Pampling charges
Rod Pampling finished the storm-delayed third round with a flourish Saturday in Dublin, Ohio, holing a 40-foot birdie putt to take the lead and hitting a terrific fairway bunker shot that capped off a 4-under-par 68, giving him a three-shot lead at the Memorial.
Pampling was just another name on the leaderboard on a gloomy afternoon at Muirfield Village. As daylight began to fade, the Australian began to take charge.
He joined the leaders with a birdie from the bunker on the par-5 11th, just as tournament host Jack Nicklaus and his grandson pulled up in a cart to watch. Pampling went one shot ahead on his slick, bending 40-foot birdie on the 14th.
But he saved his most impressive work for the final hole. From 153 yards away in a bunker, his shot just reached the green and checked up 3 feet from the hole, putting him at 15-under 201.
The biggest surprise was the margin.
Adam Scott stayed one shot behind from the 14th with three consecutive up-and-downs, one of them for birdie on the par-5 15th, but he ran out of luck on the 18th when his tee shot strayed into a thick clump of grass in front of a slope and he missed an 8-foot par putt. That gave him an even-par 72, and left him at 204 along with Sean O’Hair.
Will MacKenzie and Stewart Cink each shot 65, the low rounds of the day, and were at 205 with Aaron Baddeley (71).
Bubba Watson also was tied for the lead, but that was before a triple bogey on the 15th hole.
The third round was delayed 2 1/2 hours when lightning-filled storms moved into the area, although the course didn’t get much rain. With more storms in the forecast, the tee times have been moved for today.
Tiger Woods sputtered again, making birdie on only one of the par 5s in his round of 70 that left him 11 shots behind.
“I just haven’t made anything,” Woods said.
Pampling, whose last PGA Tour victory came in Arnold Palmer’s tournament at Bay Hill last year, avoided a big number early. His 3-wood came up short of the par-5 fifth green and into the water, and his chip slid off the front of the green and was headed back into the water until the rough held it up. He chipped up to 3 feet to escape with bogey.
“Once I made that bogey, things totally changed,” Pampling said. “I said to my caddie, ‘Why am I being so conservative out here? Let’s be more aggressive.’ “
LPGA
Despite three late bogeys, Lorena Ochoa shot a 2-under 70 for a three-stroke lead at the rainy Ginn Tribute in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Ochoa’s bogey stretch came in the final six holes. She finished at 11 under, three shots ahead of Nicole Castrale (68). Cristie Kerr (67) and rookie Angela Park (71) were four strokes behind the leader.
Rathdrum’s Tracy Hanson was tied for 49th at 3 over and Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., was tied for 59th at 5 over.
Champions Tour
Jay Haas, winless in Florida in PGA Tour-sanctioned competition, shot a 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Tom Purtzer after the second round of the Boeing Championship in Destin, Fla.
Haas, the Champions Tour money leader, had a bogey-free, 13-under 129 total. Purtzer, the first-round co-leader after a 62, shot a 68.
NCAA championship
At Williamsburg, Va., the Stanford Cardinal shot a 1-over 281 and ran away with the NCAA tournament by 12 shots, claiming their first golf championship since 1994.
Stanford was a powerhouse when Tiger Woods arrived in 1995, and he won an individual title in 1996. That championship eluded the Cardinal this time. Southern California freshman Jamie Lovemark used three consecutive late birdies in his second-consecutive 6-under 64 to win the individual title.