Weir pulls ahead with record start

The Masters champion broke the 54-hole tournament record.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Mike Weir would seem to be the last guy at Riviera with something to prove.
He already has his portrait hanging in the clubhouse from winning the Nissan Open last year. He has a green jacket in his closet as the Masters champion. His 5-under 66, a masterful performance in cold, rainy conditions Saturday, gave him a five-shot lead and broke the 54-hole tournament record.
Even so, Weir knows better than to look ahead.
"I'm looking at it as a big challenge," Weir said. "I want to prove to myself that I can handle a five-shot lead."
He has built a reputation as the comeback Canadian, winning all six of his PGA Tour titles from off the lead. The challenge today is to win for the first time out front.
There was that 80 he shot in the final round of the '99 PGA Championship when paired with Tiger Woods. Most recently, Weir shot a 75 in the final round at the 2002 Honda Classic, falling into a tie for 11th.
His final-round scoring average with at least a share of the lead is 73.6.
Breathing room
At least he has some room for error.
Weir separated himself from John Daly and the rest of the pack with one swing -- a 4-iron into 15 feet on the devilish par-3 sixth hole -- then turned it into a runaway Saturday.
He finished at 17-under 196, breaking by one shot the 54-hole record set by Fred Couples in 1992.
Shigeki Maruyama, who started the third round tied with Weir, stayed in range until bogeys on both par 3s on the back nine. A birdie on the final hole gave him an even-par 71, five shots behind.
Jeff Maggert had a 69 -- his third straight round in the 60s -- and was at 11-under 202.
The gallery took their hands off umbrellas long enough to clap and cheer Daly, but it couldn't sustain him. Daly missed several short birdie opportunities and shot a 72, leaving him eight shots off the lead.
Daly was in the hunt, along with so many others, until the third round took shape on one hole.
Tough hole
The par-3 sixth is famous for having a bunker in the middle of the green, and with the pin tucked back and to the left, it played as the second-toughest hole Saturday.
Weir made one of only four birdies, and went from a four-way tie for the lead to a two-shot margin.
Daly was only one shot behind when he came up short, his chip rolled back down the ridge and he three-putted for a double bogey.
Briny Baird was tied for the lead at 12-under, but found the middle of the green -- the bunker -- and made bogey.
In the next and final group, Scott McCarron hit so far left that his ball bounced off a concessions tent. He chipped past the hole and nearly into the bunker, having to stand in the sand and grip the club on its shaft to play his next shot. He holed a 7-footer for bogey.
Maruyama went off a tree, chipped over the green and also had to get up-and-down for bogey.
No one got any closer than two shots to Weir the rest of the rainy day.
Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am
LUTZ, Fla. -- Mark McNulty put himself in position to win in his first Champions Tour start, shooting a 6-under 65 Saturday to take a one-stroke lead.
McNulty, who has won 55 worldwide events but is winless in the United States, had seven birdies and one bogey Saturday on the TPC of Tampa Bay to take a 10-under 132 total into the final round.
Larry Nelson (69) and D.A. Weibring (65) were a stroke back, and Argentina's Vicente Fernandez (67), Mike McCullough (70), Tom Purtzer (67) and Tom Jenkins (67) were 8-under. Tom Kite, the first round leader after a 63, shot a 73 to drop five shots back.