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Verplank & Damron share lead

Robert Damron fired a back-nine 30 on his way to a three-under 67 and a share of the lead after Saturday's third round of Byron Nelson Classic. He stands tied at 13-under-par 197 with Scott Verplank, who shot 68 to finish atop the leaderboard for the third straight day.

Justin Leonard, tied for 44th after two rounds, finished hours before the leaders with a bogey-free 61 that tied the course record at the TPC at Las Colinas. The 28-year-old Dallas native is together with Vijay Singh at 12- under par.

Second-round co-leader David Duval was one of the few players to struggle on a day that saw the scoring average dip to 68.145. He offset three front-nine birdies with five bogeys over the first 13 holes, but managed to birdie the 16th and 18th for an even-par 70. He is tied for fifth at 11-under with Brian Watts (63), Mike Weir (65) and 1991 Byron Nelson winner Nick Price (65).

Tiger Woods, playing in his first tournament since winning his second Masters title over a month ago, showed some rust with a 69 that started well with an eagle and a birdie before the turn. However, three bogeys over a six-hole stretch to start the back nine dropped him back to even on the day.

Although he failed to take advantage of the par-five 16th for the second straight day, Woods rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-three 17th to finish six strokes off the pace at minus-seven.

Just four back of the leaders is David Toms, the winner of last week's Compaq Classic of New Orleans. He racked up eight birdies -- including six on the way in for a 29 -- to post his career-low round of 62.

Leonard, whose 61 also marked a career best, began with birdies at the first and second holes and added a 30-foot birdie at the fifth to get to six-under for the tournament. His approach to the 10th stopped 40 feet from the flag but he ran in the putt for birdie, then followed with a shot to two feet for a birdie that took him to eight-under par.

Leonard closed out his round with four straight birdies for a back-nine 29 and the lead early in the afternoon.

"Just a great feeling, to have all the people from Dallas, family and friends today that were there," said Leonard, whose last victory came at the 2000 Texas Open in San Antonio. "I've played a lot of bad rounds on this golf course, and at this tournament, and all those people have seen and been with me through all those poor rounds and a couple missed cuts and things like that, and I think today is kind of a nice way to pay them back."

Verplank is looking to become the first player to lead this event from start to finish since Tom Watson won his third straight Byron Nelson Classic in 1980. He is also angling to beat out Leonard for the honor of becoming the first Dallas-born player to win the hometown tournament.

"It's a positive that I'm still tied for the lead because I definitely didn't play my best, so that leaves me with some room for improvement," said Verplank, who won his first PGA Tour title, the 1985 Western Open, in wire-to- wire fashion as an amateur. "If I play good tomorrow, then maybe I can pull it off."

Like many of the players who stood near the top of the board to start the round, Verplank failed to take advantage of Saturday's ideal scoring conditions that saw the usually constant Texas winds slow to just a whisper. But he didn't hurt himself either, carding mirror-image nines that were each comprised of eight pars and one birdie.

Verplank, who also had at least a piece of the lead every day in winning the 1988 Buick Open, posted his latest victory at last year's Reno-Tahoe Open.

Damron, whose best finish to date was a handful of thirds that include the 2000 Players Championship, was in third place to start the day but faded from view with a pair of three-putt bogeys at the third and fourth holes. He came to life on the back side, knocking a seven-iron to six feet and a wedge to 12 feet for back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11.

He suffered a setback with a bogey at 13, but rebounded starting at 14 with three birdies in a row within the 10 to 15-foot range. Damron dialed in that same distance at the last, holing a 12-footer to close with his fourth birdie in his last five holes.

While Damron says he's ready to fight for his first victory, he knows he can't count on the same benign conditions for Sunday's final 18.

"The greens were a little softer than yesterday just because of the little bit of rain we had last night," he said. "I imagine by tomorrow that'll be gone and it'll be a little firmer again.

"I'm playing well enough, so my job now is just to not put any undue pressure on myself because of the situation. Just go out and have a good time and let my game do what it's been doing."

Defending champion Jesper Parnevik is part of a group of players five shots back at minus-eight.

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