Hensby, Ames Leading, but Woods Makes Move

Ten years ago, Mark Hensby was sleeping in his car on the range at Cog Hill Golf Club, killing time until he could go home to Australia.

Now look at him.

Hensby shot a bogey-free 67 at his old haunt Saturday, giving him a share of the third-round lead at the Western Open at Lemont, Ill. Stephen Ames (64) joined him at nine-under-par 204, and both will be looking for their first PGA Tour victory today.

“One night I woke up and my toes were frozen because it was so cold,” Hensby said, smiling at the memory. “So I used to drive around the block with the heater on, then go back to sleep. For some people it sounds outrageous. To me, it wasn’t that big a deal.”

A day after flirting with the cut, Tiger Woods rebounded with a six-under 65 to pull within four shots of the lead. Jim Furyk (68), playing his second tournament since wrist surgery in March, is also four back, as is Illinois golf coach Mike Small (69).

Geoff Ogilvy (68) is one stroke behind the leaders. Stuart Appleby (67) and second-round co-leader Steve Lowery (70) are two strokes back.

“I have a chance,” said Woods, the defending champion. “That’s what I wanted to do is go out there and play well enough where at least I have a chance going into Sunday. Now if I play a very similar round like I did today, you never know.”

Hensby came to the United States from rural Australia in 1994, hoping to make it as a golfer. He stayed with some friends of friends in the Chicago suburbs, won the Illinois Amateur and pinned his hopes on Q-school.

But he fell short in the second round. With his host family already gone and his departure date for Australia still a few weeks away, Hensby didn’t have many options. So he pulled his car up to the range at Cog Hill and slept there.

“When you grow up where I grew up in Australia, it wasn’t that big a deal,” he said. “I slept on the clubhouse roof back home.”

People around the course still remember him, so they were thrilled with his finish Saturday. Starting the day a stroke off the lead, Hensby made three birdies on the front nine and a fourth on the par-five 15th to charge to the top.

Ames is having one of the best years on the tour. He has eight top-10 finishes, six in his last seven starts.

“I don’t press myself to see if I should win or can win,” said Ames, whose best finish this year was third at the Colonial. “I’m trying to play each day as it comes, and when the chips fall where they should or they shouldn’t, I’ll just take it from there.”

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The last time Jerry Pate led a golf tournament heading into the final round, he was using an orange ball and the 1980s were just getting started.

Twenty-three years and four shoulder surgeries later, Pate is in that same position.

He shot a four-under 66 -- using a white ball, of course -- and his 130 total gave him a two-stroke lead over Bobby Wadkins after two rounds of the Long Island Classic at East Meadow, N.Y.

Pate, the 1976 U.S. Open winner, and Wadkins started the day in a three-way tie for the lead with Peter Jacobsen, who shot a 74 to fall off the pace. Wadkins shot a 68.

Pate is in his first year on the Champions Tour, for players 50 and older, and he has started to come on over the past month, recording his only three top-10 finishes in his last four events.

“It’s being composed,” he said. “The advantage they have all had on me so far is that they are tournament-hardened and I’m a neophyte again.”

Tom Jenkins had a 66 and was tied for third at 133 with Mike Hill, who had a 67.