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Campbell takes over lead
Chad Campbell has enjoyed
success at every level of golf. He's on the verge of an immediate breakthrough
on the PGA Tour.
The leading money winner
on the Buy.com Tour this season, Campbell capped a 7-under-par 65 with three straight
birdies Saturday and took a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Southern
Farm Bureau Classic.
With the PGA's elite players
in Houston for the season-ending Tour Championship, Campbell is on top of a watered-down
field. He finally made his first bogey of the tournament but more than offset
it with an eagle and six birdies to reach 17-under 199.
The 27-year-old Dallas native
is making his third career PGA start but second since the end of the Buy.com season.
He missed the cut at the U.S. Open in June and the National Car Rental Classic
last month.
Dicky Pride shot a 67 to
move into second place at 15-under, one stroke better than Cameron Beckman and
second-round co-leader Brandt Jobe, who carded a 69.
Pride is the only player
among the top four with a PGA Tour victory, but that came as a rookie in 1994
and he needs a win this week to retain his card for next season.
Carl Paulson, the 1999 Buy.com
leading money winner, shared the second-round lead with Jobe but managed just
a 2-under 70 at the Annandale Golf Club and slipped into a tie for fifth with
Dan Forsman and Fred Funk at 203.
One day after firing a 64,
Campbell again had the best round of the afternoon. He opened with his first bogey
of the tournament but recovered with birdies at the third and fifth holes.
Campbell chipped in for
eagle at the 556-yard seventh and birdied the par-4 ninth to make the turn at
13-under. He started the back side with six pars but began his finishing kick
at the par-4 16th hole.
Campbell also was the leading
money winner on the Hooters Tour in 1998 and 2000, when he won eight of the first
16 event and earned $188,279, $110,000 more than his closest competitor.
This year, the former Nevada-Las
Vegas star won three Buy.com events and nearly $400,000 to secure his 2002 PGA
Tour card. So he does not share the concerns of players like Pride and Jobe, whose
strong start here already may have secured his PGA privileges for next season.
First prize is $432,000.
Annandale is a 7,199-yard, par-72 layout.
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