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"Winning wire-to-wire - that's difficult to do," said leader Paula Creamer. (Hunter Martin/Associated Press) |
Golf Roundup
Pressure is on for Creamer
Paula Creamer is finding out how hard it is to win while leading from start to finish on the LPGA Tour.
The rest of the field is discovering how hard it is to catch her.
Creamer shot a 1-under-par 70 yesterday, 10 more shots than she needed in the first round, but still held a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens
"You know, winning wire-to-wire - that's difficult to do," said Creamer, who stands at 18-under 195 through 54 holes at Highland Meadows. "There's a lot of pressure on you in that situation, especially when you shoot a 60 the first day and anything higher than that everybody thinks, 'What's going on? What's wrong?' "
South Korea's Eun-Hee Ji was in second place looking up at Creamer, as she has been after all three rounds. She shot a 68 to cut two strokes off Creamer's lead but wasn't pleased with her own play, missing out on some birdie opportunities.
"Today you could see that Paula didn't have her best day, but at the same time I wasn't really having my A game as well," Ji said through an interpreter.
Creamer said she would try to forget about the 72-hole tournament record (23 under, by five-time winner Se Ri Pak) or the pressures of winning wire-to-wire.
"I'm just going to play it like we are both even, like it's a one-day tournament," she said.
Rachel Hetherington, winner of the Farr in 2002, had a 67 and was alone in third at 202.
With her 62, Karrie Webb went from a tie for 50th to a tie for fourth with Chinese rookie Shanshan Feng, who shot a 64. They were both at 203.
PGA - Kenny Perry finished with a flourish to move into a three-way tie for the lead through three rounds at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill.
Perry, seeking his third victory in five starts, birdied the 18th hole to finish at 4-under 67 for the day and 15-under 198 for the tournament. That tied him with Eric Axley (67) and Cumberland, R.I.'s Brad Adamonis (66).
Hartford's Jay Williamson (62) and second-round leader Will MacKenzie (70) were one stroke back. Williamson jumped into contention with a 7-under 29 on the back nine.
European - Graeme McDowell (5-under 66) and Simon Khan (68) shared the Scottish Open lead at 10-under 203 and Phil Mickelson (71) was six shots back and tied for 24th after the third round in Luss.
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