Todd Demsey takes narrow lead

Todd Demsey fired a six- under 66 to take a one-stroke lead at 10-under-par 206 after Saturday's third round of the Buy.com Virginia Beach Open. Second- round co-leader Ryuji Imada carded his second straight 68 and is alone in second place at nine-under.

Demsey tallied four birdies and no bogeys on the front nine to climb to the top of the leaderboard at eight-under. A bogey on the 10th, however, dropped him to seven-under and two shots out of the lead when Imada, playing two holes behind Demsey, sank a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-five eighth to go to nine-under.

Three straight birdies on holes 11, 12, and 13 put Demsey in the lead at 10-under, but he couldn't shake Imada, who scored a birdie of his own on the 11th to keep pace.

Then Demsey faced his greatest test of the tournament. After hitting his second shot into a waste bunker some 50 yards short of the green on the monstrous 484-yard, par-four 14th, Demsey flew his third shot over the green and past a television tower. He took a free drop and chipped his fourth shot over the green, leaving him 40 feet to save bogey.

Demsey then made the shot of the day, using an eight-iron to run his ball up and into the cup to keep the tournament from slipping away.

"It looked makeable, but I wasn't even thinking about that," said Demsey, who would go on to birdie the 17th to finish at minus-10. "I was just trying to get it close."

Imada, who briefly held the lead after Demsey's adventure on the 14th, fell back to nine-under when he bogeyed the same hole.

Mike Heinen, who shared the lead with Imada after 36 holes, turned in a one-under 71 to finish alone in third at six-under par.

The other player to lead after two rounds, David Berganio, shot an even-par 72 and is knotted in fourth with Chris Couch and Brian Tennyson at minus-five.

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