Ted Purdy charged into the lead at the Michelin Championship Saturday as overnight leader Briny Baird's dream tournament became a nightmare. Baird started the third round with a two-shot lead, but finished tied for 43rd. Purdy, meanwhile, seized the lead in the four million-dollar tournament with a seven-under 65 on the TPC at Summerlin for 18-under 197.
After the first two rounds of the event were played on both the Summerlin and the TPC at The Canyons courses, the final two rounds are being played exclusively at Summerlin where Baird fired a 10-under-par 62 to tie the course record Thursday.
He held onto the lead with a second round at The Canyons that included a hole-in-one, but his return to Summerlin Saturday was a different story.
Baird carded a six-over 78 to fall to nine-under 206.
Baird, in search of his first PGA Tour victory, had four bogeys and carded an eight on the par-four 12th.
Purdy got off to a fast start with birdies at his first four holes, and he added four more with just one bogey to take a two-shot lead.
Steve Lowery (64), Charles Howell (67) and Harrison Frazar (68) were tied for second at 16-under 199.
197 - Ted Purdy 67-65-65
199 - Harrison Frazar 68-63-68, Charles Howell 63-69-67, Steve Lowery 67-68-64
200 - Wes Short 67-67-66, Kevin Stadler 64-66-70
201 - Jim Furyk 66-66-69, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 65-69-67
202 - Scott Gutschewski 64-71-67, Shigeki Maruyama (JPN) 65-65-72, Ryan Palmer 62-72-68, Phillip Price (GBR) 68-66-68, Jeff Sluman 67-69-66, Hidemichi Tanaka (JPN) 66-68-68
203 - Bart Bryant 64-66-73, Paul Goydos 65-65-73, Jerry Kelly 67-69-67, Stephen Leaney (AUS) 67-67-69, Tom Pernice 65-68-70, Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA) 64-71-68, Bo Van Pelt 70-66-67
204 - Ryuji Imada (JPN) 64-70-70
205 - Rod Pampling (AUS) 67-64-74, John Senden (AUS) 66-66-73
206 - Robert Allenby (AUS) 68-68-70
207 - Daniel Chopra (SWE) 70-67-70, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 68-69-70
208 - Stuart Appleby (AUS) 67-70-71, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 69-67-72
209 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 72-63-74, Gavin Coles (AUS) 68-69-72
210 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 67-67-76
211 - Mark Hensby (AUS) 69-67-75
213 - Scott Hend (AUS) 68-69-76.