Frazar regains sole control of lead

For someone who has spent his career chasing big-name players, Harrison Frazar knows how to play in front.

Frazar separated himself from his challengers with a birdie on the 17th hole Saturday, and took a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Phoenix Open.

"I can't get too far ahead of myself," said Frazar, who has led from the start. "The names on the leaderboard behind me are pretty stout, so you know they're going to be coming after me."

Frazar weathered a dry spell on the back nine that dropped him into a four-way tie at one point. But none of his nearest pursuers could match him down the stretch.

The 31-year-old Texan finished with a 4-under-par 67 for a 54-hole score of 17-under 196.

John Huston and Tim Petrovic, Frazar's co-leader at the midpoint, were next - Huston after a 66 and Petrovic after a 68.

Huston caught up on the 14th hole, but lost his birdie touch there; Petrovic blew his chance to share the lead when he missed the fairway on the 18th hole for the third straight time, leading to a par.

"I got up and down most of the time and made a couple of big putts on the back nine just to keep me in the tournament, so I'm pretty happy with that," Petrovic said.

Both Vijay Singh, the 1995 Phoenix champion, and Retief Goosen shot 65s to pull into a three-way tie at 198 with Kirk Triplett. He had a 63.

David Toms (63), Robert Gamez (64), Steve Stricker (68) and Scott McCarron (68) were three shots off the lead.

Defending champion Chris DiMarco, third last week in Honolulu, headed the group at 200.

His 62 matched Frazar's opening round and Stricker's second-round performance for lowest score of the tournament. DiMarco set a nine-hole record for the TPC of Scottsdale - 7-under 28 on the front side.

"One day somebody will go real low, and there'll be somebody different the next day," Huston said. "You just have to stay close enough to the lead to where you can shoot good tomorrow and win."

Also at 200 were three-time winner Mark Calcavecchia, who set a then-PGA record by winning at 28-under 256 in 2001, Joe Durant and Chad Campbell.

Frazar, still looking for his first victory after five injury-plagued years on the PGA Tour, had a chance to open a two-shot lead on Petrovic and Huston on the 10th hole. His approach shot landed less than 6 feet from the cup, but his uphill putt hit the rim and popped out.

In the next tee box, Frazar took a long time lining up his shot, backed away from it at the last second and said something to his caddie. Then he pulled the ball into a lake that runs the length of the 469-yard hole.

He cleared a long bunker with his third shot, but two-putted from 50 feet for the bogey that dropped him into a tie with Huston and Petrovic at 15 under.

A few minutes later, Triplett birdied his final hole to create a four-way tie. That lasted only until Huston sank a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 14 and Frazar, his composure back, capped the difficult stretch with a birdie on No. 13.

Frazar began the par-5 with a tee shot that hit on the right side of the fairway and swung left, crossing a cart path into a desert area. But his second shot was unobstructed, and he reached the green in two and two-putted to join Huston at 16 under.

"I hit a couple of poor tee shots there in the middle of the round," Frazar said. "I think I just tried to swing a little bit too hard. I felt too good over there, if you know what I mean."

Petrovic birdied No. 16, but Frazar got the final birdie among them on the 332-yard 17th hole. A 310-yard drive left him with an eagle opportunity before his chip drifted downhill and left him a 14-foot birdie putt.

Singh had what amounted to a disappointing birdie on the same hole - a letdown because he drove the green and left himself a 45-foot putt for eagle, then two-putted.

Still it was his third straight birdie and left the world's seventh-ranked player in good position for Sunday's final round.

Goosen, ranked fourth, had five of his six birdies on the back nine.

"You'll have to shoot a low one tomorrow to finish it off," he said. (Jesper Parnevik, 1998) has been a first-time winner at Phoenix since 1991. Petrovic is trying to become the first to win in his Phoenix debut since Jeff Mitchell in 1980. ... DiMarco needed only 11 putts on the front nine after chipping in for two eagles.

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