Scherrer holds on to narrow lead

The mantle of leadership, unfamiliar to Tom Scherrer or not, is starting to fit.

Scherrer, whose best finish in two full seasons on tour was a third in Phoenix four years ago, overcame his inexperience and his pursuers today to remain in the lead in the Tucson Open for the second straight day.

"I still have a long way to go, but I certainly like where I'm sitting," he said after shooting a 4-under-par 68. "I'd rather be one ahead than one behind -- it's one less shot I have to make up. So the more you get in this position the more comfortable you get, and I'm feeling comfortable."

Scherrer's third-round road to 17-under 199 included his only bogey of the tournament.

With the leaderboard clogged with non-winners, Scherrer made back the ground he lost and held off charges by Stephen Ames, whose 64 matched the best score of the event, and Tom Purdy, who shot 66 in the third round.

Both were one shot off the lead.

Jonathan Kaye was alone at 201, and Frenchman Jean Van de Velde, last year's British Open runner-up, was at 202, both after 65s.

The quartet at 203 included Steve Jones, Steve Flesch, Jim Carter and Len Mattiace. Jones, whose eight titles include the 1996 U.S. Open, is the only one of the top nine to win on tour.

As recently as 1998, the tournament attracted players such as Phil Mickelson and David Duval, who won it the last time it had a weekend to itself. Then the PGA Tour scheduled the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship at the same time, and the talent drain began.

But Ames, a promising star who has made the cut in 28 of the 42 PGA Tour tournaments he's entered, said that didn't make winning any easier.

"It's weak," he said about the field. "But these guys can still play -- all of them. You can see the numbers. Last year (Gabriel Hjertstedt, who missed this year's cut) was 12-under. What was Duval the year before? 17-under? So I mean the guys are playing well out here."

Scherrer had never had sole possession of a lead until Friday's 66 opened a two-stroke gap over Tom Byrum and Mike Springer. He found himself in a three-way tie with Ames and Purdy early on the back nine today.

He recovered from his bogey at No. 11 with a 10-foot birdie putt on the next hole, and separated himself from his pursuers with a 23-footer on No. 15.

"You don't make too many of those in the course of a day, and fortunately it went in," he said.

Playing the last hole -- a 465-yard, uphill par-4 that is the most difficult on the Tucson National course -- in twilight, Scherrer drove his approach shot into a bunker in front of the green.

Then he showed the mettle of a winner, blasting out to within three feet of the pin and rolling in the putt to preserve his lead.

The first two holes on the back nine were crucial for Ames.

He reached 16-under with a 3-foot birdie putt -- his eighth birdie of the round -- on No. 15, about the time Scherrer and Purdy were making the turn.

Purdy, a Scottsdale, Ariz., native and University of Arizona graduate, lost his playing privileges after his rookie season in 1999. He was playing the Asian PGA Tour and had to travel from the Philippines after he got a sponsor's exemption to enter.

But he birdied five of the first eight holes and moved into a three-way tie for the lead when he eagled the 10th hole, a 501-yard par-5.

Scherrer, playing a pairing behind, overcame an errant tee shot to par the hole, but bogeyed No. 11 when he two-putted from 12 feet.

Purdy, meanwhile, bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes -- in effect, giving back his eagle -- and went to 14-under. He birdied two of the last three holes in the pressure of his first event this year.

"It would be perfect," he said about winning at home. "It would be kind of fairy-tailish. I mean, to win without my card, and the sponsors invite you. It was up to the last day that I got in. They had to e-mail me in Manila to tell me. It would be kind of a fairy tale."

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