FORT WORTH, Texas -- Tim Herron held up his arms and smiled in amazement while still standing in the sand. Then he pulled his ball out of the cup and gave it a kiss.

That birdie from a bunker at No. 14, a 42-foot shot that went in the cup on the fly, put Herron alone in the lead Saturday during the third round of the Bank of America Colonial.

Bogeys at Nos. 16 and 17 took him out briefly of the lead, but Herron got back on top after hitting his approach at the closing hole to 2 feet for a birdie. His 2-under 68 got him to 10 under and tied with Rod Pampling.

For their standing as 54-hole co-leaders, Pampling and Herron were named this week's winners of the AstraZeneca Charity Challenge.

Herron, affectionately known as "Lumpy," will play in the final group Sunday at Hogan's Alley. The last of his three PGA TOUR victories was seven years ago at Bay Hill.

"I feel like I'm getting old," the 36-year-old Herron said. "I'll just go out and play golf. ... I've just got to stay in the moment. What I'm going to do is pretend like I'm a member and I've got a Sunday round at Colonial, playing with a good friend."

Pampling didn't get off to a good start, missing the fairway with his first tee shot and bogeying Colonial's easiest hole, the 563-yard No. 1. That was the first of his three bogeys, but he managed to finish with an even-par round of 70.

Nathan Green (67), Richard S. Johnson (68) and Peter Lonard (69) are 9 under. First-round leader Stewart Cink (72) is 7 under, among seven other golfers within three strokes of the lead.

Herron is coming off his best two finishes of the season, a tie for seventh in New Orleans and a tie for 26th last week at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

With his game coming into shape, Herron also this week reunited with caddie Scott Steele, who was on his bag for seven years before the two split for a while last summer. Steele was with him for the win at Bay Hill, the same year Herron was the runner-up at Colonial.

Herron and his wife are still settling after a move to Minnesota, to be around both of their families, and the birth of twin boys last November.

The twins were hospitalized after their birth, so Herron didn't practice during that time. He "just hopped out on the course in January" when the PGA TOUR season began, and missed five cuts and finished no better than 27th in his other five tournaments before New Orleans last month.

Herron had three birdies the first seven holes Saturday, then at No. 9 hit his approach over the greenside pond onto the back fringe. Taking an awkward stance in a bunker, Herron managed to putt the ball 8 feet past the hole and then saved par.

Right after Herron holed his bunker shot at No. 14, then co-leader Cink missed the fairway with his first two shots at the 448-yard hole. He finally punched it back to the middle then to the green before a two-putt for double bogey. He lost another stroke at No. 15 and is 7 under.

Playing in the last group with Pampling and starting only one stroke off the lead, THE PLAYERS champion Stephen Ames shot a 77 to leave him tied for 38th.

Jim Furyk, at No. 5 the highest-ranked player in the Colonial field, started with a birdie to get to 8 under but finished at 4 under after a 73.

Divots: Two-time champion Ben Crenshaw, 54, became the second-oldest player to make the cut at the Colonial. He shot 74 Saturday with four birdies, two double bogeys, and four bogeys. He was 4 over. ... Defending champion Kenny Perry, who has won two of the last three Colonials by record margins, shot a 70 Saturday and was six strokes off the lead. Last year, he took a seven-stroke lead into Sunday, and won by the same margin.

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