Sorenstam aces way into lead

Perfectionist Annika Sorenstam wasn't happy with her short game in the third round of the Welch's-Circle K Championship.

On the other hand, she couldn't find too much fault with a 5-under-par round that included her second career hole-in-one and three birdies -- one an 18-foot chip from the rough.

"I jumped up and down when I made the hole-in-one, but that was more in surprise," said Sorenstam, who leads the LPGA in greens reached in regulation but hit only 12 of 18 in this round. "It wasn't as pretty as the previous two days, but today I put a good score together, and I'm happy about that."

Her 67 sent her to 14-under 202 and into a first-place tie with Moira Dunn, who got her share with a birdie on the finishing hole while Sorenstam was in the interview tent.

"It's hard," said Dunn, a non-winner in five years on tour. "I don't know. It's not really playing easy, I don't think. I thought it would be easier. I think the wind is a little tricky."

She believes the sun-baked Randolph Park North layout will stay tough for Sunday's final round.

"I don't see anyone going a little crazy unless they start late in the day hitting it real close, because you can't count on making a lot of long putts," Dunn said.

Pat Hurst had third place to herself at 203, one shot ahead of Cathy Johnston-Forbes, Brandie Burton and second-round leader Cristie Kerr, who finished with a 72 after bogeying three holes in a row on the front nine.

Chris Johnson, the Tucson winner in 1984 and 1991, matched the best score of the tournament with a 64 and moved into a four-way tie at 205 with Michelle McGann, Dottie Pepper and Lorie Kane.

"It has been an interesting week for me after starting at 74. I wanted to be in the hunt," said Johnson, who missed the cut last year and was in danger again Friday until she carded a 67 to make the final field.

Jill McGill, Laura Davies, Mi Hyun Kim and defending champion Juli Inkster were four shots off the lead.

Sorenstam, a former University of Arizona player followed by the largest gallery of the tournament, skipped Tucson the last three years.

During that span, the point woman for the LPGA's "Swedish Invasion" won 12 of her 18 titles, a surge which left her needing one more to qualify for the Hall of Fame. She came close last week with a runner-up finish to Karrie Webb in the Takefuji Classic, and traveled to Tucson with first place in mind.

"I've got to shoot in the 60s," Sorenstam said. "If you just look at the leaderboard, there are a lot of names and a lot of players up there. I'm 14-under, and that's averaging more than four (-under) each round."

She began three shots behind, but birdied the third hole to go 10-under, and got into high gear with a spectacular, 132-yard shot on the sixth hole, the shortest on the course.

Sorenstam's 9-iron tee shot landed about six yards short of the cup but on a beeline for the flagstick, hopped and rolled in.

She turned problems into assets with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. Sorenstam hooked her tee short into trees on the 12th hole, then hit a low runner between the thin trunks of two palm trees. It stopped about 18 feet below the hole and six feet short of a sand trap, and Sorenstam chipped in.

On the next hole, she chipped over a bunker and left herself a 3-foot putt to reach 14-under.

Dunn birdied the third and fourth holes, but bogeyed the fifth after failing to get up-and-down following an errant approach shot. She got back to 12-under with her best birdie - a 25-footer - on No. 7, at the same time passing Kerr, her playing partner.

Dunn birdied No. 9 to share the lead with Hurst until Sorenstam's consecutive birdies, but had to wait until .

Dunn caught up again at No. 18, where she chipped to within six feet and sank the putt.

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