Jordan Spieth charged into the lead despite a stumble at the final hole of the third round at the Colonial Tournament here Saturday. The world No. 2 hit an errant tee shot in the left rough at the par-four 18th and made bogey for a five-under-par 65 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. He posted a 12-under 198 total for a one-shot lead over fellow Americans Ryan Palmer (66) and Webb Simpson (67). Spieth hopes to win for the eighth time on the PGA Tour, first time in his home state of Texas and first time since his back-nine collapse at the Masters last month. "I feel really good about my game, all parts of it," Spieth told reporters. "I'm going to need to stick to the basics, especially my posture, and be really disciplined with my set-up and alignment and then make confident swings, knowing we've hit good shots all week. "Hopefully, the putter stays hot as well." In his six-birdie round, Spieth hit only four fairways but scrambled with a solid short game, including a chip-in birdie from 30 feet at the 11th. Palmer, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, most recently in 2010, birdied four of the final 10 holes to close in on Spieth. "I fought the speed on my putts all day," Palmer said. "Fortunately I had some shorter putts down the stretch and I stayed patient." Palmer is a Colonial member and a good friend of Spieth's. The two often play practice rounds together and will be paired in the final round Sunday. "It will be a fun dynamic," Spieth said. "It will be cool because as a member he'll have a ton of support and we've had tons of support all week." Americans Harris English (64), Kyle Reifers (67) and Martin Piller (68) were tied for fourth, two shots behind Spieth. Jutanugarn in sight of victory Ariya Jutanugarn, eyeing a third straight LPGA Tour victory, rescued a sloppy round with a closing eagle to vault back in front after three rounds at the inaugural Volvik Championship in Michigan Saturday. The 36-hole leader hit a well-judged approach shot at the par-five 18th that rolled up to 15 feet, from where she sank the putt to salvage a one-over-par 73 on the Travis Pointe course in Ann Arbor. She had scored par or better in her previous 13 rounds, in the process winning in Alabama three weeks ago to become the first Thai champion on the LPGA Tour. She followed up with another in Virginia last week. The 20-year-old Ariya will probably need to score well on Sunday to complete the hat-trick, with four players breathing down her neck. She has a one-stroke lead over Americans Jessica Korda (70) and Christina Kim (72), with South Korean Kim Hyo-joo (70) and Norway's Suzann Pettersen (70) two behind. Ariya's bogey-free tournament ended with back-to-back bogeys at the third and fourth holes, and she dropped two more shots before steadying the ship with her first birdie of the day at the par-five 14th. "To me it's very hard today, because very windy, and the green is very, very firm," Jutanugarn told reporters. She is vying to become the first to win three straight LPGA Tour events since South Korean Park In-bee three years ago. Korda, Pettersen and Kim Hyo-joo were the only players among the top 13 after two rounds to break par in the firm and windy conditions. — Reuters
