Rich Beem vaults into lead with 63

Rich Beem hit a nine-under-par 63 to surge into the lead before thunderstorms ended play early in the third round of the $4.4 million Funai Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida on Saturday.

It was the second consecutive day that play was brought to a premature halt because of bad weather.

Beem, without a victory since the 2002 U.S. PGA Championship, began the round five shots off the lead.

But the 35-year-old American, who has missed 12 of 15 cuts since his second-place finish at the BellSouth Classic in April, had six birdies on his back nine at the Magnolia Golf Club to record a 19-under total of 197.

One stroke off the pace were Americans Pernice, Mark Calcavecchia and Mark Wilson, Sweden's Carl Pettersson, South African Tim Clark and Geoff Ogilvy of Australia.

Wilson also signed for a 63 while Calcavecchia, who claimed his first win in four years at the Canadian Open last month, returned a seven-under 65 for 198.

Pernice, Pettersson, Clark and Ogilvy were still out on the course at 18-under when the siren sounded to end play.

The third round will be completed on Sunday morning, followed immediately by the final round.

With Hurricane Wilma swirling in the gulf and the state of Florida on alert, tournament officials hope to complete the event before even more severe weather hits the coast.

"The same routine, go home and do my laundry, feed the kids, put them to bed, watch a ball game," said Beem when asked about his preparations for Sunday.

"My best finishes this year have been rain-delayed events, Los Angeles, BellSouth," he told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the tournament lost its two biggest names when world number one Tiger Woods and number two Vijay Singh failed to make the cut.

Woods, returning to complete his second round, finished with a 73 for 141, three under.

It was only the fourth time in his career as a professional that Woods had missed the cut in a PGA Tour event.

Fijian Singh carded a 71 for 140.

197 Rich Beem 65 69 63

198 Mark Calcavecchia 64 69 65, Mark Wilson 67 68 63

199 Justin Rose (Eng) 67 68 64, Harrison Frazar 67 66 66

200 Lucas Glover 68 66 66

201 Dean Wilson 69 68 64, Greg Owen (Eng) 69 66 66

202 Ryan Moore 64 71 67, Bart Bryant 67 67 68, Robert Damron 65 69 68

203 Scott Verplank 70 65 68, J.L. Lewis 74 63 66, Pat Perez 64 70 69, Ryan Palmer 67 70 66, Craig Barlow 71 64 68, Jeff Sluman 69 66 68

204 Joey Snyder III 68 68 68, Vaughn Taylor 70 66 68, Tom Lehman 65 70 69, J J Henry 64 70 70, Rocco Mediate 68 67 69

205 Robert Gamez 67 68 70, Heath Slocum 67 69 69, Sean O'Hair 67 70 68, Hunter Haas 63 71 71, Notah Begay III 65 70 70, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 66 71 68, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 68 68, Nick Price (Zim) 65 68 72

206 Tim Herron 69 68 69, Len Mattiace 67 70 69, Bo Van Pelt 66 70 70, Brett Wetterich 67 68 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 65 70, Tag Ridings 70 67 69, Gavin Coles (Aus) 70 66 70, Brian Davis (Eng) 72 65 69, John Senden (Aus) 69 67 70

207 Dennis Paulson 68 70 69, Joe Durant 71 66 70, Carlos Franco (Par) 70 67 70, Neal Lancaster 70 66 71

208 Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 68 69 71, Scott McCarron 68 69 71, J.P. Hayes 68 69 71

209 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 65 73, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 65 74

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page