Calcavecchia Finds the Sticks

It was gray and windy and it occasionally rained, but Mark Calcavecchia found a way to deal with it.

“My eyesight is not the greatest when it gets dusky,” he said, explaining his difficulty in reading greens on a gloomy Saturday.

But he could see the flagsticks well enough at TPC at Heron Bay at Coral Springs, Fla., and he took dead aim in carding a four-under-par 68 for a 205 for 54 holes of the Honda Classic.

It was good enough for a one-stroke lead over Vijay Singh.

“I know I’m hitting it good,” Calcavecchia said. “I’m just going to aim at the pins and see where I stand on the last hole.”

It’s the way he played Saturday, when he went for every pin and made four birdies on the front nine.

It’s the way he plans to play today in a tournament in which 15 others are within five strokes of the lead.

Tommy Tolles had a 65 for the low round of an ever-changing day that included overcast, rain and 20-mph wind. He was tied for third with Kevin Sutherland at eight-under 208.

Colin Montgomerie, looking for his first win in his 46th PGA Tour start, was in a large group at 207 that included defending champion Stuart Appleby and Lee Janzen.

Jeff Maggert, who led after each of the first two rounds and is winless since 1993, was mired in one bunker after another. He made five bogeys on the back nine and finished with a 76, six strokes off the lead.

Calcavecchia holed a 25-footer for birdie on No. 2, then squeezed five-irons to about 12 feet for birdies at the par-three fifth hole and par-four seventh.

His lone bogey came on No. 11 with a seven-iron that landed about six feet in front of the flag but bounced hard over the green into the first cut of rough.

When rain blew up, Calcavecchia merely fired a four-iron right at the stick on No. 12 and sank a 15-footer to get back to 11 under.

“I birdied the toughest hole in the rain,” said Calcavecchia, one of golf’s most aggressive players.

Singh twice saved par with medium-length putts on par-three holes. He got to 10 under with a seven-iron to within eight feet for birdie at the 442-yard 17th hole. He has taken only 49 putts on his last 36 holes.

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Helen Alfredsson took advantage of a two-shot swing late in the round and shot a two-under 70 to maintain her lead in the Welch’s-Circle K Championship at Tucson.

Alfredsson’s 54-hole score of 14-under 202 was enough for a one-shot edge over Chris Johnson, a Tucson resident who won her hometown tournament in 1984 and 1991.

Johnson shot a low round of 67, but was prevented from sharing the lead by a bogey on the next-to-last hole.

Dana Dormann, Dottie Pepper and Tina Barrett were four strokes off the lead.

Playing on a Randolph North course that was beset by 15-mph winds and occasional drizzle, only three others matched Johnson’s 67.

Alfredsson had three birdies in the third round but bogeyed No. 8, a par-three hole, when her tee shot found a bunker and she two-putted after the chip.

Alfredsson and Johnson, playing a fairway ahead, shared the lead for about two holes.

Alfredsson birdied No. 16 while Johnson, playing the 360-yard 17th hole, was short on her approach out of heavy rough. She chipped to within six feet of the cup, but two-putted for bogey.

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Australia’s Stephen Leaney moved out to a four-shot lead with a three-under that gave him a 54-hole score of 204 at the Moroccan Open at Agadir.

Robert Karlsson and Mathias Gronberg, both of Sweden, had 67s to move into a three-way tie with England’s Mark Davis at 208.

First-round leader Des Smyth of Ireland stumbled to a 77 that included a seven on the par-five 15th. He is nine shots off the pace.

Leaney pulled clear of the field with a three-birdie burst after the turn, concluding with a seven-iron to within eight feet at No. 12.