over rookie Harris English, who tied the tournament course record with a 10-under-par 62.
Harris played for the losing United States team in last month's Walker Cup match at Royal Aberdeen.

Staten has a 54-hole total of 18-under-par 198.

Winless in 121 previous starts on the Nationwide Tour, Staten last led or tied for the lead heading into the final round in June, 2010 when he was T1 at the Melwood Prince George's County Open (finished T30) and the Mexico Open (T2).

"There are a lot of quality guys behind me and all you can ask for is to have a chance on Sunday," Staten said. "I had it going today and it was really fun there for awhile. When you get conditions like we had today you have to take full advantage of it. If you don't, guys are going to pass you by. That's the way it is out here."

The lone blemish in Staten's round came on No. 15 when he hit his driver left and took an unplayable which led to a double bogey. However, he offset his one misfortune with five birdies and an eagle at No. 12 on his way to a 5-under-par 67.

"I just had one bad golf swing which came at No. 15," Staten added. "I just came straight out of the driver and hit it left and made double, but I had a lot of chances out there today. I missed makeable putts at 10 and 11 as well as at 13 and 14. If you asked me at the start if I'd take a 67 today I would have. I can't complain."

Staten made four birdies on the front to make the turn at 17-under and drained a 35-foot putt for an eagle on No. 12 which moved him to 19-under-par after 12 holes. However, after his double at No. 15, he bounced back with a sand wedge to four feet for a birdie at No. 17 and then capped his round with a clutch eight-foot par save on No. 18.

Australian Gavin Coles heads the group of players chasing Staten. He fired a 7-under-par 65 on Saturday and had a chance to tie Staten with a par putt at No. 18 but missed his 12-footer.

"I hit a few squirrely ones today that I got away with and made some good putts which I hadn't been making all year," Coles said. "I made a couple over 20 feet which isn't too bad for me. I was patient and I think I hit 16 of 18 greens today. The highlight of my day was my shot at No. 8. I hit a 3-iron to an inch. We've got another 18 to go so we'll go out and see what we can do."

Rookie Harris English tied the tournament course scoring record with a 10-under-par 62, the lowest round of his golf career. His 6-under-par 30 on the back nine included five straight birdies to close out his record-tying day.

"We had perfect weather today and it was a really good day to score," the former University of Georgia star said. 

"I struggled with the putter the last couple of days but I lightened my grip on the putter and it really helped. I've been hitting it well and gave myself some chances. I rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at No. 1 and started to get some confidence and went on from there."

This is just his second professional start. He won the Nationwide Tour's Children's Hospital Invitational in July as an amateur and turned professional before last week's Soboba Golf Classic where he finished T49.

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