JL Lewis extends lead to three shots

J.L. Lewis shot a 2-under 69 Saturday at the John Deere Classic, extending his lead to three strokes at 15-under 198 after three rounds at the Tournament Players Club at Deere Run.

Hank Kuehne (67), Richard S. Johnson (68) and Craig Bowden (68) were 12 under, and Jeff Brehaut (66) and Robert Damron (69) followed at 11 under.

"I don't know if I've ever won from the front on a TOUR event," said Lewis, who won a playoff in the 1999 tournament at Oakwood Country Club and came from seven shots back to win the 84 Lumber Classic in 2003.

"I don't really consider it a lead because if you go out there and you don't play well, they're going to blow right by you," he added. "I was surprised somebody didn't do it today. I figured I'd have to shoot 3 or 4 under just to stay where I'm at."

Lewis got off to a slow start with a bogey on the first hole, and he looked as if he might be in for a long day. His tee shot went into a bunker and then he flew the green, landing 91 feet behind the hole.

He got within 7 feet and had a chance to save par, but his putt ran about a foot long.

J.L. Lewis says he knows he still has a lot of work to do

But just as he did Friday, Lewis got on a roll after a few holes, getting some help from nice putting. He made a 30-footer for birdie on the par-3 seventh, and a 41-footer on 15. He also made one from 8 feet on No. 8.

"I didn't make as many short putts as I probably should have, but I felt like I had my game going pretty good," he said. "I struck the ball OK, and I felt like I hit it kind of where I wanted to most of the day."

And it was plenty to hold off the rest of the field, with nobody else able to mount much of a charge.

"I figured somebody would shoot a really, really low score, and I was kind of surprised nobody did," Lewis said. "It was kind of hard to get to some of the pins."

Johnson looked as if he might challenge Lewis when he holed a shot from 138 yards out for an eagle on No. 1. But he'd fallen back to par for the day by the sixth hole, and couldn't get much else going.

He did come close to an eagle on the par-5 17th, but his putt from 11 feet hung on the lip of the cup and refused to drop.

"I was just expecting it to go to the middle of the hole, and then all of a sudden, for some reason, it just broke a little right," Johnson said. "I couldn't believe it. I got a good bounce on No. 1, so it probably evened out."

Kuehne made a late run, shooting 4 under over his last six holes. He almost had a fifth birdie, too, but the ball stopped less than 6 inches from the cup on No. 18.

"I'm going to have to go out there and make four, five, six birdies tomorrow and play a solid round," Lewis said. "That's how you do it. You've got to give yourself an opportunity."

He could be in for an even bigger opportunity, too. The top finisher not already exempt gets a spot in the British Open.

"That would be cool," Bowden said. "I'm kind of in a tough predicament because I've got my motor home here and my wife and my baby, and I don't know what I'm going to do. But if it happens, it happens, and I'll deal with it when it comes."

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