Golf

Ogilvy shoots 8-under to tie

PALM BEACH GARDENS - Another gusty day at the Honda Classic made the golfers' loud trousers ripple. Geoff Ogilvy kept calm in the wind, fortified by winning his first PGA Tour title just two weeks ago.

The Australian mounted a charge in difficult conditions Saturday, erasing an eight-shot deficit to tie Brett Wetterich for the lead after three rounds. While none of the players among the top eight at the start of the day broke par, Ogilvy shot an 8-under 64 to reach 12 under after 54 holes.

"I just kept hitting nice shots and getting good putts," he said. "Maybe six months ago, sneaking right up the leaderboard deep on Saturday, I might have gotten a bit more nervous than I did. I was nothing but comfortable."

Ogilvy won at Tucson, his first title in 108 tour starts, then took last week off.

Five golfers among the top 10 on the leaderboard will bid for their first tour title today. That includes Wetterich, who began the third round alone in the lead, scrambled to a 72 and joined Ogilvy at 204.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen three-putted No. 18 for a bogey to fall out of a three-way tie for the lead. A round of 72 left him 11 under and tied with Pat Perez.

Shrugging off a first-round 73, Ogilvy began to surge Saturday when he birdied four of the first six holes. He also finished with a flourish, sinking birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18. He missed only three greens and needed just 26 putts. Two shots behind was American Joe Ogilvie, who reached 10 under with a 67.

Another twosome, Wetterich and Janzen, played in the final pairing and swapped the lead three times early. They struggled on the back nine and slipped back to Ogilvy.

"Once you get to 13, every hole seems to be into the wind coming in," Janzen said. "You've got to hit a lot of good shots just to make par."

Wetterich could only agree. On No. 15, he drove into a hazard and took a stroke penalty, then sank a 12-foot putt to save bogey. That dropped him out of a three-way share for first. He regained a tie for the top at No. 17 when he hit a bunker shot from about 100 feet to within 6 inches of the pin for a birdie. He retained a share of the lead despite missing eight fairways.

PGA EUROPEAN/ASIAN TOUR: Henrik Stenson of Sweden shot a 6-under 66 in the Qatar Masters in Doha to take a two-stroke lead over Niclas Fasth and Richard Green, while Ernie Els was five strokes behind. Fasth of Sweden carded a 69 in the third round and Green of Australia had a 73 at the 7,311-yard Doha Golf Club. Els, the only top-50 player in the event, posted a second straight 69. Stenson, who is based in nearby Dubai, had five birdies on the back nine to take the lead with a three-day total of 10-under 206.

PGA CHAMPIONS TOUR: Keith Fergus shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Mark McNulty after two rounds of the SBC Classic in Santa Clarita, Calif. Fergus, a former golf coach at Houston and three-time winner in 14 years on the PGA Tour, had six birdies and a bogey on the Valencia Country Club course for a 7-under 137 total. McNulty shot a 66 to move to 138, two strokes ahead of Gary McCord (66) and D.A. Weibring (69). Mike Reid was in fifth place at 141 after a second-round 71, and 62-year-old Isao Aoki, the first-round leader, followed an opening 69 with a 73, dropping to 142.

FUTURES TOUR: Former University of Florida golfer Aimee Cho leads the season-opening Lakeland FUTURES Golf Classic at five-under-par 139 after two rounds at Cleveland Heights Golf Course. Cho, 21, a native of Seoul, Korea who went to high school in Orlando and spent two seasons at UF, holds a one-shot lead over Kim Augusta of Rhode Island headed into today's final round.

PGA TOUR: Another handful of top-ranked players have committed to play in next week's Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando. Jumping aboard were K.J. Choi of South Korea and Chris Riley, a member of the 2004 U.S. Ryder Cup team, and 1992 Bay Hill winner Fred Couples. Choi is ranked 29th in the world. In all, the field is expected to feature eight of the top 11 in terms of the world rankings, including Nos. 1-2-3 in Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els. Of the top six, only Phil Mickelson didn't enter.

[Last modified March 13, 2005, 00:23:15]