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Sluman takes lead after shooting 64

Jeff Sluman carded a seven-under 64 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead after 54 holes of the Greater Milwaukee Open. Sluman's 14-under 199 put him ahead of Shigeki Maruyama, overnight leader Kenny Perry and Harrison Frazar, who fired a nine-under 62.

Tim Herron, Marco Dawson and Charles Howell share fifth place at minus-11.

Sluman, Perry and Frazar shared the lead at 12-under par but Perry and Frazar both birdied holes to break ahead of Sluman. Sluman matched them at 13-under at the 15th after he blasted out of a bunker to three feet to set up birdie.

At 17, Sluman played his approach shot 10 feet right of the hole and drained the birdie putt to grab the outright lead.

He almost lost ground at the par-five closing hole when his third shot bounced on the fringe and struck the flag stick. Due to the impact, Sluman's ball rolled eight yards back off the green but he got up and down to maintain his lead.

"I didn't really drive the ball particularly well today," said Sluman, who started Saturday's third round six shots off the lead. "I managed to stay out of making bogeys out there and I made a bunch of birdies on the shots I did hit pretty well."

Sluman is looking for his second Greater Milwaukee Open title in four years and his first win on the PGA Tour since the 1999 Sony Open in Hawaii.

He broke into red figures for the first time with a 25-foot birdie at the third, followed by a two-putt birdie at the par-five fourth. Sluman added three birdies along the way for his 64, despite hitting only five fairways in round three.

Frazar came out on fire Saturday with a tap-in birdie at one and a 10- footer at the second. He parred the third before rattling off three birdies in a row. Frazar holed a two-foot birdie at nine for a front-nine, six- under 29.

"It was kind of an easy 62, if there is such a thing," said Frazar, who is winless in 100 events on the PGA Tour. "I guess they usually are easy if you shoot 62. I've never heard anybody say that was really hard."

Frazar continued with a 12-foot birdie on No. 11 before his first brush with trouble.

At the 188-yard, par-three 14th, Frazar dropped his tee shot into a greenside bunker where he blasted out to eight feet. He converted the par save to remain near the top of the leaderboard.

Perry did not come close to his 63 on Friday. He dropped a shot with a three-putt bogey from 25 feet at the third and did not make the stroke up until a tap-in birdie at 13.

"If this was my bad round, that's good," said Perry, who turned in an even- par 71 on Saturday. "I'm only one behind."

Maruyama birdied three of his last four to get within one of the lead with a four-under 67.

Tom Byrum (66), Jay Don Blake (67), Steve Stricker (69), Craig Spence (70), Brent Geiberger (70) and last week's Western Open champion Scott Hoch (68) stand knotted in eighth place at 10-under 203.

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