Sat May 3 17:36:46 2008

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Creamer struggles late but still leads SemGroup

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Broken Arrow, OK (Sports Network) - Paula Creamer bogeyed two of her final three holes Saturday en route to a two-under 69, but stayed atop the leaderboard after three rounds of the SemGroup Championship.

Creamer, the overnight leader, finished 54 holes at three-under 210 and is two ahead at Cedar Ridge Country Club.

Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, who lost a playoff at this event last year to Mi Hyun Kim, fired an impressive, four-under 67 and moved into second place at one-under 212.

Brittany Lang posted an even-par 71 and is alone in third at plus-one.

Lorena Ochoa's bid for a fifth consecutive win is in serious jeopardy despite a decent round on Saturday. She managed an even-par 71 and moved into a tie for sixth at five-over 218.

"You never know," said Ochoa, who could join Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez in the record books with five straight wins in events participated. "I'm not too far behind. I can get here and make some birdies and see what happens."

Ochoa was two-under on her round after back-to-back birdies at eight and nine. Trouble loomed after the turn when Ochoa drenched her second at the 11th and made bogey. She bogeyed 12 as well, then made some nice par saves just to stay within striking distance.

But she will have a lot of work to do to catch Creamer and it could have been nearly impossible if not for some late miscues by the leader.

Creamer first broke into red figures on Saturday at the par-four fourth. She knocked her approach to 12 feet and sank the birdie putt to move to two-under for the tournament.

Inkster started to make her move on the front side, buy Creamer did not give anything back to her former Solheim Cup partner. At the ninth, Creamer made a 50-footer for birdie and found herself three ahead.

Inkster got within two, but Creamer responded. She holed another long birdie putt at 12, this time from close to 40 feet, then two holes later she two- putted from the fringe for another birdie.

Creamer was now five-under par, but things went downhill starting with a poor drive into the trees at the 16th. She managed to get on the putting surface with her second, but three-putted to drop a shot.

At the closing hole, Creamer missed a nine-foot par save to cut her advantage to two shots.

Inkster flew up the leaderboard thanks to four birdies on her front nine. She dropped a shot at the 10th, but got the stroke back with a seven-foot birdie putt at the par-three 15th.

Inkster appeared to be in some trouble on her way to the clubhouse. She holed a 10-foot par save at the 17th, then drove into the trees on the right at the closing hole. Errant tee shot aside, Inkster saved a sensational par from 20 feet at 18 to stay under par for the championship and put some pressure on her young friend.

"Paula's a very good friend of mine. We played Solheim Cup partners together and I constantly give her grief and she's right back at me," said Inkster. "I'm going to need a lot of help from her I think. She's just playing good golf right now."

Creamer is playing good golf recently, but has no trophy to show for it. She lost a playoff to Annika Sorenstam last week when she held the lead down the stretch.

Leta Lindley (72) and Angela Stanford (71) are knotted in fourth place at two- over-par 215.

Ochoa was joined at plus-five by Jeong Jang (73), Jamie Hullett (73), Jee Young Lee (74) and Ji Young Oh (76).