SONOMA, Calif. -- After a hasty session on the practice range as the shadows lengthened on Saturday afternoon, Jay Haas settled into a chair and leaned across the table toward the sportswriters gathered in the interview room.

“You don’t have time to go through my card,” Haas said, shaking his head, with a wry, er, make that, wan, smile.

The rollercoaster ride that included four birdies, two eagles and six bogeys added up to a respectable 69. Haas squandered what was a three-stroke lead at the turn, though, with a disappointing 38 on the homeward nine.

All in all, Saturday wasn’t exactly a confidence-builder for the man trying to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, as well as lock up the Champions Tour’s premier postseason awards.

“Obviously, three under is a good score,” Haas said as if trying to convince himself. “I got there in a different way than I normally would get there, but I'm disappointed because I had a chance to really break loose and go very deep, but seemed like every time I hit a poor shot on the back nine I paid for it.

“That should be expected. The rough is high; the greens are pretty quick. I guess tonight after … having dinner and all that stuff, I'll be happy with my position. But I'm disappointed right now, and I was when I finished. But it is what it is. You just go on.”

Haas will enter the final round at Sonoma Golf Club trailing Jim Thorpe by two strokes. He’s tied with Tom Kite and Loren Roberts -- the only man other than Haas -- who can win the Charles Schwab Cup and take the money title, as well.

As luck would have it, the two four-time winners in 2006 will not play with each other on Sunday. Haas is paired with Kite for the second straight round, while Roberts, who didn’t make a bogey in shooting 68 Saturday, plays with Thorpe again, this time in the day’s final group.

“It would have been nice if Jay and I could have played in the final round,” said Roberts, who trails Haas by 126 Schwab Cup points and just over $107,000 in earnings. “But you’ve got to put (the competition) behind and just try to go out and win the golf tournament.”

Haas agreed.

“I think both of us can say, man, when is this guy going away?” he said. “If Tom would have made his (birdie putt on No. 18) Loren and I would have played together tomorrow, which probably would have been very appropriate.

“So, you know, he can watch what I'm doing. I guess this is the way should be. It's pretty exciting coming down to the last round, and basically a shot will tell the story tomorrow probably. Now that I think about it that way, I'm nervous.”

Kite said he thought Jay Haas was going to shoot “60-nothing” on Saturday, and for a while it seemed like the Texan was right. And he nearly did -- only you’d have to add the 30 he shot on the back nine Friday to the 31 Haas opened with on Saturday.

“I didn’t hit the ball nearly as well as I did the first few days,” Kite said. “Jay got off to such a good start, I hoped some of that good golf would rub off on me. Unfortunately, it went the other way. And I rubbed off on his game. …

“He’s too good a friend for me to try to take him down, but we were pretty ratty on the back nine.”

Jay Haas begins the final round two shots behind leader Jim Thorpe (WireImage)

At one point during his round, Haas went 10 holes without a par. Still, as late as at the 13th hole, where he made a 33-footer for eagle, the former Wake Forest All-American held a one-stroke advantage -- only to see it evaporate in a string of three straight bogeys.

Those brought his total for the week to 10, which was the third highest total of bogeys of any man in the field. The 15 birdies and three eagles, though, have enabled Haas to remain in contention at the Champions Tour’s season-ending event.

“I guess I looked up on the 13th when I was getting ready to putt, and I saw that Jim had gone to 13 under,” Haas, who was second at Sonoma last year, recalled. “That was a good thing, I thought. I'm getting pushed. Keep going. Don't sit on what you have here.

“Then I make the eagle and everything was rosy. But about twenty minutes later I was not happy.”

Haas said he wasn’t sure exactly what went wrong. His driver started straying to the right, and the thick rough at Sonoma Golf Club is unforgiving. Maybe he got a little quick. Maybe he just lost his concentration a little.

Even so, Haas had a chance to right the ship at the par-5 16th only to see an errant 5-wood and an indifferent bunker shot lead to what he called a “killer” bogey. He also missed a 6-foot birdie on the final hole.

“(With) all the misses there in the middle of the back nine, had I birdied No. 16 and made the putt on the 18th, I would have said it was unbelievable day,” Haas concluded.

“I felt comfortable. I hit a lot of good shots. … I mean I've had days like that when it's up and down. Just golf changes day-to-day.”