On Wet Day, Pernice Doesn't Slip Up

Major moves up the leader board were being made all over the soggy, steamy grounds at Congressional Country Club yesterday. On a course soaked by overnight and morning rain, scintillating scoring conditions remained the order of the third day of the AT&T National, with today's final round promising a possible wet and wild scramble to the finish among the 15 players within five shots of 54-hole leader Tom Pernice Jr.

Pernice, a 48-year-old PGA Tour veteran and frequent critic of Commissioner Tim Finchem, surely will have no complaints if he can hang on for his third career victory since joining the tour in 1986 and first since he prevailed at the 2001 International.

A co-leader after 36 holes, Pernice managed a 1-under-par 69 and pushed to 10-under 200 entering a final round that will start much earlier than originally scheduled because of anticipated afternoon thunderstorms in the area. Players will go off in threesomes from the first and 10th tees starting at 8 a.m. today, with the leaders teeing off at 10:03 a.m. Play is scheduled to be concluded by 3 p.m.

Pernice has held the 54-hole lead in three other PGA Tour events but hasn't won on any of those occasions, most recently shooting a final-round 75 in last year's Buick Open and finishing tied for 20th. He enters today with a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker, at No. 7 in the world the highest-ranked player in the field. A native of Madison, Wis., Stricker has performed to that status this week, including a 64 in the second round Friday. He began yesterday with birdies on two of his first four holes on his way to a 4-under 66 and 9-under 201 for the week.

A night after he and several other players helped President Bush celebrate his birthday at the White House, Stricker now would like to make some merry of his own this evening with a potential second victory in the Congressional neighborhood. A dozen years ago, with his wife, Nicki, working as his caddie, Stricker claimed the first of his four PGA Tour triumphs at the 1996 Kemper Open at nearby TPC Avenel. Last year, three shots off 54-hole lead at the AT&T National, he posted a final-round 70 and finished second, three shots behind the champion, K.J. Choi.

"I don't know what it is; maybe it's the humidity," Stricker said when asked about his success in the Washington area, where he has been coming since he was a child visiting an uncle who lived locally. "We came out here as a family and we went and watched the fireworks down on the Mall. I came out here for the PGA Championship in 1976, so I've been here off and on my entire life. When you enjoy coming to places, it makes it a little easier going there and maybe that reflects in the way I play. But I do like it here."

He's not alone. Veteran Tommy Armour III (66) and Australian Nick O'Hern (67) rocketed up the board to take a share of third place at 8-under 202 along with second-year pro Jeff Overton (71), a 36-hole co-leader. Overton was headed in the wrong direction when he made a double bogey after a wildly hooked wedge at the 439-yard 15th, but came right back with birdies at 16 and 17 to stay within striking distance.

O'Hern made a miracle par at the 466-yard 18th, Congressional's signature hole. A left-hander, he hooked his drive into the deep right rough, then left his second shot in more strangling spinach down the same side. He hacked out his third shot just short of the green, 50 feet from the flag, then holed a tricky putt from there to save his par and stay two off the lead.

Hunter Mahan's 64 early in the day sent a clear signal to the rest of the field that there were opportunities to go low, particularly after tournament officials allowed players to lift, clean and place their mud-pocked golf balls on squishy soft fairways.

Tour professionals often joke about it being "lift, clean and cheat," because once they get the ball in their hands, they can virtually tee it up from the fairway, perhaps another reason why 51 players in the remaining field of 83 posted rounds of even par or better, including 40 players in the 60s.

"I don't think we like to play it as a rule," Pernice said. "I think players like to play the way we're used to playing and the game the way it's meant to be played. We probably play it out here too often, in my opinion, but I think they are on the cautious side in case it would have rained all day. I didn't have any mud on my ball all day."

On an afternoon when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to view some of the action, there was plenty to keep everyone on the rain-soaked grounds more than satisfied. She was part of an announced crowd of 22,311, a drop of nearly 15,000 from the same day last year, when Tiger Woods was in the field.

Woods, the tournament host recovering from knee surgery on June 24, almost certainly will not attend the final round as some had hoped. According to a CBS spokesman, he is expected to be interviewed during the tape-delayed telecast in a two-way hookup from his Orlando home.

Another veteran, Tim Herron, pushed into contention with a 65 that left him in a three-way tie for sixth place at 203, three off the lead. Mahan moved to within five with his 64.

Steve Marino, the Fairfax native who led after the first round, struggled somewhat for a second straight day, posting a 72 that left him at 3 under for the week and seven off the lead. He had the same 54-hole total of 207 posted by Takoma Park native Fred Funk (68), the former University of Maryland golf coach who never has won in the Washington area.

The major surprise of the day was the inability of 23-year-old Anthony Kim to take advantage of the conditions, particularly on a sloppy back nine that included three bogeys and a lost ball down the right side of the 11th hole. He actually had moved into a tie for the lead at 9 under with birdies at the eighth and ninth holes, but some poor driving into deep rough on the back cost him dearly.

Still, he did manage to stay in contention when he made a critical eight-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to salvage a round of 69 that also included a missed two-foot putt at the treacherous seventh green for one of his four bogeys.

Pernice said he had a decent enough ball-striking day, but couldn't make a putt. He needed 32 on Saturday, seven more than he had in his tournament-record 63 on Friday, but insisted "all in all I'm happy. I gave myself lots of chances, and I think going forward that's what I need to do . . . hole some putts and get some momentum going.

"There's a bunch of guys on the leader board four or five shots back that have a great opportunity. I've got to go out there and perform better. I can't worry about anything else. It's just a matter of me being able to control my emotions . . . and do what I need to do."