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DULUTH, Georgia: Home-state hero Charles Howell fired a bogey-free
5-under par 67 here Saturday to seize a one-stroke lead on US
compatriot Kenny Perry after the third round of the US PGA AT&T
Classic.
Howell stood on 13-under par 203 after 54 holes
in the $5.5-million event with Perry making a birdie at the 18th to
finish one stroke back with a US trio of David Toms, Ryan Palmer and
Jonathan Byrd on 205.
Japan’s Ryuji Imada fired a bogey-free 66 to
share sixth with American Heath Slocum.
Howell, whose hometown of Augusta hosts the
Masters every April, plans to keep the aggressive approach Sunday
that put him into the lead on Saturday.
“On this golf course you can make a lot of
birdies when you go out there and play aggressive,” said Howell,
who has worked on putting speed this year.
“It’s amazing. When you take care of that it
seems to find a way to go in.”
Howell birdied the sixth and seventh holes,
began the back nine with another and added birdies at 15 and 17 to
grab the lead, using accuracy off the tee to set up a solid round.
“I’ve struggled a lot over the past year
with that but it’s getting better,” he said. “It’s
improving.”
Perry birdied the third and eagled the par-5
fifth hole and played level the rest of the way, bogeys at nine and
16 offset by birdies at 12 and 18.
Imada birdied the third and par-5 fourth and
sixth holes, had another back-to-back birdie set at 12 and 13 and
added another at 17 to put himself into contention.
-- AFP
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