PGA COLONIAL Annika who? Perry on hot pace

He is in position for a record-breaking win at the Colonial.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- With the focus back on the leaders after Annika Sorenstam missed the cut, Kenny Perry matched the Colonial record with a 9-under 61 Saturday to get to 17 under for an eight-stroke lead after three rounds.
Perry was on target from the start, with birdies on his first three holes and then three straight birdies to end his front nine.
With three more birdies on the backside, he finished his best round in 17 years on the PGA Tour.
Season's largest lead
With the largest lead after 54 holes on the tour this season, Perry is in position for a record-breaking win at the Colonial. He is already one stroke better than Fulton Allem's record-low 16-under victory in 1993.
Rory Sabbatini was the closest to Perry at 9 under after his third-round 67 that started with an eagle. Jim Furyk (69) was nine strokes back.
Perry started with a tap-in birdie after his first putt from more than 50 feet on the 565-yard opening hole. Perry made a 12-footer at No. 2 and put his approach 3 feet from the pin at the 476-yard third hole, the longest par 4 on the course. He finished the front with birdies of 3, 10 and 12 feet.
Perry, who has only four wins on tour, just missed several other birdies. Another putt from more than 50 feet at the 433-yard 12th stopped just inches short, an 8-footer at the 188-yard 16th curled past the edge of the cup and a 17-footer at No. 18 rolled just past the hole.
Getting back to normal
Even with Perry's record performance, there was a more-traditional feel around Colonial a day after Sorenstam finished her historic appearance as the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour. She missed the cut by four strokes at 5 over.
Thousands of spectators were still on the course, as would be normal for a weekend round.
But they were spread throughout the 7,080-yard layout, and not crammed 10 to 12 deep along the ropes and following Sorenstam for every hole.
"It was completely different," said Dean Wilson, who was at 3 under and played with Sorenstam the first two rounds. "There was not as much of a gallery, and not as much excitement in the air. It's kind of what I'm used to. A lot of people were asking me where my gallery went."
When Wilson went to the 10th hole, the same place where Sorenstam started her PGA Tour experiment Thursday, less than 50 people surrounded the tee box. Only a handful of those followed after Wilson and Dallas resident Harrison Frazar hit their shots.
Nick Price, defending his only win since 1998, had been overshadowed by Sorenstam and his known objection to her playing in a PGA Tour event. He shot a 65 early Saturday, including an eagle at the 393-yard No. 6, to get to 5 under, but was nowhere near contention by the time Perry finished.
Hal Sutton, who had a hole-in-one at the 188-yard 16th hole, also shot a 65 and was tied with Stewart Cink (66) and Jeff Sluman (67) for fourth -- 10 strokes behind Perry.
Dan Forsman shared the second-round lead with Perry, but bogeyed the first two holes on his way to a 73.