PGA David Toms leaves the field in the dust

David Toms fired a 66 for a five-stroke lead in the Wachovia Championship.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A chip-in for eagle and a brilliant fairway bunker shot enabled David Toms to pull away from the pack Saturday in the Wachovia Championship, and take a big step toward his first victory in 20 months.
On a steamy, blustery afternoon at Quail Hollow, Toms matched the best score of the tournament with a 6-under 66 to build a five-stroke lead.
Tiger Woods is the only other player this year to lead by as many as five shots after 54 holes. He went on to win at Bay Hill by 11 strokes despite a nasty stomach virus.
Toms left everyone else feeling sick.
The former PGA champion was at 11-under 205 and had a big cushion over Kirk Triplett (67), Robert Gamez (71) and J.P. Hayes (72).
"When I was on the range, I was thinking about shooting 2 or 3-under, just like the first two days," Toms said. "I knew if I wasn't in the lead, that would at least have a chance."
Toms in charge
With everyone around him stuck in neutral, Toms wound up firmly in charge.
Nick Price, who led by one going into Saturday, tried to recover from a sluggish start but consecutive birdies late in the round still left him at 74.
Price was in a large group at 5-under 211 that included Charles Howell III, who was only two behind Toms with three holes to play until back-to-back bogeys.
Fred Couples was happy just to finish his 74, leaving him seven strokes behind.
Couples, one of five players who had the lead at one point in the third round, was bending over to read a short par putt on No. 10 when his left knee buckled as he tried to stand. He grabbed his lower back -- a decade-old injury -- and promptly hooked his next tee shot into the trees. He was in obvious pain the rest of the round.
Toms was simply unstoppable.
Took the lead
A 5-wood into 12 feet on the 250-yard sixth hole, followed by a birdie from the green-side bunker on the par-5 seventh gave him the lead, and he pulled away with a chip from the front of the 10th green that banged off the stick and dropped for eagle.
"That kind of got me going," he said.
After a two-putt birdie on the 15th, Toms separated himself from the pack with a 7-iron out of the bunker on No. 16 that just cleared another bunker and settled about 8 feet from the cup for a rare birdie.
"That surprises me," he said when told of his five-stroke lead. "I guess it means the guys behind me weren't playing that well."
Instead, it was a case of Toms being on his game. Now he just has to finish them off today to win for the first time since the Michelob Championship in late 2001.
One of top players
That was the year Toms arrived as one of golf's top players, winning the PGA Championship at Atlanta with a memorable decision to lay up on the final hole.
He admits to getting antsy about winning. It has been 41 tournaments since the last time he held a trophy at the end of four days.
"It's been a long time for me," Toms said. "For guys who don't quite have the ability of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els or Phil Mickelson, it isn't easy. I can't be off and win golf tournaments."
Toms will be paired today with Triplett, who shot his 67 earlier in the day and figured it would leave him close to the lead.
Failed to get birdie
Howell figured to be the closest to Toms when he pounded his drive on the par-5 15th, and looked like he might pull within one shot. But Howell failed to make birdie, then picked up his first bogey of the tournament by hitting into the trees on No. 16.
Howell dropped another stroke when his tee shot on the peninsula-green 17th went through the putting surface and got stuck between the rocks lining the lake.