FORT WORTH, Texas -- Matt Kuchar ended a long Saturday by maintaining his lead atop a crowded leaderboard at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Kuchar shot a 1-under 69 and is at 11 under through 54 holes. He leads by one shot over Boo Weekley, Graham DeLaet, Matt Every and Chris Stroud. Four more players are two shots back: Tim Clark, John Rollins, Steve Flesch and Martin Flores. Ten more players are within another two shots of the lead.

Kuchar and 53 other players had to get up early to complete their second rounds before completing their third rounds in the afternoon. Kuchar led by one over DeLaet after the completion of that round.

Once the third round began, Kuchar birdied the opening hole and maintain the lead until he suffered consecutive bogeys at the seventh and eighth holes. DeLaet then vaulted into the lead with a birdie at the seventh. 

But the Canadian struggled down the stretch, bogeying three of his final six holes. But he managed to birdie the 18th to shoot 69 and jump into a tie for second.

Clark and Martin Flores shot the low rounds of the day, 5-under 65s.

Tim Clark during Saturday's third round at Colonial (Halleran/Getty Images)

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Tim Clark has never won at Colonial. But he's used to being in contention.

Clark has finished tied for second twice at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, and has four other top-20 finishes here.

So it's really no surprise that he's sniffing the top of the leaderboard again, having shot a third-round 5-under 65 on Saturday to move to 9 under going into the final day.

"I've been in this position a lot, so again, it's about for me staying aggrssive on this golf course," Clark said. "When you try to play it safe, it can come back and get you. So I just need to stay aggressive."

After opening with a 3-under 67, Clark followed with a 69 on Friday in which he hit an unusually low 5 of 14 fairways. But he bounced back on Saturday with his normal accuracy off the tee, hitting 11 of 14 fairways.

Clark said he woke up Friday with a "crook neck" that ultimately needed therapy after his round.

"Yesterday was really bad," Clark said. "Luckily I kind of got it figured out and today the swing felt good."

Clark, whose lone PGA TOUR win is the 2010 THE PLAYERS Championship, ranks third in driving accuracy this year but 178th in distance. Some courses are simply too long for him.

Colonial is not.

"For a guy who doesn't hit it very far," Clark said, "this is a very good golf course to come in and do some shot-making."

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Boo Weekley holed a 40-foot putt on the par-4 12th for a birdie in Saturday's third round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Weekley was 9 under for the tournament through his first 16 holes of the third round.

Watch Martin Flores birdie the 18th hole Saturday at Colonial.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Martin Flores grew up in Mansfield, a suburb of Fort Worth. But he never made it out to Colonial Country Club to watch the annual PGA TOUR event.

"I was always practicing," Flores said, "trying to play out here."

Well, he's out here now. And after three rounds of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, he's in position to make a run at his first TOUR win.

Thanks to a 5-under 65 in Saturday's third round, Flores is 9 under through 54 holes, which will give him a late tee time on Sunday.

"It puts me in good position," Flores said. "I still have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of great players, and I've got to keep making birdies."

Flores was bogey-free for his first 16 holes until his only stumble of the day at the 17th when he ran his 49-foot birdie putt about 13 feet past the hole. But he bounced back with a birdie at the 18th. His 65 ties for the low round of the day.

Flores said he "got a little aggressive" with that birdie putt at 17, but thats how he plans to play on Sunday, especially with all his family and friends in his gallery.

His gameplan? "To stay aggressive," he said. "Keep making birdies."

FORT WORTH, Texas -- We take a closer look at Graham DeLaet’s swing off the tee on the 193-yard, par-3 eighth hole. DeLaet currently leads the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial midway through Saturday's third round.

Bud Cauley is looking for his first PGA TOUR win. (Cohen/Getty Images)

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Bud Cauley came into this week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on a streak he'd rather avoid.

In his previous 12 rounds on the PGA TOUR prior to Thursday, Cauley had failed to break 70. That included his last start, THE PLAYERS Championship, in which he shot 78-72 and missed the cut. He hadn't shot a round in the 60s since a third-round 65 at the Shell Houston Open in late March.

But he opened with a 3-under 67 at Colonial to break his streak, and on Saturday, he posted his third consecutive round in the 60s, a 4-under 66 that vaulted him up the leaderboard.

Cauley is 8 under through 54 holes and should be within striking distance of the lead going into Sunday's final round.

"The golf course fits my eye," Cauley said. "I definitely feel comfortable, but you still have to go out there and execute. That's what I've been trying to do."

The third round was not a particular great ball-striking round for Cauley, who hit just 9 of 18 greens in regulation. But he saved par four of the five times he found a bunker, and he needed just 23 putts on his round.

Cauley's best finish this year in 13 starts is a tie for 10th at the Valero Texas Open.

"I started hitting it a little bit better," Cauley said. "I'm going to keep working on the things I've been working on. And obviously short game is what it's all about anyway, so I keep working on that and go out and try to make some birdies tomorrow."

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Graham DeLaet, the Canadian looking for his first PGA TOUR win, finished his front nine in Saturday's third round with a two-shot lead at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

DeLaet is a bogey-free 2 under on his round and is now at 11 under.

Six players were tied for second at 9 under when DeLaet made the turn.

Matt Kuchar, the 36-hole leader, opened with a birdie the par-5 first but suffered consecutive bogeys at the seventh and eight holes to drop out of the lead. Kuchar had bogeyed just one hole in the first two rounds.

Jordan Spieth, the 19-year-old from Dallas, was also part of the large group at 9 under. Spieth had grabbed the lead earlier in his round after a birdie at the par-4 fifth, but suffered bogeys at the sixth and ninth holes.

Steve Flesch, the 2004 Colonial champ, had moved to 10 under before finding trouble at the ninth when his approach shot found the water guarding the green.

Martin Flores has the best round going among the contenders. Flores is 5 under through his first 16 holes to move to 9 under.

Matt Every and Freddie Jacobson also are at 9 under.

Defending champ Zach Johnson is 2 under on his round and 8 under overall.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jordan Spieth, the 19-year-old from Dallas, birdied the par-4 second hole after hitting his approach shot from 100 yards to 4 feet.

Spieth is 10 under for the tournament through his first eight holes in Saturday's third round and is just one shot off the lead held by Graham DeLaet.

Click here to follow the rest of Spieth's third round on Shot Tracker

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jeff Overton was disqualified Saturday after violating rule 14-3/10.3 for using an alignment device during his round.

"It's a shame but it's the rules," said Mark Russell, PGA TOUR vice president of rules and competition. "Not much we can do about it. ... We don't like to disqualify players but if that's what the rule says, we don't have a choice."

With the field backed up at the turn during the third round, Overton was waiting to tee off on the 10th hole. While he was waiting, Overton went over to the nearby practice green to practice a few putts.

Players are allowed to practice putting or chipping in those situations. But they cannot use any kind of artificial aid. Overton used a putting aid, which violates rule 14-3/10.3: Use of rod during round for alignment or as swing aid.

"You can go to a designated practice area and chip and putt if you'd like while you are waiting to play," Russell explained. "But you cannot use an artificial device. That's what he did. The penalty for that is disqualification."

Russell said another player noticed Overton using the practice aid on the green and asked a scoring official if that was legal. The official contacted rules officials, and John Mutch, a rules officlal with expertise in equipment-related rules, was consulted.

Mutch was the official who notifiied Overton of the disqualification after Overton struck his tee shot at the 11th hole, having just parred the 10th.

"Jeff's response? I don't think he was very happy," Russell said. "I certainly would expect that."

Overton said on his Twitter feed that he was informed by a rules official that he could chip and putt while he waited, but that he was not told to avoid using an alignment device.

"If ur gonna inform someone on a rule of something a person can do, make sure u remind them of the small things they can't do," he tweeted.

Overton had entered the third round 4 under for the tournament, just six strokes off the lead. He was still at 4 under when he was disqualified.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Matt Kuchar has suffered just one bogey through his first 36 holes, one of the big reasons he finds himself leading the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial at the halfway point.

He'd like nothing more than to continue staying out of trouble this weekend. Kuchar, at 10 under, tees off in Saturday's third round at 1:30 p.m. ET with a one-shot lead over playing partner Graham DeLaet.

"It's just steady golf," Kuichar said about the key to his success in his first two rounds. "Nothing special. Driving it well, putting it well, approaches are good. It's just been steady golf and I kepty myself out of trouble."

This is the sixth time in Kuchar's career that he has held or shared the 36-hole lead. The last time he did it was the THE PLAYERS Championship in 2012. He ended up winning the tournament, the biggest of the five wins in his PGA TOUR career.

"It's the best place to be, all right," Kuchar said about his position after completing his second round Saturday morning. "I think you always want to be in the lead with as big a lead as you can get.

"So the plan for the next 36 holes is to try to keep it going, try to make birdies."

If he goes on to victory, Kuchar will end a streak of 10 consecutive TOUR events in which the 36-hole leader/co-leader has failed to win. The last player to do so was Tiger Woods at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.

Click here to follow Matt Kuchar's third round on Shot Tracker