American eagle lifts Piercy on to a high in Arizona

AN EAGLE from American Scott Piercy allowed him to take the lead at 13 under par in the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at the TPC Scottsdale in Arizona last night.

Piercy almost holed his tee shot for an albatross on the short par-four 10th hole, leaving him just a tap-in from 10 inches for a two.

That moved him into a four-way tie for the lead and a birdie on the 11th took him out on his own ahead of fellow Americans Brandt Snedeker and Matt Every.

American pair Joe Ogilvie and Pat Perez shared third on 11 under with Colombian Camilo Villegas.

The highest placed European was Sweden's Fredrik Jacobsen in a tie for 20th on eight under after 16 holes, while England's Justin Rose and Ian Poulter were tied for 32nd on seven under after 13 and 12 holes respectively.

Poulter had been looking to add to his victory in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship last week and dragged himself back into contention with a 63 in the second round. But he was unable to make any headway yesterday, nine pars on the front nine being followed by a birdie on the 10th and bogey on the 11th.

Earlier Mark Wilson had closed his second round with four consecutive birdies to take a share of the lead alongside Villegas.

American Wilson stormed home to card a five-under-par 66 and draw level with first-round leader Villegas on 11 under.

Villegas, who shot a tournament record-equalling nine-under-par first round on Friday, missed the chance to hold onto the lead outright when he bogeyed the par-four 18th after driving his ball into the fairway bunker.

Scot Martin Laird missed the cut after a second-round 74, while defending champion Kenny Perry only just ensured he would play out the weekend with four late birdies to finish four-under, a single stroke ahead of the cut.

Meanwhile, Japan's Ai Miyazato and American Juli Inkster shot matching three-under-par 69s to take a share of the lead after the third round of the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore yesterday.

Miyazato, who won the season-opening Honda PTT LPGA Thailand last weekend, shot three birdies against two bogeys on the front nine before an eagle two on the 16th propelled her to the top of the leaderboard.

LPGA Tour veteran Inkster dropped just one shot while adding four birdies at the Tanah Merah Country Club as the 49-year-old chases a 32nd win on the circuit.

Scotland's Catriona Matthew was trailing 12 shots off the lead after adding a 73 to earlier rounds of 73 and 75.