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Pernice claims Buick lead

01/07/2007

Tom Pernice shot a round of six-under-par to claim the lead of the Buick Open by one-shot on 13-under heading into the final day's play.

Jesper Parnevik, Scott Verplank and Brian Bateman make up the three-man group on 12-under, while there are a further ten players within three strokes of the leader.

Pernice had a poor start to his round, making a bogey on the opening hole. He was level par after the front nine but made a decisive move on the last nine holes.

The 47-year-old made an eagle at the 14th hole and followed it up with four birdies to claim the outright lead.

He said: "The way I was going along, I never dreamed I would get to six-under. Being patient pays off sometimes."

Parnevik carded an incredible round of eight-under to soar up the leaderboard on day three.

The Swede made nine birdies in all and the only blemish on his round came at the 17th hole where he made a bogey.

Parnevik has been struggling for form this season after breaking his finger but the 42-year-old was pleased to be back in the hunt for a tour title.

He said: "It's a very, very weird game, where you can have it one day, you can lose it for two months all of a sudden, and then it's back for three years and you don't even know what happened."

Overnight leader Kenny Perry had a solid round of 71 and is still in contention on 11-under along with pre-tournament favourite Jim Furyk.

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