Late double bogey reduces Ochoa's lead

Champions Tour rookie Mark Johnson has a three-stroke lead.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. -- Lorena Ochoa gave up a commanding lead with a double bogey on the 16th hole, finishing with a 1-under 71 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Safeway International.
Ochoa, the 23-year-old Mexican star who won twice last year as an LPGA Tour sophomore, had a 13-under 203 total. Playing partner Soo-Yun Kang was second after a 70, and defending champion Annika Sorenstam was four strokes back at 9 under.
Sorenstam, who has rallied in the final round for 18 of her 57 LPGA Tour titles, shot a 72 in the unusually humid, cool conditions, but only lost one shot to Ochoa.
Rookie Brittany Linicome shot a 66 to join Juli Inkster (69) at 8 under, and Rosie Jones had a 64 -- the best round of the tournament -- to finish at 7 under.
Jones had nine birdies and was on pace for a 63, which would have tied the Prospector Course record set by Cristie Kerr in last year's second round, until she bogeyed the 15th hole.
Overcast conditions
Almost everyone else struggled to go low in heavy, overcast conditions and intermittent drizzle.
Liselotte Neumann had a 70 and Siew-Ai Lim, who shared the first-round lead with Ochoa, shot a 73 to land seven shots back.
Michelle Wie shot a 73 to finish at 3 under. She also had a 73 on Thursday, but rebounded Friday with a 67.
Ochoa was cruising at 15 under -- three shots ahead of Kang and seven up on Sorenstam -- when her drive landed in a bush on No. 16. As Ochoa, caddie Tom Thorpe and two marshals looked for the ball, it rolled into view near them.
Officials didn't know if the ball was dislodged by the search, and required Ochoa to re-drop it in the bush, where it stayed without rolling. The unplayable lie cost her a stroke, and Ochoa took two more shots to reach the green and two-putted for a double bogey-6.
But it still left the former University of Arizona player atop the leaderboard.
Tiebreaker
Her race with Kang for the lead turned on the 13th hole, the longest on the course at 552 yards, where both teed off tied at 13 under.
Ochoa hit a wood out of the rough on her second shot, leaving herself a 90-yard wedge to the green, and sank a 10-foot putt for a birdie. But Kang, in the long grass on her third shot, couldn't get the ball to stop and three-putted from 16 feet, giving Ochoa a two-shot lead.
Both birdied the 14th hole, but Kang bogeyed the 15th when she two-putted after a bunker shot.
Ochoa, who had 14 birdies in her first two rounds, parred the first five holes before rolling in consecutive birdies putts on Nos. 6 and 7.
But Kang stayed with her, and moved into a tie at 13 under with a par on the 12th hole, a par-3 where Ochoa's tee shot landed in a greenside bunker. Ochoa blasted out well, but two-putted from 8 feet for her third bogey of the event.
Sorenstam, the lowest scorer on the tour four consecutive years, was another example of the difficult conditions. She birdied the first hole, double-bogeyed the third, birdied the ninth, bogeyed the 17th and birdied the 18th.
Champions Tour
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Champions Tour rookie Mark Johnson shot an 8-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead over former University of Houston coach Keith Fergus after the second round of the Toshiba Senior Classic.
The 50-year-old Johnson, the qualifying tournament winner known as the "Beer Man" because he drove a Budweiser truck for 18 years before turning pro, had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey to reach 12 under on the Newport Beach Country Club course.
"I felt confident and good about everything that happened today," Johnson said. "But I'll be nervous tomorrow. I was nervous at Q-School with the lead, too.
"It was a great day for me. I was very fortunate to make numerous putts today. ... My strategy will probably be the same tomorrow. We'll see how the wind is blowing."
Fergus shot a 66. Tom Jenkins and Wayne Levi were 8 under after 68s. First-round leader Gil Morgan (70) was 7 under along with Mike Reid (65) and Ben Crenshaw (67).
Mark McNulty (69) topped a group at 6 under, and defending champion Tom Purtzer (69) was another stroke back along with two-time winner Hale Irwin (69). The 59-year-old Irwin has two victories in five starts this year to push his tour-record total to 42.
Fergus had an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys.
"I didn't look at the leaderboard until the back nine," Fergus said. "I said to myself I'd better get myself in gear when I saw that Mark was 12 under."
Fergus and Jenkins will be paired with Johnson in the final round.
"Mark will definitely feel some pressure tomorrow," Fergus said. "It's up to the rest of us to put some more on him. I'd say this course could produce a low score; maybe a 61 or 62."
Crenshaw was sailing along at 6 under for the day when he double-bogeyed the 17th.
"I was really worried with the ball at 17," Crenshaw said. "I wasn't sure I could get it out of the sand. I was worried the ball could hit the lip of the trap and come back and hit me or end up in my footsteps."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.