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DUBLIN, Ohio - The cold wind whipped so hard when Kenny Perry got to the first tee he figured par would be enough for him to keep the lead in the Memorial.
As has been the case lately, he was better than that.
Perry shot 2-under 70 on Saturday, which he said felt better than the 61 he shot last week in the third round on his way to a win at Colonial.
His lead was two shots over Lee Janzen (71), but Perry felt just as confident as when he led by eight going into the final round at Hogan's Alley.
"I can make good, solid pars and make them catch me," Perry said.
Several players have a chance, none of them named Tiger Woods. The brutal conditions at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield proved too much for the world's No.1 player.
Woods struggled with his swing, and gusts to 30 mph made it look worse. He hit a tee shot out of bounds and made triple bogey on No.6 and played the front nine in 42. He played the closing four holes 2 under for 76.
It was his worst round at the Memorial, where he is the only three-time winner, and at times it was reminiscent of his 81 in the third round of the British Open last year at Muirfield in Scotland, for which the Ohio course was named, with one exception.
"It's ... a lot warmer here," Woods said.
No one had a more enjoyable day than Jose Maria Olazabal. His bogey-free 66 was more than nine strokes better than the average for the third round, and it shot him from a tie for 30th into a tie for third with Vijay Singh (72) and Retief Goosen (74) at 8-under 208.
Olazabal was the only player to break 70, as 11 players broke par.
Coming off a victory at Colonial with a record score, Perry made one bogey and ended another round with a birdie on the 18th. His 5-iron climbed the ridge and then trickled down a slope to within 8 feet of the cup.
"That's probably better than the 61 I shot last week," said Perry, who was at 13-under 203. "The conditions were brutal. It was raw out there."
Janzen, winless since his second U.S. Open title five years ago, holed two bunkers shots on the back nine, for birdie on 15 and for par on 17, and shot 71 that left him at 11-under 202.
"I just wanted to hang in there," Janzen said. "Regardless of what I shot I just wanted to enjoy the day - kind of silly to enjoy a day like today - but enjoy that I play golf and I was near the lead."
KELLOGG-KEEBLER CLASSIC: Angry with herself after three-putt bogeys on consecutive holes, Annika Sorenstam birdied the last five holes of the second round and took a two-stroke lead in the LPGA Tour event in Aurora, Ill.
On the par-3 12th, Sorenstam's birdie putt slid about 3 feet past the hole, and she missed the comebacker. On the par-4 13th she left a long birdie putt short and missed a 4-footer for par.
"I told my caddie, "I've had enough. I'm playing great, I've had a lot of great shots. Let's get this turned around. There's five more holes, let's just go get five birdies,"' Sorenstam said. "And that's what happened."
She finished with 6-under 66, the second-best round of the day, for 16-under 128. Mhairi McKay had nine birdies on her way to 64 and was at 130.
Rosie Jones, who began the day tied with Sorenstam for the lead, shot 71 and was five off the lead. Jones said she was bothered by the conditions. Temperatures were in the low 50s, it rained early in the day and winds gusted to 30 mph.
MUSIC CITY CHAMPIONSHIP: Jim Ahern shot 9-under 63 for a six-stroke lead at 17-under 127 after the second round of the Champions Tour event in Nashville. Jose Maria Canizares (65), whose son Alejandro on Friday won the individual NCAA championship as a freshman for Arizona State, was tied for second with Rodger Davis (66).
WALES OPEN: Ian Poulter withstood a rough stretch on the back nine to lead the European PGA Tour event in Newport by two. Poulter bogeyed the 14th and 15th and double bogeyed the 16th. He finished with 4-under 68 for 16-under 200 after three rounds. Phillip Price shot 68 for 202. Fredrik Jacobson, seeking his third win this season, was at 203 after 64.
HENRICO COUNTY OPEN: The Nationwide Tour event in Glen Allen, Va., was canceled because of rain Saturday. Tour officials may try to reschedule the event for July.