Hamilton leads as Pettersson falters

Todd Hamilton shot a 4-under 68 Saturday to take the lead at The Honda Classic.

Trailing by four shots at one point Saturday, Hamilton walked off Mirasol with a four-stroke lead after making a birdie on the final hole.

While Hamilton was making strides, Carl Pettersson -- the leader after rounds one and two -- suffered a tough back nine that included a five-putt from 40 feet on the 16th hole and sent him to a 76, five shots behind.

"Just a mental block," Pettersson said. "I'll try to forgot about it and play well tomorrow."

Hamilton was at 14-under 202 and will play in the final group with Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden, who had a 70.

Chris Riley, who has not made a bogey in his last 43 holes on the Sunrise course, holed a 5-foot par putt on the final hole for a 68 that also left him five shots behind.

The notorious south Florida wind finally arrived, and everyone said it would lead to some unpredictable golf. It got downright goofy at the end of the day.

It started with Pettersson and his five putts. It ended with Hamilton being taken to the television trailer after his round because a viewer reported what he thought was an infraction.

The TV viewer said Hamilton realigned his ball on the 11th green after having picked up his coin.

"I would never do that," Hamilton said, and replays showed that he never adjusted his ball.

The only outside comment Hamilton could trust was the guy that came up to him as he headed to the 18th tee.

"This guy comes up and says, 'Hey, you've got a three-shot lead. Pettersson just five-putted,"' Hamilton said. "You never think a guy is going to tell you that. I didn't know what to think. Maybe he had a bet with someone."

Sure enough, the leaderboard showed Pettersson at 10 under, and the 26-year-old Swede dropped another shot on the par-5 17th to fall further behind.

"It was nice to get that extra shot," Hamilton said of his 15-foot birdie putt.

Everything will help, considering it took Hamilton 17 years to get to this stage. A victory would open the door to marquee events like The Players Championship in two weeks, and give him an exemption for the next two years.

Hamilton, an All-American at Oklahoma in the 1980s, had played only a dozen PGA Tour events until he finally got his card at q-school last year.

But he knows how to win, as does Jacobson.

Hamilton is coming off his best year on the Japan Golf Tour, winning four times. Jacobson won three times on the European Tour.

"Winning breeds winning," Hamilton said. "It will help both of us."

As for the wind?

That could make it anyone's game.

Davis Love III finished with a 70 and joined Tom Pernice and Aaron Baddeley at 8-under 208. Robert Allenby had a 67 and was among a half-dozen players another shot back.

And as Saturday proved, anything can happen.

"It could be difficult to protect a lead," Hamilton said. "Or you can expand your lead that much more."

Riley is the only player in the final two groups with a PGA Tour victory. That came two years ago at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

"They've never won before," Riley said. "So there's going to be a little pressure on them."

The wind finally showed up not long after Pettersson teed off, although it didn't seem to bother the stocky Swede. He made two 7-foot par putts, then holed a birdie putt from 45 feet on the par-3 third.

Hamilton made sure that Pettersson didn't have The Honda Classic all to himself.

After missing a 2-foot par putt on the second hole, Hamilton quickly closed the gap by running off four straight birdies, then pulled into a tie with a 30-foot birdie on the par-3 eighth.

Pettersson, the leader since opening with a 63 in the first round, showed signs of unsteadiness when he missed 4-foot par putts on the 12th and 14th.

But nothing was quite as damaging as the 16th.

He ran his 40-foot birdie putt some 15 feet by the hole, then rapped his par putt 4 feet past the hole. From there, it was like watching instant replay until he finally tapped it for his triple bogey.

His confidence rattled, Pettersson pulled his wedge into a bunker and bogeyed the 17th.

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