Lickliter aiming for first victory

Phil Mickelson did everything but catch Frank Lickliter in the third round of the Phoenix Open.

He'll get another chance on Sunday.

Lickliter hung onto a one-shot lead over the 1996 Phoenix champion by shooting a 2-under-par 69 on today for a 54-hole total of 13-under 200. Mickelson's charge seemed to have an effect when Lickliter, a non-winner in four years on tour, bogeyed the 18th hole minutes after Mickelson birdied it.

"I was trying to make those putts and I got pretty aggressive with them," said Lickliter, who has bettered his previous season every one of his four years on tour. "I was trying to get a little separation."

Robert Allenby was alone two shots back, with Paul Stankowski, Hal Sutton, Steve Flesch and second-round leader Tom Lehman bunched at 203. Lehman shot a 73 after playing the first two rounds with just one bogey.

"The way he played the first two rounds, I certainly thought he was going to have another 3-, 4- or 5-under-par round. So I feel very fortunate that my 6-under round got me in contention," said Mickelson, whose 65 matched the best score of the day. Davis Love III also shot a 65.

Mickelson's 63 Thursday was worth a share of the first-round lead with Lehman, but he put himself in a hole the next round with a 73.

Lickliter has been in the money in all three tournaments this year, but followed his 62 in the fourth round at the Bob Hope last week with a 74 to tie for 28th. He said he learned something that might help in his first experience at defending a solo lead.

"I wasn't very patient that day, and my expectations might have been a little high after shooting a 62, with no bogeys that day," Lickliter said. "So now I'm just trying to stay extra patient tomorrow."

David Toms had a 66 to pull to 204 with defending champion Rocco Mediate and Scott Gump.

Tom Byrum, Kirk Triplett, Mike Weir and Mark Calcavecchia, a two-time champion, had the other 66s of the day, forming a seven-player group at 205 that included Vijay Singh, another former Phoenix winner, Mike Weir and Bradley Hughes.

Mickelson got back into the chase with birdies on four of five holes midway through the round. He bogeyed the 12th, but regained his momentum when he reached the island green of the par-5 15th hole with his second shot and sank a 12-foot eagle putt.

That got him to 11-under.

Lickliter went 13-under and moved two shots ahead of everyone when he birdied the 10th hole, holing a 5-foot putt that ran around the rim before dropping.

He faltered on the next hole with a bogey, but Lehman also bogeyed and went to 10-under, getting no closer.

Lickliter's lead went to three shots when he sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole after hitting his second shot into deep rough across a bunker from the green.

But his aggressive putting cost him on the final green when he rolled a 30-foot birdie attempt about seven feet past the hole and wound up three-putting.

Mickelson's threesome was waiting on the 18th tee when a 22-month-old boy fell from a corporate tent and hit the back of his head on the grass 20 feet below. Play was delayed about 10 minutes while he was airlifted to a hospital.

Mickelson, who threatened last summer to pull out of the U.S. Open even though he was in contention (he finished second) to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, tried to block out the scene.

"Our heart goes out to them," he said about the family. "A golf tournament is not the place where you think about injuries."

It was the second disruption of the play because of spectators in two years. Last year, a man who was carrying a pistol in a fanny pack heckled Tiger Woods and was arrested.

This tournament featured a near repeat, when several fans taunted David Duval into making an obscene gesture at them. The heckling occurred around the 15th and 16th holes, where many of the tournament's crowds congregate around alcohol-selling tents.

Duval made bogeys at both holes that left him tied for 46th at 210.

"I don't understand why they weren't kicked out of the tournament," Mickelson said about the hecklers. "It makes no sense to me. What are the marshals there for? Kick them out. Very simple."

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page