Sergio Garcia holds second place as Ryan Palmer suffered least in the difficult windy conditions to lead the Byron Nelson Championship going into the final round.
Palmer hit a three over par round of 73 but still finished the third day as outright leader on five under par 205 on a brutal day for scoring.
Palmer was a stroke ahead of Spain’s Garcia who hit a 74 for a 54 hole total of 206. Only eight of the 74 players shot under par, the best being a 67 by Arjun Atwal that tied him with Ryuji Imanda (70) for third place at three under par 207.
The last three holes at TPC Four Seasons were played into the wind which gusted up to 40mph.
"I could not shoot one shot higher than I did today," Garcia said about his four over 74. "If you look at it that way, and I'm only one shot behind Ryan and I have tomorrow, I think it's pretty positive."
"We are hanging in tough and we try hard. It was the kind of day that if you let yourself go, it can go very wrong, and we grinded as much as we could."
The scoring average of 73.338 was the second toughest single-round on the US PGA Tour this year -- and more than 2 1/2 strokes higher than Thursday's first round.
The closing five-hole stretch at TPC Four Seasons was especially brutal because the holes played into the wind. Palmer and Garcia appeared to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, but they stumbled down the stretch, a common occurrence on Saturday.
Palmer bogeyed three of his last five holes to fall to five under; Garcia bogeyed two of his last three to drop to four under. And yet both players walked off feeling good about being first and second on the leaderboard in conditions that could've easily turned disastrous.
"Forget about those four," said Garcia when asked how tough they were. "I think the whole course is a challenge. Even the holes that are down wind are not easy, because you have to fly on the right spots if you want to have a chance of making birdie, and sometimes it's not easy to pick out the right club, but obviously the finishing holes are very tough."
"Whether it's one shot or five shots, it's nice to go into Sunday with that lead," said Palmer, who is seeking his fourth career win.
Tied for fifth on two under are Gary Woodland, Matt Kuchar and Joe Ogilvie.
