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Bates takes narrow advantage

Pat Bates posted a two-under 70 on Saturday and has a one-shot lead at 13-under par after 54 holes of the Buy.com Siouxland Open. Joe Daley carded a three-under 69 on Saturday and has sole possession of second place at 12-under.

Mark Wurtz (67), Tyler Williamson (69), Eric Meeks (69) and Bob Gaus (71) share third place at minus-10.

Bates was near the top of the leaderboard after back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12, but struggled down the stretch. He recorded three bogeys and two birdies over his last five holes but held on to the lead.

"I did enough things right to have the lead and I would have liked to separate myself a little bit," said Bates, who won this event in 1994. "I made a lot of bogeys, but I didn't make any big numbers. I figured 68 would have been a pretty good round and I played well enough to shoot that. I just missed a couple of short putts. I was real close to playing a real good round."

The conditions on Saturday at the Dakota Dunes Country Club played a major role. Temperatures were high, as was the humidity, but winds swirled around 20-25 m.p.h. all afternoon.

"They call it moving day but they should have called it stationary day today," said Gaus, referring to the windswept conditions. "You're not going to pick up much ground on day like today."

Bates opened with two birdies over his first four holes, then sandwiched a birdie around two bogeys, starting at the sixth. He will be looking for his first win on the Buy.com Tour since the 1997 Colorado Classic.

Daley was four-under through 10 holes, but could only manage seven pars and a bogey the rest of the way.

"It was very tough to get it close to the pin," said Daley. "You needed to have perfect yardage and make sure the shot was shaped perfectly. It's tough to judge distance on days like today, especially with the cross winds."

One player who struggled all day was overnight leader Tjaart van der Walt. He mixed one birdie, three bogeys and a double-bogey for a four-over 76, dropping into a tie for 12th, five shots off the lead.

Ryan Howison, Conrad Ray, Deane Pappas, Brian Kortan and Darron Stiles are knotted in seventh place at nine-under par.

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