Edwards opens three shot advantage

Joel Edwards won't lose any sleep over having a three-shot lead after three rounds of the Air Canada Championship.

Eating, however, is a whole other story.

"I'll sleep no problem. It's the eating that's the problem," Edwards said today after shooting a 3-under-par 68. "I'm not a big eater, especially when I get a little nervous."

Edwards has never led after 54 holes in his 11-year PGA Tour career, so nerves may be a factor Sunday. The 39-year-old admitted there's a good chance he will get sick before the final round starts.

"I hope you don't have to see that, but it could happen," laughed Edwards, who hasn't had a bogey since his 10th hole of Thursday's opening round and was at 13-under 200.

Grant Waite's 65 was the best score of the third round and left him at 203, one shot in front of Fred Funk, who had a 67, and David Gossett, who shot a 69.

"It's a nice feeling, I could get used to this," Edwards said. "I feel good about what I'm doing, but I'm surprised I didn't get in the way of myself, which I have a tendency to do. It's nice to know that I played extremely well out there and hung in because it could have gone the other way pretty easily."

It did just that for Steve Lowery.

Lowery birdied eight of his first 16 holes and took a temporary share of the lead at 12-under before a double-bogey on No. 17 and a triple-bogey on 18 left him six strokes off the pace.

"That's the game we play and you just have to deal with it," Lowery said. "There's a fine line between really good and really bad. I've had rounds like that before that end disappointing, but I'm playing well, putting well and I made a lot of birdies this week. I'll just try to focus on that and try to play good tomorrow."

After driving into rough on 18, Lowery pitched out to the fairway, but left his third shot short and in the large pond that guards the green.

"I played the right shot out of the rough and then hit an extra club on the third shot so the club was good, but I just didn't hit as solid as I needed to," said Lowery, who finished third at the PGA Championship two weeks ago. "That's golf, you just have to line up and try to do it again tomorrow."

Overnight rain turned to morning sunshine at the Northview Golf and Country Club, but the added moisture proved to be a double-edged sword. Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls, making it easy to attack the pin on receptive greens. The long rough was even tougher when wet and increasing wind made life miserable for several players.

"It can be a little bit of a survival test out there," said Waite, who made a hard-breaking, 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole to grab sole possession of second place. "The rough is up and if you hit it in the rough, you're just trying to advance the ball as close as you can to the green and try to get up and down to save par."

Waite was one stroke behind winner Rory Sabbatini at Northview last year and finished second to Tiger Woods at the Bell Canadian Open the next week.

Gossett grabbed a share of the lead at 10-under with an eagle on the par-5 4th, but three-putted the par-3 5th from 30 feet to start a string of three straight bogeys. He recovered with three birdies over the last five holes.

"I didn't give up and it was nice to play the last five at 3-under," Gossett said of a round that included one eagle, five birdies and five bogeys. "That will keep me smiling tonight and help tomorrow."

Brett Quigley shot a bogey-free 67 to move into a group of five players at 8-under 205, but all he could talk about afterward was the late-round fate of Lowery, his playing partner.

"I played solid, but it paled in comparison to the round he played," Quigley said. "To see him go through that after not hitting a bad shot is just so painful to watch. He's a great player and I wouldn't be surprised if he wins this golf tournament tomorrow."

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