GOLF ROUNDUP : Pruitt Hopes Long Course Will Help

Dillard Pruitt has a three-stroke lead going into the final round of the World Series of Golf and is looking for some help from the 7,149-yard Firestone Country Club at Akron, Ohio, today.

Pruitt, a longshot before the tournament started, shot a two-under-par 68 Saturday and has a 54-hole total of five-under 205.

Tom Purtzer (67) is alone in second.

“It’s a long, tough golf course,” Pruitt said. “I just hope I can get out of here tomorrow without it getting me.”

At one time or another over the first three rounds, Firestone got almost everyone else in the elite, 48-man winners-only field from around the world.

Purtzer, the only man within five strokes of Pruitt, is less than completely confident about his chances.

“I wish I was playing a little bit better. I wish I felt a little bit better about my game,” Purtzer said.

Lee Trevino, coming off a two-week rest that included skipping the PGA Championship, shot a seven-under-par 65 and took a two-shot lead over 61-year-old super senior Don January in the seniors tournament at Albuquerque, N.M.

Trevino’s 36-hole total of 131 was 13 under on the par-72, 6,722-yard Four Hills Country Club course.

January, trying to become the first super senior (60 and over) to win a Senior Tour event, stayed close with a 66 that included five birdies on the back nine.

Kris Monaghan shot a course record seven-under-par 65 and moved from three shots off the pace into the lead of the $425,000 LPGA Shootout at Oak Brook, Ill.

Monaghan finished the third round with an 11-under 205.

Alone in second place at eight-under 208 was Tina Barrett, who shot a 69. Donna White was in third at 209 after shooting a 70.

Sherri Steinhauer matched Monaghan’s 65 in moving into a tie for fourth at 210.

Manny Zerman, last year’s runner-up, and Mitch Voges, director of golf at Spanish Hills Golf and Country Club in Simi Valley, each won twice at the Honors Course to reach the 36-hole final round of the 1991 U.S. Amateur Championship at Ooltewah, Tenn.

Voges, 41, dispatched Bryan Pemberton, 6 and 5, in Saturday’s semifinal round, and Zerman, 21, found the going a bit rougher against Dicky Pride but won on the 19th hole.

Zerman, the 1991 Pacific 10 Conference champion, took charge on the first extra hole when Pride’s tee shot found a fairway trap.

Voges never let Pemberton, a senior at USC, into their match.

After going 2-up with a birdie at No. 6, the former Brigham Young golfer won three holes in a row, starting with a par three at No. 8 and adding two birdies. A routine par four at the 394-yard 16th closed out the match.