Armour edges to top of crowded leaderboard;
Tiger 2 back
By KEN PETERS / AP Sports Writer
VALENCIA, Calif. (AP) -- Tommy Armour III was one shot in front
of Billy Mayfair, with Tiger Woods and four others just another
shot behind.
With 12 players within five strokes of the lead, the final
round of the Nissan Open sets up as a mad, crowded dash to the
finish.
Armour, turning in his third steady round, shot a 4-under-par
67 Saturday at Valencia Country Club to edge in front at 9-under
204.
Mayfair, the leader the first two days, survived another up-and-down
round to post a 69 that left him alone in second.
Woods, who holed a 9-iron for an eagle on the fourth hole,
had a 65 to join Skip Kendall, Bob Estes, Scott Hoch and Payne
Stewart at 7-under.
Kendall shot 64, Estes 67, Hoch 68 and Stewart 69.
Armour, in the tournament only because of a sponsor's exemption,
hasn't won since 1990. But he's been playing some of the best
golf of his life this year.
Asked the key to his three rounds of solid golf in the Nissan,
Armour replied, "Solid golf."
He smiled and added, "I've been hitting a lot of good
shots and coming to the course ready to play good golf."
The 38-year-old Armour, who lost his tour card last year and
hasn't regained it, already has a pair of top-10 finishes this
year, a tie for second at Phoenix and a tie for sixth at San Diego.
After finishing 131st on the money list in 1997, one spot lower
than needed to keep his card, Armour failed to get it back when
he shot a final-round 77 at the tour school -- missing qualifying
by two shots.
Armour joined the tour in 1982 and his only victory came at
Phoenix eight years ago. He played in 30 events last year, but
his best finish was a tie for 17th.
He has won $244,350 in three tournaments this year, which is
more than he made in an entire year since 1990, when he earned
$348,658.
His reemergence this year, while dramatic, isn't easily explainable.
"It's a lot of subtle changes that have made a big change,"
Armour said. "I can't just pick one thing; it's an accumulation
of things."
Woods, who hasn't won a tour event since last July but has
finished no worse than third in three starts this year, got rolling
when his second shot, from 142 yards on the par-4, 422-yard No.
4, went into the cup.
"I didn't see it; you can't see anything on that hole,"
Woods said. "But the people went really crazy and the amplitude
went up, up, up, and then there were people screaming and you
could see hats flying into the air.
"There was a pretty good assumption that it went in."
Woods said he's playing well now, his game more consistent
than it was last year.
"I was kind of bummed out that I haven't won, but I've
been right there," he said.
Among the others within close striking range of the lead after
three rounds was Hal Sutton, winner of the 1983 PGA Championship
and seven other titles, who had a 66 to go to 6-under at Valencia
Country Club.
The tournament is being played in Valencia because the usual
host course, Riviera Country Club, is being prepared for the U.S.
Senior Open in July. Divots: The Nissan Open winner will get $378,000,
with second worth $226,000. ... John Daly, who started the tournament
with a 73, then had a 71 the second day, shot a third-round 66
that put him within six shots of the lead. ... Defending champion
Nick Faldo has never really been in contention this year and is
at 3-over. His victory, of course, came at Riviera.
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