Baird pulls one shot clear after 67

For much of the third round, no one seemed to want to take control of the BUY.COM Monterrey Open as several players made brief stays at the top before falling back down the leaderboard.

But when Briny Baird birdied No. 18 and Tripp Isenhour bogeyed, he stood alone with a one-stroke lead over Isenhour and J.J. Henry. The birdie gave Baird a 67 and moved him to 14-under-par. Isenhour shot 68 while Henry had a 69.

A total of nine golfers will enter the final round of the $450,000 event within four shots of Baird's lead. Mark Hensby, Tom Kalinowski, Brian Tennyson -- each of whom shot 66s -- are tied with Tim Clark (69) in fourth while Manny Zerman (68), Danny Briggs (69) and Dave Barr (72) round out the top-10 at 10-under-par.

Baird and Isenhour will play in the same group Sunday for the second consecutive round. The two battled down the back nine Saturday with Isenhour holding the lead at the turn and not relinquishing it until his mistake on the 18th hole.

"The key is hitting the fairways and then if you are doing that you can go at these flags," said Isenhour who made seven birdies Saturday.

Baird had already taken advantage of the other par 5s on the Club Campestre course when he came to the 18th. He made it a clean sweep when his 6-foot putt went into the hole.

"It's like Tripp said. If you hit the fairways, the par 5s are not that long. It enables you to go for the par 5s in two and the birdies will follow," Baird said.

"I'm not playing against Tripp. If that's the swing we have tomorrow then it's a big swing because that will give me the win. That's huge. Today it doesn't matter."

Baird, whose father Butch won two times on the PGA Tour and two more times on the Senior PGA Tour, will be playing in the last group on Sunday for the first time on the BUY.COM Tour.

"I want to win," Baird said. "If I shoot a good round and someone shoots better -- if I went out there tomorrow with conditions like this and shot 6 under, barring a mistake on the last hole, I would walk away with my head up."

Isenhour had similar thoughts.

"(I'm going to ) go play my game and don't worry about it," said Isenhour, who won the BUY.COM Mississippi Gulf Coast Open two weeks ago. "We'll add them up when we get done and I'd love to be standing here with the trophy again. Briny played a great round of golf today. I don't think he made but one bad swing all day. Briny, J.J., we are all bunched up. Anybody can win."

Baird made only one mistake Saturday, a bogey on the 14th hole when his tee shot found the greenside bunker and he could not get up and down. Baird's 67 marked the 10th time in the last 11 rounds he has shot par or better.

"I know where my irons are going. I'm hitting it solid. So I have a decent clue as to where the ball is going," Baird said. "I'm not making many bad swings so I'm not making many bogeys."

Henry, who was one shot off the lead to start the day, got into trouble early -- driving his initial tee shot into the right fairway bunker and then bogeying two of the first four holes. He recovered well, though, and played his remaining 14 holes in 5 under.

"I had two three-putts early, got behind the eight ball, came back. I was proud," Henry said.

Ted Soule, the second-round leader who is playing in just his third BUY.COM Tour event, had a rough day, shooting 75 to drop to 8-under-par and into a tie for 14th. Soule made two double bogeys and a bogey on the front nine and two more bogeys on the back.

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