DeCorso, Hensen share 54-hole lead in Henrico County

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GLEN ALLEN, Va. -- Bryan DeCorso and Matt Hansen each carded 6-under-par 66s Saturday in the third round of the Nationwide Tour's Henrico County Open and charged to the top of a crowded leaderboard. DeCorso and Hansen share the 54-hole lead at The Dominion Club with 14-under 202 totals.

Bryan DeCorso is among the event leaders in greens in regulation. (Gardner/WireImage)

DeCorso vs. Hansen

Thru 54 Holes

Stat DeCorso Hansen Eagles 2 1 Birdies 15 16 Pars 32 33 Bogeys 5 0 Double Bogeys 0 0 Other 0 0 Driving Accuracy 78.6% 66.7% Driving Distance 293.7 yds. 286.2 yds. Greens in Regulation 77.8% 68.5% Putts per Round 28.0 27.3 Putts per GIR 1.690 1.676 Sand Saves 0.0% 100.0%

Neal Lancaster, Tom Byrum, Greg Chalmers, Wade Ormsby, Henrik Bjornstad and Bubba Dickerson are tied for third place, two shots off the pace. Five others are another shot back and still in striking distance in the $500,000 event.

"There are no paychecks and trophies handed out on Saturday," said Hansen after his 66, which tied the low round of the day.

Maybe not, but when Dickerson, the first- and second-round leader, struggled on the greens, it opened the door to a host of challengers moving up in hopes of cashing some bigger checks and grabbing some hardware.

"It's moving day so I did my job," said DeCorso, who rolled out of the gate with an eagle and three birdies on his first four holes. "I got some good numbers and when you're over a club and it's just the right number, you can take it at the pin, it doesn't matter where it is."

DeCorso played solid golf for his final 14 holes, inching his way forward as Dickerson, who held a four-shot lead to begin the round, had it in reverse. When the day began, Bjornstad was at 10 under and the only player within four of the leader. When the day ended, 15 players are now within four shots heading into Sunday's final round.

"I can't say I feel like this is my week. Not yet. Not even close," said DeCorso, who is in his first season on Tour and had made only two cuts in his first seven starts. "This all just means that the hard work I've put in the last couple of weeks is paying off."

DeCorso, who has posted scores of 68-68-66 after not breaking 70 in his previous 16 total rounds, has undergone a bit of swing change the past few weeks, trying to eliminate mistakes that carried his shots to the left.

"I'm trying to hit it straight now. It does start the ball further left, so that's down the line, but it doesn't go left," he said after hitting 11 fairways and 14 greens. "You can sit there and hit a thousand balls on the driving range perfect but taking it to the golf course is the hardest thing. It's nowhere near perfect."

Maybe not, but it is close.

Hansen, too, is in position to win after also fixing some things on the driving range.

"I shot two horrendous rounds last week and missed the cut," he said of his 75-80 at the Athens Regional Foundation Classic . "I started hitting a cut and that's never been a shot for me. I've always turned the ball over."

During a practice session on Tuesday, Hansen's caddie noticed that he simply wasn't aimed at the target.

"This game's crazy. Sometimes it's a big thing and sometimes it's not," he said. "He checked my clubface alignment and it turned out I was aiming 10-15 yards right of where I thought I was aiming."

Now that the 28-year old Californian has it figured out, he's got a chance to better his career-best finish, a tie for 18th at the 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship, which came during his only season on the PGA TOUR.

"It's just golf," he said. "I've been putting too much pressure on myself. I just decided to go out there and play and try to have some fun."

Dickerson saw his lead evaporate with a double bogey and a bogey late on the front nine and was on his way to a 2-over-par 74, thus becoming the only player among the top 25 above par on a day when the scoring average dipped to 70.639.

"It was brutal. I putted really bad," he said after totaling 31 putts. "I never made that par putt to keep the round going or that birdie putt to get it started. I hit it above the hole a lot today and I was just trying to find the right speed. I never could match it up."

Dickerson did manage a birdie at the closing hole to get back to within two of the lead.