Daly takes AmEx lead with wild round of 67

John Daly hit one ball so far that it sailed over the green and led to double bogey. He hit another one so far that he had only an 8-iron into the 552-yard 10th hole for an eagle.

As a windswept and wild day was ending Saturday in the American Express Championship, Daly looked into the blue sky behind the 18th green at Harding Park in San Francisco and saw the vapor trail from a Blue Angels exhibition that went up and down with a couple of loop-de-loops in between.

How fitting.

Despite a bogey-par-double bogey start, Daly wound up with a 3-under 67 and a one-shot lead over Colin Montgomerie at 9 under for the championship, riding his prodigious tee shots to a 31 on the back nine – the tougher of the two nines – to position himself for his first victory in 19 months.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s stressful,” Daly said. “It’s great to be in this position, but it’s not the easiest thing to do.”

Montgomerie at least put himself in the final group by bouncing his approach off the mesh skirt of the grandstand on the 18th into deep rough, and following with a deft chip to save par for his 69.

“John and I come from different ends of the scales in a lot of ways,” Monty said. “He’s a good lad, and he did very today. I did particularly well to par the last 10 holes, so I’m quite proud of what I did out there to beat par and to stay in contention. That’s what one always does come Saturday night, to give oneself an opportunity to win. And I’ve done that, and we’ll see what happens.”

Too bad Tiger Woods’ scorecard didn’t have a few sketches of the places he saw Saturday at Harding Park. He was in the trees, under a car and hit his last tee shot so far to the right with the wind at his back that it flew over the rough, bounced off a cart path and went over a 25-foot hospitality tent. It might have gone all the way into the parking lot, except that it bounced off a fan and settled onto the stairs.

From that, he faced a 15-foot birdie putt that made a horseshoe around the cup and gave him 68. He was two shots out of the lead with Sergio Garcia, who had a bland round – 15 pars, three birdies, the only guy without a bogey.

LPGA Tour

Chile’s Nicole Perrot moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory, shooting a 7-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead after the third round of the Longs Drugs Challenge.

The 21-year-old Perrot, the 2001 U.S. Girls champion, had a 14-under 199 total on The Ridge Golf Course in Auburn, Calif. She had eight birdies – four in a row on Nos. 3-6 – and a bogey in the best round of her first full season on the tour.

“Winning is always great, I’m ready for it to happen, but I’m not pushing it,” said Perrot, a two-time winner last year on the Futures Tour. “I will really just try to focus on my game and what I’m feeling,” Perrot said. “It’s too tough to worry about (other players’) scores. I just try to control what I can control.”

Sweden’s Liselotte Neumann (64) and South Korea’s Hee-Won Han (66) were 11 under, and Sherri Turner (66), Jennifer Rosales (67) and Sherri Steinhauer (69) followed at 9 under.

Hall of Famers Juli Inkster (67) and Beth Daniel (70) were in a group at 8 under, and Annika Sorenstam was nine strokes back at 5 under after a 71.

Wendy Ward (67) of Edwall, Wash., sits at 4 under, while Tracy Hanson (76) of Rathdrum, Idaho, is 3 over.

Champions Tour

Dana Quigley shot a season-best 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Loren Roberts in the Greater Hickory Classic.

The 58-year-old Quigley, a two-time winner this year who leads the Champions Tour money list with $1,812,298, had a 12-under 132 total on the Rock Barn Golf & Spa’s Jones Course in Conover, N.C. Roberts, the Jeld-Wen Tradition winner in August, had a 65.

Jay Haas (67), Jim Ahern (66) and Tom McKnight (68) were 9 under, and Brad Bryant (67) and Lonnie Nielsen (70) were another stroke back.