Golf

Leading familiar territory for DiMarco

By wire services
Published May 1, 2005

AVONDALE, La. - Chris DiMarco found himself in the same position he was in entering the final day of the Masters, sitting atop at the leaderboard halfway through the suspended third round of the Zurich Classic.

DiMarco, who overcame a bad Sunday morning performance in the Masters to take Tiger Woods to a playoff, was 4 under through 10 holes in the third round and 12 under overall when play was suspended because of darkness. James Driscoll was 11 under through 11 holes, and second-round leader Arjun Atwal was 10 under through 10 holes.

"Like I said at Augusta, those last nine holes that I played Sunday morning, I did not hit a bad shot," said DiMarco, who lost to Woods on the first extra hole at Augusta National. "But everything that could possibly go wrong, you know, a couple of bad lies, I didn't make some putts that I had been making, and it led to a bad number.

"That can happen. That's golf. I'm going to really stay on the ball tomorrow, and I'm really going to try to hit. Like I said, my goals have changed a little bit, as far as the golf course for me. I'm slowing myself down, and I am not hitting shots until I'm ready to hit them."

On Saturday, DiMarco teed off five hours late, but wasted no time getting to work.

DiMarco, who started the day at 8 under, opened the round with a birdie, and added three more on the front nine to take the lead.

"I played nice and got off to a great start, birdieing the first hole and then made a great birdie on four and birdied seven and eight back-to-back," DiMarco said. "Being 4 under right now, I'm very happy."

The start of play was delayed for five hours because of thunderstorms rolling through the area. The leaders were to start play at 11:27 a.m., but did not tee off until 4:47 p.m.

LPGA: Stacy Prammanasudh shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead over defending champ Lorena Ochoa into the final round of the Franklin American Mortgage Championship in Franklin, Tenn.

Prammanasudh, a 25-year-old Oklahoman who finished a career-best third last year as a rookie, made a pair of short birdie putts on her final two holes to finish three rounds at 11-under 205 in the tournament plagued by rain delays.

Prammanasudh hit every fairway and 17 of 18 greens in regulation. She birdied three consecutive holes on the front nine to move into a tie with Ochoa, playing two groups ahead, then added birdies on Nos. 10 and 15 to reach 9 under.

Catriona Matthew (65) was third at 7 under, Christina Kim (69) was another stroke back, and Grace Park (70), Cristie Kerr (72) and Jeong Jang (70) were 5 under.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Wayne Levi holed out from 182 yards for eagle on the par-4 17th and closed with a birdie for a 5-under 67 and a share of the second-round lead with Jim Thorpe in the FedEx Kinkos Classic in Austin, Texas.

Levi used a 6-iron to hole his second shot on No.17 and tapped in for birdie on 18 after missing another eagle try from 18 feet.

"It takes us a few years to get into full game shape out here, but I've been hitting a lot of good shots," Levi said. "I thought my shot on 17 was going to be really close, but I didn't know it went in until I saw all the people jumping up and down."

Thorpe birdied his last two holes, sinking a 35-foot putt on the par-5 18th, for a 68 to match Levi at 6-under 138 on The Hills Country Club course.

EUROPEAN PGA: Ernie Els shot 4-under-par 68 in the third round of the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai to extend his lead to five going into today's final round.

The 35-year-old South African, ranked third in the world, had seven birdies, eclipsing his three bogeys, as he moved to 19-under for the tournament.

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 23:59:18]