Steady and simple Pernice takes one-shot lead at AT&T National

7/6/2008

Tom Pernice Jr. was easy to ignore Saturday in the AT&T National until he wound up in the lead.

All he did was make 15 pars on an explosive afternoon of birdies and bogeys at Congressional, and his lone complaint was that he made only two putts longer than his shadow. One was from 4 feet for par, another from 7 feet for birdie.

But it was that steady hand that gave him a 1-under 69 and a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker, leaving the 48-year-old Pernice optimistic about winning for the first time in seven years.

There were plenty of fireworks on a calm, muggy afternoon that led to so many possibilities until Pernice got up-and-down from just short of the 18th green to finish at 10-under 210.

Stricker is worried about where his tee shots are going, but he made his only two bogeys from the middle of the fairway and made a birdie on the 218-yard 10th hole for the third straight day.

Jeff Overton, the co-leader with Pernice going into the third round, made back-to-back double bogeys by coming up short on the 14th hole and going over the hill on the 15th hole, then answered with consecutive birdies to get back in the game.

Leaderboard – Round 3:

1.  Tom Pernice jr.                    USA  68 63 69 200 -10
2.  Steve Stricker                      USA  71 64 66 201 - 9
3.  Nick O´Hern                         AUS  70 65 67 202 - 8
     Tommy Armour III               USA  67 69 66 202 - 8
     Jeff Overton                        USA  66 65 71 202 - 8
6.  Cliff Kresge                          USA  69 65 69 203 - 7
     Tim Herron                          USA  68 70 65 203 - 7
     Anthony Kim                        USA  67 67 69 203 - 7
9.  Robert Allenby                      AUS  68 69 67 204 - 6
     Dean Wilson                        USA  69 70 65 204 - 6

16. Alex Čejka                          GER  67 71 68 206 - 4

Source: AP, PGA Tour