Faxon Falters, but Gets It Back

His five-stroke lead was gone by the time Brad Faxon reached the green on the 510-yard ninth hole. The way he has been playing the par-fives this week, it was no time to panic.

Faxon made his third eagle in as many days to restore order in the Sony Open, then kept the ball in the short grass on another windy day at Honolulu’s Waialae Country Club to keep his distance from Ernie Els and Tom Lehman.

“The tournament is in Brad’s corner,” Lehman said.

It has been from the start.

Despite a ragged start to the third round, Faxon finished at three-under-par 67 and was at 195, his all-time lowest 54-hole score. That was enough to give him a three-stroke lead over Els and Lehman going into today’s final round.

At stake: an exemption into the U.S. Open with his second PGA Tour victory since July, the $720,000 winner’s check and perhaps enough world ranking points to get into the Masters.

In the final round, Faxon will be grouped with Els and Lehman, who have 18 holes left to make up three strokes against the best putter on the PGA Tour.

“I can’t be defensive,” Faxon said. “There’s no way.”

Els had a 65 that could have been much lower. The two-time U.S. Open champion survived a balky driver on the back nine and was in position to put some heat on Faxon. But Els missed birdie putts of 10 feet or less on three of the last four holes.

He also failed to birdie the par-five 18th, hitting a wedge for his second shot out of the rough from 182 yards, thinking the ball would come out hot. Instead, it landed 30 yards short of the green.

“The finish screwed me up,” Els said. “I could have picked up a couple of more coming in. I only picked up one shot when I could have picked up four. Thank goodness Brad didn’t birdie 18, either.”

That’s the only par-five on which Faxon has made par. He is eight under on the six par-fives this week.

Lehman, who also had a 65, didn’t have as many close birdie putts as Els, but plodded along and kept his position. He made a 50-foot birdie putt on the 13th, and his 15-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole just slid by on the right.

Carlos Franco had a 69 and was tied with Jim Furyk at eight-under 202, seven strokes behind. Davis Love III had a 65, but that only got him to 203, along with Loren Roberts, John Huston, Chris DeMarco and Bill Glasson.

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Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson shot a two-under 70 in difficult conditions to increase her lead to four strokes in the Subaru Memorial of Naples (Fla.).

The temperature dropped into the low 50s, and players faced 15-to 20-mph winds and rain early in the day.

“I like bad weather. It makes it harder for the others to catch me,” Gustafson said. “I think this wind was tougher than yesterday. The par-fives were almost unreachable.”

Gustafson, coming off a career-best 64, had a 14-under 202 total on The Club at the Strand in Naples, Fla. .

Australian star Karrie Webb was second after a 68.

Catherine Cartwright, the 17-year-old playing in her first event as a professional, shot a 75 for a two-over 218 total. Cartwright, from nearby Bonita Springs, won the 2000 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links title.

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For a player who was not feeling well at the start of the round, Larry Nelson had a lot to talk about at the end of the day.

The three-time major champion matched the tournament record with an eight-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Bruce Fleisher in the MasterCard Seniors Championship at Hualalai, Hawaii.

Nelson had an eagle and four birdies on the back nine to tie the 36-hole tournament record of 13-under 131. He also had two birdies on the front nine in his bogey-free round on the Hualalai Golf Club course.

“I wasn’t feeling very well this morning,” he said. “I didn’t feel very sharp. But I got a 25-footer on the first hole for a birdie. That’s the way my day went. I didn’t hit the ball very well, but I just putted well--extremely well.”

Fleisher shot his second consecutive 66.