Park holds on to three shot lead

Grace Park held onto the lead in the Samsung World Championship with a roller-coaster round, while Annika Sorenstam and Cristie Kerr moved within three shots.

Park had a 1-under 71 on Saturday, salvaging a bogey 5 on the final hole after she drove into desert brush, had trouble finding her ball, and took a penalty stroke for an unplayable lie.

She was at 16-under 200 through three rounds in the elite 20-player tournament.

Sorenstam, whose 53 career LPGA Tour victories include three titles in the event, matched Kerr with a 69 on Bighorn Golf Club course.

Amateur Michelle Wie, the teenage sensation from Hawaii, turned in a 67 for the best round of the day -- and seven strokes better than her first day.

Wie, who turned 15 on Monday, put an exclamation point on her round by sinking a 40-foot putt for a birdie 3 on No. 18.

She grinned, pumped her arm slightly and waved to the appreciative gallery, with many of the fans trailing her and Laura Davies during the round.

The 5-under round moved Wie, in the event on a sponsor's exemption, from 19th to 15th going into the final 18 holes.

Park, ahead since an opening 62, lost the lead briefly on the front nine. She bogeyed No. 3 while Kerr, playing in a group ahead of her, got her fifth consecutive birdie when she sank a 12-foot putt on No. 5.

Park grimaced as she walked off the grin after three-putting from 25 feet on No. 3.

She was smiling again soon, and back in the lead.

Park bounced back to make a 12-foot birdie putt on the fifth hole to draw even with Kerr at 15 under. Kerr then hit a wayward drive and bogeyed No. 9 to drop a stroke behind.

Park built her lead with birdies on the 11th and 12th hole before bogeying No. 14 by again three-putting.

She was 17 under and up by five shots before she closed with a bogey while both Sorenstam and Kerr finished with birdies.

Lorena Ochoa shot a 71 and was third, five shots off the lead.

Juli Inkster, like Sorenstam a three-time winner of the event, had a 69 and was tied for fifth at 10 under with defending champion Sophie Gustafson (70) and Catriona Matthew (72).

Scores were higher on the third day at the desert course. Although conditions again were ideal, the pins were tucked away behind traps and on slopes more than they were the first two days.

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