Steve Stricker looking for a Hollywood finish

Steve Stricker saw deer and coyotes and plenty of birdies Saturday at Riviera Country Club at the Northern Trust Open after spotting a Kardashian sister Friday night at the Lakers game.

Stricker needed Google to find out it was Khloe K. hanging at Staples Center, but the 42-year-old needed no search engines to find his way around Riviera.

Through 14 completed holes Saturday, Stricker recorded four birdies and no bogeys and opened up a five-shot lead after almost three rounds of the tournament were completed. Darkness halted play early, but at least rain stayed mostly away.

Stricker is one of 12 players who still have to finish the third round Sunday morning, and by the end of the day he might pass Phil Mickelson as the world’s second-ranked golfer. At 14 under par, he will begin play with a 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole.

Luke Donald, a Brit who had six top-10 finishes last year, finished his third round of 66 and is nine under along with J.B. Holmes (67 Saturday). They’ll have to wait for the final round to start.

Andres Romero, a 28-year-old from Argentina, is also nine under and he, like Stricker, still has the rest of 15 plus 16, 17 and 18 to finish Sunday morning before they start all over again.

Second-round leader Dustin Johnson and former USC star Kevin Stadler are among a group of three at eight under.

Johnson’s day went badly when he lost his golf ball on the third hole and he is three over on his third round, which also was halted mid-15th hole.

Los Angeles native Anthony Kim, who has one hole still left, is one of four players at seven under.

Two-time defending champion Mickelson, who got the eager crowd roused when he eagled the first hole, settled for an even-par round of 71 that left him at four under for the tournament and almost impossibly far back of the easygoing Stricker.

After the eagle, Mickelson seemed poised for a big run, but he missed three straight birdie putts from within 18 feet. Momentum was gone by the time Mickelson bogeyed the 10th hole.

For Stricker, “It was a good day,” he said. “My ball-striking was a little bit better; I holed a couple of nice putts, made a couple of nice saves when I had to.”

Stricker made it sound like work, but he made it look like fun. His third round began with a two-putt birdie on the opening hole. He took over the lead on the third when his playing partner, Johnson, lost his ball in the rough and took a double-bogey six.

“I was surprised we couldn’t find the ball,” Stricker said. “The grass was all gnarly, it’s lying every which way. I thought we had a pretty good line on the ball though. I was surprised we weren’t able to find it.”

Donald didn’t offer up a lot of hope for all the Stricker pursuers.

“He’s playing extremely well and seems very much in control of his game,” Donald said. “I would think I’ll need to shoot something very low to have a chance. But obviously if Steve plays nicely, it’s sort of in his hands.”

Stricker’s hands took full grasp of the day during a stretch from the sixth through 10th holes when he birdied three times. He had another three birdie chances with putts of under 15 feet. “It was a key stretch,” he said. “Stress-less would be the word. Is that a word?”

It sounds like a good word for Stricker, but not so much for the rest of the field.

Stricker can’t remember the last time he had a five-shot lead heading into a final day. “I had a lead at the Western Open back in 1996,” he said. “I went on to win there, so hopefully I can draw from that a little bit.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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