Combs Leaves Field Lost In Lilac Rough

The race is now officially a chase.

With the $5,500 first prize in the Washington Trust Bank Lilac Invitational now just 18 holes away, Michael Combs can almost take it to the bank.

The 28-year-old professional from Richland turned in a boringly solid 4-under-par 68 at The Fairways on Saturday to open a 5-stroke lead after three rounds of the 36th annual tournament. The next nine golfers are bunched within 5 strokes.

Missing, however, is the flamboyant Mike Booth, who opened the tournament with a 63 and was one shot behind Combs at the halfway point. Booth was called back to California on business and left Saturday morning.

That left Combs with a 4-stroke lead on local amateur Todd Pence and George Mack Jr. of Portland entering Saturday’s round and five strokes on Dan Koesters after it.

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug, “I’ll take it where it comes. There was no magic.”

A soft left-breaking 15-foot birdie putt on No. 18 put Combs at 19-under 197 after three trips around the 6,398-yard par-72 course.

Koesters, the pro at the University of Idaho course, was 4 under on the backside for a 66 that vaulted him into second place at 202. He was one shot ahead of a pair of The Fairways employees, professional Craig Gronning (67) and Pence (70), the low amateur by six shots. Mack shot a 71 and is at 204.

The methodical Combs isn’t conceding himself the tournament. “I would definitely think you need to be under par,” he said. “The person who wins needs to be in the 60s all four days.”

Eric Rustand, a professional from Tucson, Ariz., who shot a 68 and is at 205, is about to concede to Combs.

“Nineteen under is unbelievable, I don’t care what course you’re on,” he said. “Out here I’d like to average five or six birdies a round and I’d still be a couple shots behind.”

Rustand played at Brigham Young University with Pence and married Tina Corbett, University High School Class of 1990, giving him more than enough reason to enter the Lilac.

The leaders tee off in threesomes today, with the last group out at 2:30.

Combs isn’t thinking about the course numbers, such as the tournament-record 265 established by Chris Mitchell in 1986.

“You just stick with your routine,” he said. “You have to do that whether you’re 5 strokes ahead or 5 strokes behind, whether you’re making cuts or missing cuts. You can’t get into the numbers thing.”

Combs only had one bad shot. His drive on the 525-yard fifth hole was right of the fairway in the hard pan. His second shot flew over the green into the thick weeds. He came out of the weeds long, left his approach short and missed a 6-footer for par.

“I had the wrong club in my hand and then hit a bad shot on top of it,” he said.

At that point, Combs was even for the day. And when Pence birdied No. 6 to go 3 under for the day, Combs’ lead was down to one. However, Pence bogeyed No. 8 and then added bogeys on Nos. 16 and 18, offsetting birdies on the backside par-5s.

“My sand wedge hurt me today,” Pence said. “I hit terrible shots on 8 and 16. You go from thinking birdie to bogey.”

He topped it off by three-putting 18.

“I’m going to have to concentrate,” Pence said. “I’ve been concentrating the whole tournament, but with those sand wedges I had mental lapses. (It will probably take) 63 and that may not be good enough, but that’s what I have in the back of my mind.”

Mack, who was in the final twosome with Combs, said, “The tournament is in his hands. It’s going to be tough unless Mike comes back to the field. I’m just going to have to get hot again.”

Mack played well without scoring well, hitting a number of shots close to the pin that didn’t stay close.

“I wasn’t (able to) guess if the greens were going to leap forward or suck back,” he said. “My score was not indicative of the way I felt I played.”

Mack left the course with four holes to play because he saw lightning, leaving Combs alone, but returned 15 minutes later to finish the round.

“I’m real skittish with lightning,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of golf in the southeastern United States and Asia. There, lightning storms are much more severe and move in quickly… . People die on golf courses.”

Koesters also knows he is going to have to start quickly, and has yet to play the front nine in better than 1 under.

“It’s hard to get momentum until you get to the back nine,” he said. “You seem to have a few less waits so you can get into a little roll.”

It’s important to make a birdie early, he said, then it’s easier to wait around and the slow play doesn’t bother you as much.

“I haven’t birdied 1 or 2 yet and birdied 3 just once. For cupcake holes, that isn’t a very good way to start. Out here, anything can happen. You feel like there’s 18 birdie holes. If you get of the box fast and get on a roll, anything can happen.”

Gronning, a 24-year-old Moses Lake native and a pro since 1990, made an early charge, shooting 32 on the front side to get to 12 under. But he only had one birdie on the back.

Defending champion Gary Lindeblad shot a 69 and is at 207. Mitchell, a six-time winner, is at 211 after matching par.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: LEADERBOARD Leaders after the third round of the Washington Trust Bank Lilac Invitational at The Fairways, 6,398 yards, par 72: Michael Combs 64-65-68-197 Dan Koesters 67-69-66-202 Craig Gronning 66-70-67-203 a-Todd Pence 66-67-70-203 George Mack Jr. 69-64-71-204 Eric Rustand 68-69-68-205 Casey Martin 70-68-68-206 Bob Rannow 69-69-68-206 John DeLong 68-69-70-207 Gary Lindeblad 70-68-69-207