Tidland grabs 54-hole lead at Fort Smith Classic

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Chris Tidland holds a two-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Fort Smith Classic.

FORT SMITH, Ark. -- Saturday's third round at the Fort Smith Classic turned into more of a traffic jam than the traditional moving day. With the heat index reaching triple digits for the third consecutive day, the fairways and greens at the Hardscrabble Country Club turned firmer and the scores hovered near par in the sweltering heat.

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Oklahoma's Chris Tidland posted a 2-under-par 68 to step to the front of a crowded leaderboard heading into Sunday's final round. Tidland is at 13-under 197 after 54 holes, two strokes in front Justin Bolli (65), Phil Tataurangi (66) and Gavin Coles (70).

Andrew Buckle (65), Brian Smock (66), Dustin Risdon (67) and Jason Enloe (71) share fifth place, just three back of the leader.

"It was there to get today," said Tidland of the course's vulnerability. "Fortunately for me, no one else got it deep today. Two-under out here is a fine score. It doesn't kill me but there are a lot of people with a chance."

The day's best rounds were a trio of 5-under 65s, hardly the low numbers associated with big movements up and down the leaderboard.

"The course is pretty tough if you don't hit fairways," said Tidland, who is tied for third in fairways hit this week. "It's getting firmer and it's forcing you to change your lines a little bit. I'd much rather be in the lead because they've got stuff to make up, they've got to shoot lower than I do (tomorrow) to catch me."

Coles was in the final group and salvaged his day with a pair of late birdies to regain a share of second place. Still, the short-hitting Australian was not happy with an even-par day.

"I think I wasted a day. Even though I'm two behind I don't feel like I should be two behind," he said after needing 32 putts for the round. "It was pretty ordinary. Again I didn't make too many putts. I think at our level we should be making more than I'm making of those. I get a little disappointed and a little bit frustrated when I'm not making too many putts. That's the part of my game I'm supposed to be good at."

Tataurangi and Bolli were paired together and got off to a blazing start. Bolli birdied four of his first seven holes, only to be outdone by the 37-year old New Zealander, who had chalked up a half dozen by that point.

"That was unbelievable," said Bolli, a runner-up here two years ago. "I didn't really need to look at a leaderboard. He was the board for a while. I was three-under and I felt like I was even-par. When two guys are playing well you definitely get a push to play better."

Tataurangi, the first-round leader with an 8-under 62, continues some of his best play in years.

"Momentum is such a big thing in this game," he said. "When you get a good momentum going it can be infectious. When you get going the hole starts looking bigger and the fairways start looking bigger."

The excessive heat started shrinking everything for the Kiwi, who sprinkled in three bogeys the rest of way before finally closing with another at the par-4, 18th.

"I don't think I played that poorly on the back side," he said. "I got caught in between clubs a couple times and didn't make any birdie putts. I hit the ball inside 10 feet four times on the back and didn't make 'em. I had some opportunities."

Third-Round Notes:

• Saturday's scoring average was 70.565.

• Sunday's tee times will run from 7:00 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. with an expected finish time of 4:30 p.m. CT.