Villegas leads field in St Louis

9/7/2008

Camilo Villegas held a one-shot lead going into the final round of the BMW Championship in St Louis.

The Colombian could not finish his third round on Saturday with him tied with Jim Furyk on 12-under-par.

But he returned on Sunday and sunk a birdie putt on the penultimate hole of his round to move into pole position to win his first PGA Tour event.

Furyk and Anthony Kim, who ended on nine-under, are the leading names in the chasing pack.

American Furyk carded rounds of 62 and 66 on Saturday to climb up the leaderboard after opening with a level-par round of 70.

The organisers were hoping to fit 36 holes into Saturday's play following a first day wash-out, as the remnants of Hurricane Gustav blew through Missouri but 23 players were unable to finish their rounds.

He will play in the final group with Furyk and Kim, who also came back to complete a third-round 66.

KJ Choi shot a 64 to be level with Kim on nine under, but world number two Phil Mickelson could only card a 71 to finish seven shots off the lead.

Spain's Sergio Garcia headed the European challenge on five-under after a 69, but the highlight of his day came in the second round when he holed in one at the 205-yard 3rd with a five-iron.

Open and US PGA champion Padraig Harrington was over par for the second successive round and his 72 left him well out of contention on two over par.

Leaderboard – Round 3:

1.   Camilo Villegas               COL  65 66 66 197 -13
2.   Jim Furyk                       USA  70 62 66 198 -12
3.   Anthony Kim                   USA  68 67 66 201 - 9
      Tim Clark                       SAF  67 68 66 201 - 9
      Brian Gay                       USA  67 67 67 201 - 9
6.   D.J. Trahan                     USA  71 63 68 202 - 8
      K.J.Choi                         KOR  70 68 64 202 - 8
      Dudley Hart                    USA  67 69 66 202 - 8
      Aaron Baddeley               AUS  71 64 67 202 - 8
10. Stephen Ames                 CAN  68 69 66 203 - 7

Source: BBC Sports, PGA Tour