Gay can punch ticket to Open

Brian Gay was 18 holes away from finishing a wire-to-wire victory in the St. Jude Classic that would earn him a place in the U.S. Open.

He shot a second consecutive four-under-par 66 Saturday to keep the lead by a stroke over Bryce Molder after the third round at TPC Southwind.

Gay, who won at Hilton Head in April, can earn an Open berth at Bethpage Black with a second win this year. He has only five bogeys this week, and his only one Saturday came on No. 18 after his second shot from a fairway bunker found the water. That dropped him to 14-under 196.

For someone who expected to be off next week after he missed qualifying by three strokes, Gay says he isn’t thinking about the Open yet.

“Not till you mention it. Not really. Not when I’m out there, I don’t think about it,” Gay said. “I mean it’s a major. I’d love to play in it. I expected to be off next week.

“I’ve got enough work to do here to not have to worry about that.”

Robert Allenby (68) was alone in third at 11 under, Paul Goydos (64) was 10 under, and Woody Austin (68), Heath Slocum (67) and Vaughn Taylor (69) were nine under.

Phil Mickelson, drawing the biggest crowds, shot a 68 and was 10 strokes back at four under in his first event since announcing that his wife had breast cancer.

“I haven’t putted well the first three days. I feel like I’ve struck the ball well but have not been able to get it in the hole and shoot a number, a good low number and mostly because of the putter,” said Mickelson, who got encouragement from the fans while signing autographs after his round. “I’ll spend some time on that in the next few days and should be able to get it ironed out for next week.”

Gay came into the event among seven who had a chance to earn a trip to Bethpage Black with a win. The man who won Hilton Head by 10 strokes insists that wasn’t his goal here, but he has led by a stroke after each of the first three rounds.

He had five birdies Saturday and went as low as 15 under, up by as many as three strokes. His putting has been the key as he followed up 23 putts in the second round with 24. But Molder and Allenby played almost as well.

Molder, a Nationwide Tour qualifier, isn’t ready to give up a chance at what would be his first PGA Tour victory. His best finish was third at Reno in 2001.

“The golf ball doesn’t know about the history of either one of us, so just go play,” Molder said.