Collins and Schultz share lead with one round to play

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Dave Schultz has gone 63-64 in the last two rounds to tie Chad Collins for the lead with 18 holes to go in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Chad Collins and Dave Schultz share a two-stroke lead at 18-under par after three rounds of play at the 2009 Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper. Henrik Bjornstad is alone in third place at 16 under and five others are tied for fourth at 15 under.

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The fourth round's final pairing will feature two of the hottest players in the Nationwide Tour. Schultz and Collins tied for second last week at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open and Schultz finished tied for third a week before that at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. This will be Collins' second consecutive event playing in the last group on Sunday.

Schultz, who started six shots off the lead, fired the low round of the day with an 8-under-par 64. His birdie putt to pull into a tie for the lead fell on the 18th hole just as Collins was making the turn onto the back nine. Collins looked up at the leaderboard on the 10th tee and knew he couldn't let up.

"I grinded pretty hard today to hold my position and stay tied for the lead," the even-keeled 30-year-old from Cloverdale, Ind. remarked.

After firing consecutive 64s on Thursday and Friday, Collins began the third round ahead by two strokes. He got off to another hot start with birdies on the first two holes. After parring the next six, he made his first bogey of the tournament on the ninth. Another dropped shot on No. 12 put him one behind Schultz. He rallied to make a birdie on No. 17 and regain a share of the lead.

"An under-par round seems like it should be good, but around here you need to be more than 2-under to hold your ground," he said. "It was kind of breezy and that was a little bit of a factor. But I didn't putt or hit the ball very well and that's the result."

Schultz had an easier go of it on Saturday. After the lone bogey of his round on No. 4, he made eight birdies in his next 14 holes. His 63-64 total of 127 on Friday and Saturday ties the best back-to-back rounds ever played at Highland Springs Country Club in its 20-year history as the host course for the tournament.

After a 1-under 71 in the first round Schultz was tied for 98th. By the time he arrived at the tee for his second-round tee time, Collins was already in the clubhouse at 16 under -- a deficit of 15 strokes.

"The last couple of rounds have been a lot of fun," he said. "I've been able to keep the momentum going. I was pretty disappointed after the first round, but got on a good roll yesterday and put myself in a good position today."

Schultz finds himself in contention for the third week in a row. Earlier in the season, he was simply hoping for opportunities to compete as a conditionally exempt member of the Tour.

"I didn't get into the first eight events of the year -- so I'm not taking any of this for granted," he said. "I'm very fortunate to be in this position and am excited for tomorrow.

Schultz, 26, is a former All-American out of Texas Christian University from Fargo, N.D. He is playing his second season on the Nationwide Tour after finishing 85th on the money list in 2008. Collins graduated from Methodist College in 2001. He finished 23rd on the money list in 2007 and earned a promotion to the PGA TOUR in 2008. After finishing 174th in earnings that year, he returned to the Nationwide Tour in 2009.

The final round begins at 7:15 a.m. CST on Sunday with the final group of Schultz and Collins teeing off at 12:40 p.m.