Australia's Sim leads Stonebrae Classic by one

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Condon/PGA TOUR

Dustin Risdon carded a nine-birdie, nine-par 62 Saturday to set a new course record and vault up the third-round leaderboard.

HAYWARD, Calif. -- Michael Sim rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole Saturday to take the third-round lead at the Stonebrae Classic at TPC San Francisco Bay. Sim, a 24-year-old Australian, posted a 4-under 67 to finish at 11-under 202, one shot better than halfway leader Matt Every (71).

Calgary's Dustin Risdon lowered the course record with a 9-under 62 and heads a group of five players at 204, two shots back. Joining Risdon at 9 under are Texas rookie Martin Piller (63), Australian Cameron Percy (64), John Kimbell (65) and Chad Ginn (65). Ryan Armour (65) is only three shots back and alone in eighth place.

"You couldn't ask for a better day. It was perfect out there today," said Sim. "Scores were out there to be shot."

The first two days of the Nationwide Tour's $600,000 event were plagued by fog, cooler temperatures and steady winds that blew 15-20 mph. When the wind failed to show up Saturday, the scores went down.

To compare days, Thursday's opening-round average was 74.161 and Saturday's average dropped to 70.309. At one point, the average was a full five shots below Thursday's opener. Only three of the top 46 players posted above-par scores during the third round.

Sim, who already has two top-5 finishes in four starts this year, took full advantage of the benign conditions and made up a three-shot deficit on Every, the 36-hole leader.

"I hit the ball great. A lot of good iron shots and plenty of chances for birdies," said Sim, who missed several chances midway through the back nine. "I'm playing great right now and feeling confident. With a couple of breaks here or there I think I might have gotten to 13 or 14 under. I didn't, but that's the way it goes."

Sim, formerly the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, suffered back problems in 2006 and struggled the past two years but continues to fight his way back to the top. This week he ranks No. 2 in both Fairways Hit and Greens in Regulation.

Every had a bit of a rough ride Saturday with four birdies and four bogeys for his round of even-par 71.

"I didn't play any good," said the former Florida All-America who is in his second year on Tour. "I kind of let a lot of people into the tournament. It's fine. It's never easy."

Piller, runner-up at the Michael Hill New Zealand Open and No. 6 on the money list, stormed his way up the leaderboard as he posted his lowest round of the year.

"Eight birdies and no bogeys? There ain't much you're not doing well," he said. "I was hitting it where I was looking and when I hit the putt, it went it. Once you get to around 5 or 6 under on a round, it's like, 'alright, I'm the man today.' You're thinking it's going to be a pretty good day."

Risdon, a 27-year-old Canadian rookie, needed a dozen fewer putts in Round 3 (24) than he needed in Round 2 (36) to vault into contention for the first time in '09.

"I hit the ball really well. I can't remember missing a green so I had 18 looks," he said after officially going 14 for 18. "I made some but I did actually miss a couple, too. When you shoot 62, it's fair to say I putted well."

Third-Round Notes: The resumption of the second round was delayed 30 minutes due to frost. The round resumed at 8:30 a.m. with 45 players left to complete play. The round was completed at 9:29. ... Sunday's tee times will be in twosomes off the first tee. The first group will tee off at 8:39 a.m. and the final group will tee off at 1:50 p.m. with an expected finish time of 6:00 p.m. PT.