Bryant Emerges From the Crowd to Take Lead

If there is a common man among the PGA Tour’s millionaires, it is Brad Bryant.

Bryant goes by the nickname “Dr. Dirt,” acknowledges that others are more likely to shoot low scores, and had to play 475 tournaments to win his first. Even then, it was the 1995 Disney, which was shortened to three rounds by rain. So he still hasn’t finished 72 holes with the lead.

Bryant, 42, who talks about retiring to go bass fishing, could remove that asterisk from his record by winning the Tucson Chrysler Classic. On Saturday, he shot a five-under-par 67 to overtake Steve Jones and open a two-stroke lead, completing three rounds at 12-under 204.

He found it mildly surprising.

“There are two or three guys that I thought would play much better than they did today, although the conditions out there aren’t that easy,” Bryant said. “It’s hard to get the ball close to the hole.”

Jones, who led all the way in the Phoenix Open four weeks ago and the first two rounds in Tucson, went out to practice after a 72 that included three bogeys.

“I’m looking forward to [today’s final round],” he said. “I think I was a little frustrated. I got a little tense this morning. I think I just didn’t feel the rhythm, and maybe tomorrow I will. It’s hard to feel it all four days.”

Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open champion, struggled on the greens for the second consecutive day. Even a birdie at the 15th, which got him to 10 under, was the result of a brilliant approach shot that stopped 18 inches from the cup.

Paul Stankowski, who won last week in Hawaii, shot a 69 and joined Jones at 206. Stankowski has won five pro tournaments in the last 12 months.

Clarence Rose bogeyed the final hole to fall three shots back.

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Annika Sorenstam survived a series of challenges and an abrupt change in weather to turn back defending champion Meg Mallon and win the Hawaiian Ladies Open at Honolulu by a stroke.

Sorenstam, winning her second tournament in five weeks of LPGA play, took what appeared to be a comfortable four-stroke lead into the final 18 holes.

But instead of maintaining and building on her margin, she struggled to a one-over-par 73 on a windy, rain-swept final day to finish at 10-under-par 206, one stroke ahead of Mallon, who closed with a 70. Sorenstam and Mallon each bogeyed the final hole, with Mallon missing a 10-footer that would have forced a playoff.

Last weekend, Sorenstam took a three-stroke lead into the final round of the Los Angeles Women’s Championship at Oakmont in Glendale, only to shoot a 73 and lose by two strokes. That is the only tournament she has lost in three outings this season.

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Bud Allin, who didn’t have a spot in this week’s American Express Invitational until five minutes before the entry deadline, now has a chance at his first Senior PGA Tour career victory.

Allin, 52, shot a four-under 68 at the windblown Tournament Players Club at Prestancia in Sarasota, Fla., to take a three-shot lead into the final round of the $1.2-million tournament.

On Tuesday, Allin was packing his suitcase to head to the airport for a trip home when he received a call confirming his spot in the field after Gibby Gilbert withdrew.

Allin’s performance was even more impressive considering that after Hale Irwin shot a 19-under total to win last year’s championship, the course was set up this year with some extra bite. With wind gusting to 25 mph, only 13 players were able to break 70 on Saturday.

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Gary Webb of Dallas shot a nine-under 63 at Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Course to move into a tie for the lead with Michael Allen of Scottsdale, Ariz., after three rounds of the Nike Tour’s $200,000 Inland Empire Open. Allen, who came into the third round only one shot back, shot a 69.