Paulson maintains narrow advantage

Carl Paulson had birdies on two of the final four holes en route to a 1-under-par 70 today and a two-shot lead over Len Mattiace after three rounds of the Tampa Bay Classic.

Paulson, looking for his first PGA Tour victory, is at 11-under 202. His round included four birdies and three bogeys.

"I was nervous, I expected to be,'' Paulson said. "If I wasn't nervous, I would think there was something wrong with me, like playing in 115-degree heat and not sweating.''

Mattiace, also winless on the tour, matched Paulson's round while making par of the final seven holes.

"It was a vanilla-type day, nothing really exciting,'' Mattiace said. "One-under, that's all I could get going. I like my position.''

Steve Lowery is third, after a 69, and trails Paulson by three shots. His only PGA Tour victory came in 1994.

"If you're only happy out here winning a golf tournament, you're going to be miserable most of the time,'' Lowery said. "Rather than a goal, it's like a reward. If you work hard, play hard, then all of a sudden it happens when you least expect it."

John Huston moved back into contention at 206 after a 67. He is tied with Frank Lickliter.

"I felt like that I had general idea where it was going,'' said Huston, who rebounded from a 73 Friday. "Yesterday, for whatever reason, I felt clueless. When I got to the range today, I felt like I had a little more control.''

Paulson, who earned his PGA Tour card by finishing first last year on the Buy.com Tour money list, took a one-shot advantage with a birdie on the difficult 215-yard par-3 15th. He followed that with another birdie on the par-3 17th.

"I've had a lot of tournaments, especially on the Buy.com Tour, I thought I should have won and didn't,'' Paulson said. "If you get ahead of yourself, you can get yourself in trouble.''

Andrew Magee, who started the day tied for 37th place, had the low round, a 66 that left him tied with Robin Freeman at 207.

Lee Janzen is at 209 after a 71. Fred Couples also shot 71, and is at 210.

First-round leader Mike Hulbert continued a two-day slide, shooting a 75. He trails the leader by 12 shots after 54 of 72 holes.

Nick Faldo stands at 215 after a 72.

The tournament winner will receive $432,000. The total purse is $2.4 million.

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