Whittaker remains hot, shoots to top of Chattanooga board  PGA TOUR Staff CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- A week after losing in a playoff at the WNB Golf Classic in Texas, Ron Whittaker has continued his hot streak in Tennessee. At the Chattanooga Classic at Black Creek on Saturday, Whittaker turned in his 10th consecutive under-par round and holds a one-stroke lead going into the final round.  Ron Whittaker is playing his best golf of the year in recent weeks. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
"I'm playing good, and it's been like that for the last six or seven weeks, starting in Omaha," Whittaker said of his five-birdie, one-bogey performance in the third round under perfect conditions at Black Creek Club. "I knew I was playing good coming into this week. After the playoff last week, I wasn't too disappointed because I had a good chance to win and just didn't. I can't dwell on it. I just have to get things done tomorrow." To do that, he'll have to hold off Henrik Bjornstad, Stephen Gangluff and Nicholas Thompson, who are all tied for second. Six others are within three strokes of Whittaker's lead. "This is one of those courses that's interesting because you know going in you have to take it low," said Gangluff, who shot a 4-under 68 Saturday. Ranked 115th on the Nationwide Tour money list, Gangluff only has one top-10 finish this season, a tie for third at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open. The reigning money leader on the 2006 Canadian Professional Golf Tour had high expectations entering this year, but his goals have gone largely unmet. "It's been a weird year. I really thought I was going to come out here and do something," he said. "I've played well, I just haven't gotten anything out of the season." Thompson was 11 under through 36 holes and looked like he was going to continue rolling, as he was 4 under through six holes Saturday. Then things got interesting for the Georgia Tech product. "I played a solid nine holes, hit a lot of good golf shots then on 10 I hit a beautiful drive about six yards short of the green," he said of the 360-yard par 4. "Then I decided to chili dip my chip shot and left it five yards short of the green." That began a streak of four consecutive bogeys that dropped him back to even for his round. Birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 18 put him back into contention. For the first Norwegian player to make it on the PGA TOUR, Henrik Bjornstad is in a similar position to where he was last year at this time. Playing in the PGA TOUR's FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort last October, Bjornstad was trying to keep his TOUR playing privileges, something he ultimately couldn't do. This season, ranked 89th on the money list, he's doing the same thing on a different tour. "My absolute first goal is to get inside the top 70 so I can miss the first stage of q-school," the native of Oslo, Norway, said. "I was a little tense coming down the stretch today. It's not every week I'm up there (on the leaderboard). It's something I need to work on, to relax a little more. "I wanted to get into position, to be close to the lead if not in the lead, and I've done that," he continued. "I think there will be a lot of lead changes [Sunday]. I've got to get off to a quick start." Third-Round Notes: Edward Loar recorded the fourth double eagle of the Nationwide Tour season when he made 2 on the par-5 sixth hole. He used a driver and 4-iron, holing out from 237 yards. It was the second double eagle in tournament history. In 2005, Nathan Green made double eagle on No. 14 in the third round. ... Through three rounds, there have been 57 eagles. The 14th hole has yielded the most, 21 through 54 holes. ... Zoran Zorkic recorded back-to-back eagles Saturday, only the second time that's happened this season. Zorkic eagled the par-5 14th and then holed out from the fairway on the par-4 15th. D.A. Points had back-to-back eagles at the Albertsons Boise Open last month. ... The only other par-4 eagle this week came from Tom Carter on the 10th hole in the second round. ... Zorkic also had two eagles in the same round two weeks ago at the Mark Christopher Charity Classic in California. ... The scoring average Saturday was 70.563, the highest it's ever been in the previous four events at Black Creek and 1.5 strokes higher than last year's third round. Every other third round in tournament history has seen the field average a sub-70 score. ... Martin Laird's 7-under 65 was the low round of the day. He went from tied for 42nd at the start of the day to tied for sixth going into Sunday's final round. ... Of the three Monday qualifiers still playing, Tommy Biershenk is in the best position heading Sunday. He's tied for 23rd at 9 under. David Lutterus is tied for 39th, while Ryan Blaum is tied for 42nd. |
