Chad Campbell maintains four shot lead

American Chad Campbell maintained his four-shot lead in the Bob Hope Classic third round on Friday, despite failing to birdie any of his last eight holes.

In near-perfect conditions on the Palmer Course at PGA West, Campbell moved five strokes clear midway through his round before bogeying his penultimate hole for a four-under-par 68.

That left him at 19-under 197 in the 90-hole PGA Tour event being played on four courses in rotation.

"I like my position, even though I didn't play as well on the back nine today," Campbell told reporters after teeing off at the par-four 10th. "I hit a couple of bad shots and bogeyed the eighth.

"I'm excited with the way I'm playing and it's nice to get the year started right," added the 31-year-old Texan who tied for second at last week's Sony Open in Hawaii.

"But we're just about halfway here and I don't think any lead is safe. You have to keep making birdies and there's still a long way to go."

Fellow American Scott Verplank and Australia's John Senden were tied for second place, Verplank having birdied five of his last seven holes for a 65 at the Classic Club and Senden carding a 68 at the same venue.

World number five Phil Mickelson, winner of the Bob Hope Classic in 2002 and 2004, was a further two strokes back in a three-way share of fourth after shooting a 68 at the Classic Club, the host course this week.

"We got really lucky with the weather today as far as the rotation that I'm in is concerned, getting to play over here with virtually no wind," Verplank said after negotiating the toughest of the four par-72 layouts.

"I actually started off a little choppy," added the 41-year-old, who was one over for the day after five holes having teed off at the 10th.

"But I finally hit a close shot to about a foot on 15 and then kind of got it going. I made a nice birdie on 17 with a 12-foot putt and chipped to about two inches on 18.

"All of a sudden, I was a couple under par and started to feel a little bit better."

Mickelson, winner of last year's U.S. PGA Championship at Baltusrol, was happy with his performance after a three-month break from the game.

Playing his first PGA Tour event since the Las Vegas Championship last October, the left-handed Californian collected five birdies and a solitary bogey to stay right in contention.

"I could have gotten two or three more shots out of it today but I'm pretty pleased with it," Mickelson said. "I was able to keep the ball in play and come up with a solid round.

"I have Bermuda Dunes tomorrow, which I think is the course that most people have been going low on, so I need to shoot eight or nine under par to really have a good run at it on Sunday."