Rookie ready for Round 4

By Andy Samuelson

Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Marc Turnesa finds himself in the familiar situation of leading a PGA Tour tournament this morning. By dusk, the 30-year-old rookie hopes to be in the unfamiliar spot of hoisting his first trophy at TPC Summerlin.

“I don’t know how this is going to turn out for me,” said Turnesa, who leads the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open by a single stroke with a three-day total of 195.

“I think being patient, taking it one shot at a time and just realizing that I am going to make some mistakes out there (will help). You just got to roll with it and go on to the next hole,” continued Turnesa, who shot a three-under-par 69 on Saturday to stay one shot ahead of Chris DiMarco, Michael Allen and Ken Duke. Matt Kuchar’s Friday’s co-leader fell two spots back with former Master’s champ Zach Johnson and Chris Stroud.

Turnesa — who comes from a legendary golf family as his late grandfather Michael, the fourth of the famous seven Turnesa brothers from Elmsford, N.Y., (all but one played professionally), won six PGA tour events — did just that, brushing back his miscues on Saturday.

Despite firing his worst round so far in Las Vegas, Turnesa patched things together when he hit four birdies out of five holes starting on the 12th to stay in front.

"I kind of got off to a slow start. I think I was struggling a bit,” Turnesa said. “I hit a few wayward shots, and it wasn't quite like the previous two days where everything was going my way. I had a good back nine and was able to hold the lead.

"There were some low scores, but none of them were really from the leaders. So, I think I'm a bit fortunate.”

Kuchar wasn’t as lucky.

Kuchar still shared the top spot going into his last hole, but a double bogey on the par-four 18th pushed him into a tie for fifth.

"It's a real bummer to make double on the last hole, but I'm still right there, two shots back," Kuchar said. "Here you've got a lot of chances to make birdies, but you certainly don't go out thinking, 'I've got to keep pace with what I did the first two days.' That's hard to do."

Apparently not for Chris DiMarco, who enjoyed the day’s best round with a nine-under 62.

DiMarco, who shot two eagles Saturday, including a 70-plus yard chip shot on the par-five 16th, had his best round since he shot a 62 in the 2003 Phoenix Open.

"It's nice to be back in the hunt," said DiMarco, who was once a Top 10 player in the world, but this year had missed 15 cuts in 26 events and currently ranks 143rd on the money list.

"It's a birdiefest out there. So for me to shoot 9 under today, I definitely played catch up, and that's all you want to do is play catch up and give yourself a chance for Sunday on the back nine. That back nine is fun because a lot of things could change. A lot could be done.

"To me, that makes golf exciting,” continued DiMarco, who said he’s 100-percent pain free in his left shoulder that was operated on a year ago to clean up a bone spur. “I think fans want to see us make birdies and eagles and shoot low numbers and win tournaments like that rather than just try to hold on with bogeys and pars."

Like DiMarco, Allen, a familiar face to Nevadans because he played golf at UNR, shot up the scoreboard Saturday with a 17 under.

"I got off to a good start. Tomorrow I've just got go out and try and get another good start — it is going to be a shootout, a lot of fun," said the 49-year-old Allen, who has yet to record a tour victory.

But a win this weekend would not only help Allen avoid a 14th assignment to tour qualifying school, but back up his own self-assessment that he’s playing the best golf of his career.

“I am enjoying it more now than I ever have in my career,” said Allen, who recorded three birdies and an eagle on his first four holes Saturday.

“I like to compete against the best players in the world. I don’t have any fallacy that I am by any means, but I enjoy the challenge. I will enjoy the challenge tomorrow to win for the first time.”

So too will Turnesa, who finds himself having led the first three rounds of a tourney for the second time in a month.

Turnesa also went into the final day of the Viking Classic, the opening event of the Fall Series, with three straight days on top, but lost to good friend Will MacKenzie in a playoff.

“Thinking about the outcome gets you nowhere,” Turnesa said. “All I can do is hit each shot as good as I can and, you know, play as well as I can.

“I’ll be a little bit more comfortable this time around.”

This and That: Twelve players from the 83 that made the 36-hole cut on Friday did not survive the cut of 8-under-par 208 on Saturday. ... Defending champ George McNeil posted his third consecutive 5-under 67 to sit six shots off the lead. ... Past tournament champion Davis Love III was in 14th place at 16-under while Bob Estes checked in at 12-under. ... The third-round leader/co-leader has won 21 of 43 stroke-play events. ... Eight players have posted two eagles in a round with UNLV alum Chad Campbell performing the feat twice.

Andy Samuelson is a sports writer/editor for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at [email protected] or 702-948-7837.