Young American Kyle Stanley has a maiden US PGA Tour victory well in his grasp after opening a five shot lead at Torrey Pines following the third round.
Stanley carded a four-under par 68 in the Farmers Insurance Open to move to an imposing 18 under for the tournament, five clear of John Huh (68) and John Rollins (68) who are tied second at 13 under.
The 24-year-old Stanley’s 54-hole total of 198 tied the tournament record set by Tiger Woods in 2008.
Bill Haas (70) and Sang-Moon Bae (70) are tied fourth a shot further back at 12 under.
Rod Pampling (68) is the leading Australian in a tie for 11th but hopes of an Aussie victory are slim at best considering the Queenslander is nine shots back at nine under par.
It was however a nice fight-back from Pampling who followed up a blistering eight under first round with a three over second round effort.
Early on he looked set to continue his second round woes with a bogey on the third hole but the plucky veteran refused to lie down.
He rolled in short birdie putts on both front nine par fives and also drained a 13-footer on the par three eighth hole to turn around his fortunes.
He barely missed eagle on the par five 13th but gladly accepted another birdie and then rammed in another 12 footer on the 17th to post a solid 68.
Robert Allenby (73) was the next best Australian in a tie for 19th at eight under par.
It was a day to forget on the greens for the Victorian who had little confidence with the putter, three-putting three separate holes for bogeys.
He also missed a few short birdie chances to cruel any hope of challenging for a win.
“I putted terribly. I lost my confidence from the second hole,” Allenby admitted.
The last thing you want to do is three-putt and miss short ones and I did that all day.
“It was a bummer as it really let me down today. Even the putts that went in didn’t feel good.
“The last two days the putter had felt great but today it was a foreign implement. But I will go work on it tonight and hopefully get it back for tomorrow.”
Greg Chalmers, chasing crucial world ranking points so he can force his way into the Masters, could only manage an even par 70 round to stay at seven under par.
It left him in a tie for 25th with, among others, Geoff Ogilvy who posted an impressive five under 67 on Saturday to jump up 43 places.
Marc Leishman (-5, T44), Aaron Baddeley (-, T44) and Nick O’Hern (-3, T57) are well off the pace while Jarrod Lyle (-1, T74) was subjected to a third round cut and won’t play Sunday.