Tom Pernice Jr. shot 1 under par 69 and came out atop the leaderboard after three rounds of the AT&T National Tournament.  In a round totally unremarkable, much like his career, Mr Pernice had 15 pars and managed to make only two putts of significance.  A 41/2 footer for par and a 7 footer for birdie.  But hey, at 48 he’s in position to win for the first time in seven years.  “It will be interesting to see how it goes tomorrow,” Pernice said. “But I’m looking forward to it.”  He’ll need to play better than this to win tomorrow as there are 10 players are within four shots of his 10 under par score. 

Closest of those is Steve Stricker, who finished second here last year.  “The course is playing a touch easier than last year, and I think that’s reflect in the scores,” Stricker said. “There’s a lot more guys with the opportunity to win. You’re going to have to shoot a good round.”  Mr. Stricker has done that the last two days, following Friday’s 64 with a 66 today.  Even though he wonders where his driver is going sometimes, his only bogeys were made from the middle of the fairway. 

Jeff Overton, who was tied with Mr. Pernice for first at the beginning of the day, shot a 71 after back to back double bogeys on 14 and 15.  He followed that disaster with consecutive birdies and finished two shots back, tied with Tommy Armour III, and Nick O’Hern.  For Mr. Armour, this is the second week he’s been in the chase on the final day.  Not bad for an old guy who is not willing to go quietly onto the Champions Tour.  No old guy buffet for this old guy.  All I can say is go Tommy go. 

Anthony Kim knows how to make golf entertainment.  Take the middle six holes and don’t make a par.   He holed a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 6, the toughest hole at Congressional, only to see his tee shot spin back off the green on the seventh for a bogey. He followed with consecutive birdies and was poised to move into the lead until taking a bogey from the bunker on No. 10, then having to get up-and-down for bogey from the thick collar of rough at No. 11 after driving into the hazard. He too shot a 69 and is tied with Tim Herron (65) and Cliff Kresge (69) three shots behind. 

Again, tomorrow the final round will go off early in threesomes on Sunday morning due to forecast thunderstorms rolling into the area in the afternoon.  Tape delay or no tape delay we could see some great fireworks at Tiger’s tournament tomorrow.  I like Mr. Stricker to win based solely on his ability with the putter.  If he can keep the ball reasonably close to in play I like his chances of closing the deal.  That and he’s from Wisconsin.