Sunday, May 09, 1999
Flesch atop leader board by 1
Northern Kentuckian on threshold of 1st tour win
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — The pros playing in the $2.6 million Compaq Classic sure made it look easy through the first three rounds when plain old par became a liability.
“I looked at the leader board and couldn't believe it,” third-round leader Steve Flesch said. “There are 13 people at 10-under, another 12 from 11- to 15-under.”
Flesch of Union, Ky., who used a second-place finish at New Orleans last year as a springboard to the PGA Tour rookie of the year award, got his share of the birdies, shooting a 68 Saturday for a one-stroke lead after three rounds.
“It's not that the course is playing that easy,” he said. “It's just that everyone is playing very well.”
Flesch, winless on tour, was at 15-under 201, one ahead of Omar Uresti and Eric Booker, each with 71s, and two strokes ahead Dudley Hart, Harrison Frazar and Carlos Franco.
“This is the first time I've sat on a lead in a PGA Tour event,” Flesch said. “I definitely prefer to be leading. I can kind of draw on the feeling of having the lead and say, "Let's go win this thing.' Or at least, I hope I can.”
Flesch birdied his first hole and added birdies on Nos. 6, 9 and 10. He missed a 6-foot par putt on 13 for a bogey, but got the stroke back at No. 16.
But with birdies popping up in almost every round, the chase for the $468,000 first place money is far from wrapped up.
Doug Dunakey and Ted Tryba each shot 8-under 64s to get back into the hunt at 10-under, four players had 7-under-par rounds and six more had 66s Saturday. Only 10 players were over par in the third round.
“The way the scoring has been, I may not even be in the lead by the time I tee it up,” Flesch said.
As impressive as the scores were, the crowd at the top of the leader board had few familiar faces in it.
Only one player in the top nine has ever won on the tour — Hart, winner of the Canadian Open in 1996.
“I don't know if having won will help any,” Hart said. “Maybe it will. Before I won in Canada you always questioned yourself, "Can I do that?' You can't help that.”
Confidence didn't seem to be a problem for many in the third round as once again the 7,106-yard, par-72 course at English Turn was extremely tame.
“The golf course is very accessible right now,” Frazar said. “If the conditions stay the same, I'd say the winner will be 20, maybe 22 under.”
New Orleans, already hitting the high 80s this time of year, has fallen far below its usual rainfall level this spring.
The tournament record of 16-under seems almost certain to fall this week.
Defending champ Lee Westwood withdrew after the round because of a sore shoulder.
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