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Nov. 13, 2004
NAPLES, Fla. -- Steve Flesch and Justin Leonard added another 9-under 63 and have a share
of The Franklin Templeton Shootout lead at 18 under with defending
champions Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman.
Flesch and Leonard opened with two birdies in the first three holes of
Saturday's better-ball format, then, after a string of pars, regained
momentum with a back-nine 30. Flesch said it was Leonard's birdie on No.
11, a 25-foot slider that curled and found its way to the bottom, that
really got the pair going.
 Leonard and Flesch have carded consecutive 63s for a share of the lead. |
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"I made a couple birdies early and a couple late, but Justin made
everything in-between," Flesch said. "And that one on 11 was big for us."
Kuehne and Sluman started slow, including a three-putt par on the first
hole, but they too found a rhythm with 10 birdies over the final 13 holes,
including a stretch of five straight from Nos. 11-15.
"My strengths and Jeff's strengths match up well," said Kuehne, the PGA
Tour's driving distance leader for the second consecutive year. "Just
having length isn't that much of an advantage against this kind of field.
We still need to give ourselves a lot of opportunities tomorrow."
The quartet will enter Sunday's final-round scramble with a three-shot
advantage over their closest pursuers, which include Tournament Host Greg
Norman and three-time Shootout champion Scott McCarron and the team of Mark
Calcavecchia and Loren Roberts.
Norman and McCarron had the outright lead for a short time on the back nine
Saturday, but a handful of birdies putts on the closing holes skirted the
edge and failed to drop.
Kuehne and Sluman know that a three-shot buffer is far from insurmountable.
They started the final last year with that very deficit, but got on a roll,
forced a playoff and hoisted the trophy after a birdie on the second extra
hole.
"Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day," Flesch added. "If Hank keeps
it in play they're going to have a 40-yard advantage on us."
The day's best round belonged to the Haases, who carded 11 birdies and
moved to within four shots of the leaders.
The first group will tee off at 8:30 a.m. ET in Sunday's scramble. The
leaders will begin at 9:35 a.m. ET. The winning team will split $600,000
from a total purse of $2.5 million.
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