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Durant seeking third win of 2001

Joe Durant birdied the 16th and 17th holes Saturday for a third-round 71 and a one-shot lead at nine-under-par 207 over Lee Janzen at the Houston Open. Janzen, the leader at the start of the day, bogeyed the 18th to finish 54 holes at eight-under with a one-over 73.

Durant knocked a seven-iron to 15 feet at the par-three 16th and rolled in the putt to pull within a shot of Janzen, who missed a birdie putt of similar length at the same hole. At the 17th, Durant chose another seven-iron for his 151-yard approach over the water at the difficult par-four. His ball landed a foot short of the precarious front left hole location and he tapped in to tie Janzen at nine-under par.

Janzen's drive at 17 came to rest on a bank along the water, leaving him with an awkward lie for his second shot with the ball above his feet. He aimed right for his approach and the ball came back and landed 20 feet behind the hole, but his bid for birdie broke left at the very end.

While Durant managed a routine par at the final hole, Janzen's approach to the last was long and left. His chip from the rough ran over the green and past the hole, stopping just short of a watery grave. Janzen fashioned a delicate chip back to the hole that nearly fell in the cup to save par.

"What I really wanted to do was get under it and make it come up and land soft," Janzen said of his first chip at 18. "The club just bounced into the ball. I tried my best to hit that shot fat, and I just caught it too good."

Janzen, a two-time U.S. Open winner, is out to win for the first time since his 1998 triumph at the Olympic Club. He also won the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol.

Although he had a chance to notch a win in this event in 1998, Janzen made three bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine Sunday and David Duval stepped in to take the title.

Durant, a journeyman player with one victory heading into the 2001 season, captured the Bob Hope Classic in February with a record-breaking, five-round total of 36-under-par 324. He went on to win in his next start at Doral.

"Tomorrow I don't know what's going to happen, I really don't," said Durant, whose breakthrough victory came at the 1998 Western Open. "I'm just going to try to go out and see if I can really focus on just getting the ball in play and hitting some decent shots."

Durant got off to a slow start, parring the first five holes before stumbling into the turn with bogeys at holes six and nine. He began his turnaround at the 10th, where he hit the green with an eight-iron to set up a 15-footer for birdie. He reeled off another five pars before taking the lead with his late birdie surge.

"I really didn't know where the ball was going today on the front at all," he said. "I was hitting my irons -- I hit some of them 20, 30 yard offline. And I really struggled with my set-up this week for some reason and I finally keyed on one little thing that helped me hit it a little better on the back nine."

Durant was tied for the first-round lead with Janzen, who was unable to get going on Saturday, a day when players typically jockey for position during atour three, and the jam-packed leaderboard looked much like it did following play on Friday.

A total of 24 players are currently within six shots of the leader as compared to 21 through two rounds.

Hal Sutton eagled the par-five 15th on his way to a 71 and sole possession of third place at seven-under 209.

Chris DiMarco, the leader after the first and second rounds of the Masters two weeks ago, made it to eight-under for the second straight day but double- bogeyed the 17th. He posted a 71 to finish at six-under with Kevin Sutherland, who made one of only eight birdies at 17 on Saturday for an even-par 72.

Scott Hoch fired a 67 -- the low round of the day -- to grab a share of sixth place at five-under with Carlos Franco, Ben Ferguson, Shaun Micheel and Tom Pernice, Jr.

Vijay Singh, a two-time winner on the European Tour this year, had a 69 to join Brian Gay and Joel Edwards at minus-four. Though winless of the PGA Tour this year, Singh is second only to Tiger Woods on the season money list with six top-four finishes in 10 starts.

Robert Allenby, looking to become the first repeat champion in Houston Open history, is among 12 players six shots off the pace.

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