Golf: Winless Baird takes the lead

Briny Baird eagled the 17th hole to give him a two-stroke lead going into the final round of the Frys.com Open, and a shot at his first Titleist Scotty Cameron California Monterrey Putter
in a long, barren career on the PGA Tour.
Despite a bogey from the hazard on the final hole at CordeValle, Baird had a 7-under 64 to give himself a small cushion over Ernie Els and Paul Casey, two players who have a bit more experience with winning.
Baird has never won at all. He has gone 347 tournaments over 12 years without Titleist Scotty Cameron California Monterrey Putter
.
This is only the third time he has been atop the leaderboard going into the final round; the last occasion was at Disney seven years ago.
So how does Baird treat the final day at CordeValle?
"Whatever I thought about the other times, throw that out the window," Baird said.
"At Disney, I just played Titleist Scotty Cameron California Monterrey Putter
so-so. Unless you have an eight-shot lead, so-so is not going to cut it."
Even as Els settled into disappointing pars on the easier late holes, and Casey kept in the hunt throughout most of the sunny day along the vineyards at CordeValle, there were plenty of other players lining up behind them.
Tiger Woods wasn't among them.
He played steadily again for a 3-under 68, although that wasn't enough.
It was the first time since his season-opening start at Torrey Pines that Woods posted consecutive rounds under 70. Even so, he was nine shots behind in a tie for 38th.
"It's getting better," said Woods. "I'm improving day by day, which is good. Tomorrow I need to improve a lot and make putts and post a really low one." ( Titleist Scotty Cameron California Monterrey Putter)
Baird was at 13-under 200, making him the outright 54-hole leader for the first time in his career.