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Unruffled Pak Keeps One-Shot Lead

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From Associated Press

Se Ri Pak remained calm as the wicked winds of Wisconsin swirled around her during the U.S. Women’s Open at Kohler, Wis.

“This is golf,” she said simply after Saturday’s third round.

The 20-year-old rookie from South Korea shot a four-over-par 75 during the first Open round since 1983 in which no player broke par. After completing 54 holes at one-over 214, Pak retained the one-stroke lead with which she began the day.

“I played well on a difficult course, so I am really, really happy,” said Pak, who won the LPGA Championship in May. She is seeking to become the first rookie to win two majors since Juli Inkster won the Nabisco Dinah Shore and du Maurier Classic in 1984.

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Pak’s lead appeared certain to be two strokes as she and playing partner Liselotte Neumann dealt with the 18th hole, a water-lined, 421-yard par four that has been the toughest on the 6,421-yard Blackwolf Run course.

Neumann’s tee shot veered left into the water and Pak, her drive in the middle of the fairway, left her approach shot on the fringe of the green. A par would give Pak a two-stroke lead over unlikely challenger Mhairi McKay of Scotland, whose 73 left her two over for the tournament.

But as happened throughout the windy day, fortunes changed in an instant.

Neumann pitched in from the drop area some 70 yards from the green for an unlikely par.

“I think that ranks right up there,” said Neumann, who won the Open 10 years ago. “That has got to be one of my best shots ever. And at a good time, too.”

Pak, appearing shaken by the turn of events, three-putted for bogey and a one-stroke lead over Neumann, who had a 75, and McKay.

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Scott Hoch, Larry Mize and Grant Waite all breezed through the back nine at the Canon Greater Hartford Open and were tied for the third-round lead at 13 under at Cromwell, Conn.

Hoch, who began the day at seven under, three strokes behind second-round leader Scott Gump, shot the low round of the three leaders with a six-under 64. It included a 31 on the back nine as he closed with an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

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Waite had a 65 and Mize a 66. They played in the same group and both parred every hole on the front nine.

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David Graham literally put himself in the driver’s seat after shooting a seven-under 65 in the State Farm Senior Classic at Columbia, Md.

Graham, recovering from a back injury caused because of a cart mishap, used a bogey-free round to move into a first-place tie with Tom Jenkins after two rounds of the 54-hole tournament. Jenkins, the first-round leader, shot a 69 for a 134 total.

Terry Dill had a 68 for a 135. Graham Marsh, who began the day a stroke behind Jenkins, shot a 70 and finished tied with Fred Gibson and Dave Stockton at 136.

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Former Ryder Cup player Barry Lane of England equaled the course record with a 62--the lowest round of his European Tour career--to take a share of the lead in the Irish Open at Dublin.

The 38-year-old Englishman, who has missed 13 of 14 cuts, shares the lead with David Carter in the $1.66-million event at Druids Glen. Carter shot a 67 to join Lane at six under with an aggregate 207.

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Colin Montgomerie, the top-ranked European for the last five years and winner of this event for the last two years, shot a third-round 71 to finish three under and three strokes off the lead. He has been troubled because of a sprained ankle.

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