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Herron joins lead after 3rd round 61

Tim Herron took his turn Friday, shooting the third 11-under-par 61 of the tournament and tying Stephen Ames for the third-round lead in the Bob Hope Classic.

Herron and Ames, who had a 64, were at 22-under 194 after 54 holes in the five-day event.

Herron's lowest score on the tour came a day after Jay Haas and Pat Perez had 61s.

Haas, the 1988 Hope champion, had a third-round 67 and was just a shot behind the co-leaders. Perez, however, had a 70 that dropped him six strokes off the pace and into a group at 16-under.

Herron, a three-time winner since coming onto the tour in 1996, began on the back nine at PGA West and birdied his first three holes, including rolling in a 40-foot putt on the 207-yard, par-3 No. 12.

He was five under after his first nine holes, then made six birdie putts, the longest a 15-footer, on the back nine for a 30 as he bettered his previous personal low round by one stroke.

The 32-year-old Herron is looking for his first win since taking the Bay Hill Invitational in 1999. His other victories came in the 1996 Honda Classic and the 1997 Texas Open.

He tied for 56th last week in Phoenix, and tied for 40th in the Sony Open the previous week.

Ames, who joined the tour full-time in 1988 and is still winless, keyed his round with accurate iron play, sticking the ball within 10 feet of the pin six times.

Both Mike Weir and Rod Pampling had 65s that left them at 20 under.

David Gossett shot a 9-under 62 at Indian Wells, another of the four courses used for the first four days of the tournament.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson, far back in the pack after shooting a 70 the first day and a 68 the second, had a third-round 63 to go to 15-under. He played at Indian Wells, where Frank Lickliter II and Chris Riley also had 63s.

Lickliter went to 16-under and Riley to 15-under.

David Duval, who won the 1999 Hope by shooting a tour record-tying 59 on the final day, shot a third-round 68 this time and will need an extremely low score on the fourth day to make the cut. He shot 78 the second day and is at 211.

DIVOTS: Weir is looking forward to the pro-am at Pebble Beach next week, where he will hook up with friend Wayne Gretzky. "The (NHL) All-Star game has fallen on the weekend of the tournament and he has not been able to play the last few years, but this year it does not conflict, so I'm looking forward to it," Weir said. ... If Ames wins the Hope, it will mark the first time since 1927 that foreign players have won the first four events of the year. Scotland's Tommy Armour and Bobby Cruickshank each won twice in the first four weeks of the 1927 season. Foreign players also have won the last five tour events dating back to the final week of last season, with Vijay Singh and Ernie Els winning two apiece.

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