Big leads heading into the final round are nothing new to Steve Flesch this year.

He led by five after 54 holes at Reno-Tahoe in early August.  Yesterday in similarly blowy conditions he birdied four of the last five holes leaving Carl Pettersson and Charles Warren four shots behind.  Mr. Flesch is at 19 under par 197 after a 66, tying the low 54 score in relation to par for the year.  "Believe me, if you’re not hitting well, you don’t want to play in winds because it just magnifies your errors," said Flesch,  "But if you are hitting it solidly, wind can only help you. It can only separate you from everybody else. Today, I was glad that it blew, and I hope it blows tomorrow."

He’ll like the forecast for Sunday, 15mph winds and cooler temps.  Mr. Pettersson was briefly tied for the lead after consecutive birdies on the back nine, but his 66 was only good enough to keep Mr. Flesch’s tail lights in view.  Mr. Warren is in the essentially the same position as he was at the Reno-Tahoe event (do you sense a deja vu theme?) chasing Mr. Flesch while in search of his first Tour victory.  "Every day somebody’s shot 8 under, so I imagine tomorrow is going to be the same. Somebody has to come from behind and post a good number, and if you’re close to the lead, you have to go low." said Warren.  

"I’ll be aggressive when I can," said Flesch, who completed his round with a 20-foot downhill birdie putt. "Depends on the wind, truthfully. The conditions are going to dictate how aggressively we’re going to be able to play. But Carl and Charles can make a ton of birdies."   I feel like I’m writing the same story over again.  Mr. Flesch has proven he’s learned how to win.  He’s had the 54 hole lead seven times before, not winning the first five times while winning the previous two times.  When he hits his irons as crisply as he has this week he’s proven to be hard to catch.  "My iron game has been good, so I don’t expect that to change," said Flesch, who detected a flaw in his swing from a front-page photo in a local newspaper after his second-round 65. "You know, it boils down to putting, hopefully make some birdies early on, relax a little bit."

Wouldn’t it be nice to shoot a 65 with a swing flaw?  I can’t comprehend, but it just affirms that these guys are really good.  My guess, Mr. Flesch will still be the leader at the end of the day.