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Three share lead into last round

Three players share the third-round lead at the $450,000 Samsung Canadian PGA Championship.

Kevin Burton (69) and Tim Petrovic (66) caught Canadian Richard Zokol (70), who had a one-stroke lead after 36 holes. The trio sit at 11-under-par 205 and lead Richard Johnson (67), Pat Perez (67) and Gary Hallberg (68) by one stroke.

Zokol cruised along the front side of the 7,079-yard course at DiamondBack Golf Club. His three birdies took him to 12-under par at the turn and gave him a two-stroke lead, his largest of the day. His only mistake came on the par-3 15th hole, when he got over the top of his 5-iron and short-sided himself in the rough. He shanked it out and three shots later recorded a double bogey.

"I played extremely solid today," said Zokol, who had strung together 31 consecutive bogey-free holes before No. 15. "One bad swing, the wrong position again costing a double bogey. Those aren't big deals. I don't worry about that."

He was more upset moments later after his approach shot on No. 16 hit the flag and spun 20 yards backwards.

"I remember once asking Moe Norman (a two-time winner of this event -- 1966 and '74) what his biggest fear in golf was and he said hitting the pin because you don't know where the ball is going to go if you hit the pin."

Zokol saved par and birdied No. 18 to get back a share of the lead at the end of the day.

"Whoever wins tomorrow is going to have to play good golf," Zokol said. "Anything less than great won't win. That's the way it is for me. That's what I have to do to be the last guy standing."

Petrovic has been waiting all year to assume that role. He has made seven of eight cuts, has four top-five finishes, including two runner-ups and is fourth on the money list with earnings of $139,172.

"It would be nice to finally get my first win, and it would be kind of nice to get it in Canada," Petrovic said. "My professional career ... started in one of the other commonwealth countries, Australia. Started first over there, and then I played Canada that year (1988). It'd be real nice to get my first win here."

Petrovic began the day at 5 under and quickly birdied the first two holes. He made his only mistake, a bogey, two holes later, then added a birdie on No. 8 to make the turn at 7 under. The key to Saturday's round was finishing with four birdies over his last five holes.

"I felt fine when I got here and not really much happened," said Petrovic, who lives in Tampa, Fla. "I played so-so on the front and just managed to turn 2 under. Just made that one mistake out of the bunker, but once I got that putter going, I was giving myself some opportunities and then here we go."

Burton, whose parents were born in Calgary, struggled through the front, matching two bogeys with two birdies. He regained his composure and added three more birdies on the back, grabbing a portion of the lead with his last one on No. 18.

"Overall, I think I played really pretty solid," Burton said. "I did go hunting after a few pins that I probably shouldn't have, and that's where my bogeys came. I think now on the weekend they start to put a couple of those red light pins out there, and I was foolish enough to fire at them, and tomorrow hopefully I won't. Missed a couple of other opportunities when I had it in there, but I also made a couple, so overall I am pretty happy."

Defending champion Chad Wright had the best round of the day and made the biggest move up the leaderboard. His 7-under-par 65 carried him from making the cut on the number (tied for 58th) to a tie for eighth with one round to go.

Tommy Biershenk (66) is alone in seventh place at 9 under. Wright (65), Brian Fogt (68), Rod Pampling (70) and Omar Uresti (69) round out the top 10, three behind the leaders.

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