PGA leader may get card back

Jay Williamson has a
one-stroke lead in the
Travelers Championship.

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Jay Williamson would like to get back to playing PGA Tour events full-time. He’s one day away.

Playing on a sponsor exemption in the Travelers Championship, Williamson shot a third-round 67 Saturday for a one-stroke lead over Hunter Mahan after the third round.

If he can hang on, he’ll get back his Tour card and be the first player to win on the PGA and Nationwide Tours in the same year since Jason Gore in 2005.

“My mind-set all week has been I’m just really happy to be here,” he said. “It’s great not being on the other tour right now. Now I’ve really got an opportunity. If I can get within nine holes left with a chance, who knows what can happen.”

Nationwide winner

The 40-year-old won the Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic in Arkansas in May and ranks seventh on that tour’s money list with $153,249 in earnings.

Williamson bested his second-round co-leader David Toms, and first-round leader Mahan over the final four holes to finish 11-under par.

“I wasn’t really looking at the leaderboards,” he said. “I figured if I could just keep making birdies, making good swings, I’ve got 18 holes and we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

So far this week, he has hit 36 of 42 fairways and 42 of 54 greens in regulation.

He hit an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-4 No. 15 to go 11-under and made par the rest of the way, nearly chipping in for birdie on the 18th.

“I don’t usually get excited on the golf course,” he said. “But if that ball would have gone in, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Glory days

Williamson graduated from nearby Trinity College in Hartford, where he played baseball and hockey. He said he didn’t even know this Tour event existed when he was in school.

Now he’s playing for an exemption through 2009.

“There’s a lot riding on this, obviously, if I really sat there and thought about it, I may be overwhelmed.”

Toms, a 12-time winner on Tour, including the 2001 PGA Championship, has five top-10 finishes this year. But he bogeyed the par-3 16th, and he fell two back after his drive on the signature 17th hole found the water.

His 69 was good enough for third place a stroke behind Mahan, who shot a 67.

“I’m in good shape for tomorrow,” Toms said. “I just have to keep playing. I feel I can play this golf course well.”