IRVING, Texas – Vijay Singh stood on the 17th tee with a 7-iron in his hand and a slim lead in the Byron Nelson Championship. Then a couple of unexpected things happened.

Singh’s shot flew the green, and his ball buried in some nasty rough behind the hole.

“I don’t hit a 7-iron 200 yards,” Singh said. “I said I could not hit it over the green, and I did.”

So he made an incredible recovery, pitching to 7 feet and saving par.

“I was just trying to get it inside 10 feet, and I made a perfect shot,” Singh said. “Maybe if I put another 10 balls there, I wouldn’t get inside there. But it came out good.”

While Singh didn’t come close to matching his spectacular play after a pair of 65s the first two days, his clutch par save Saturday helped him close out a 1-under 69 that kept him in the lead. He had just two birdies and one bogey.

Singh was at 11-under 199, one stroke ahead of Jeff Sluman, the first-round leader who had a 68 Saturday.

“I played solid golf and I didn’t miss too many shots, but I missed the direction of it,” Singh said. “But, you know, I’m still in the lead which is the important thing. They still have to worry about catching me.”

Cameron Beckman and Luke Donald, who had an eagle out of the bunker at the 554-yard 16th, both had 67s and were tied at 201.

Nick Price shot a 66 at the 7,022-yard TPC at Las Colinas, and was tied with Per-Ulrick Johansson at 8 under. David Toms, whose 65 was the best round of the day, was in a group of seven at 7 under.

“He is tough. He is going to have the golf gods against him,” Beckman said of Singh. “He is here for one reason, that’s all he is thinking about. So there is no secret he will be tough to beat.”

Putting aside the controversy he created with comments last weekend about Annika Sorenstam, Singh had insisted his focus is on winning the $5.6 million Nelson.

After his runner-up finish last week in North Carolina, Singh said Sorenstam had no business playing in next week’s Colonial and that he hoped she missed the cut. Before the Nelson, Singh said he was sorry if his comments came across as a personal attack and tried to put a different spin on his words. Then he turned his attention to playing golf.

Singh first got to 11 under when he made an 8-foot birdie putt at No. 6.

His only bogey came at the 9th, when he missed the fairway and then missed the green to drop back to 10 under, putting Sluman alone on top of the leaderboard.

Sluman, who started the day with three birdies in his first four holes, wasn’t alone for long. He gave back a stroke at the 11th when his drive ended up in the rough and his approach in a bunker.

“The shots I was hitting, I felt were pretty good shots and a lot of times they didn’t end up in pretty good spots,” Sluman said. “That’s the way it goes around here, and every week really.”

Once Singh made a 14-foot birdie at the par-3 13th, he stayed on top of the leaderboard by himself. And he missed several chances to cushion his lead.

Singh’s 8-foot birdie putt at the 15th curled short of the cup, and he missed a 9-footer at the par-5 16th. He then made his tremendous save at 17.

Donald’s approach at 16 landed in a front bunker 54 feet from the pin. His next shot died into the cup, falling in on the last spin of the ball, for an eagle.

“Even though I hit in the bunker, I left it in a good place,” Donald said. “The ball just kind of rolled up there slowly and trickled in. It was a great feeling. That was a big shot because that put me back in contention.”

Donald gave up a stroke at 18 when his drive went into the left rough and his second shot was over the green.

Since tying for seventh at the Buick Classic in February, seven strokes behind winner Tiger Woods, Donald had made just two of seven cuts, finishing no better than 64th.

Beckman, who overcame a double bogey at No. 3, just missed rolling in a 30-foot birdie at 17. Beckman was in the final group at the Nelson last year but shot a closing 73 to finish in a tie for eighth.

“I really want to redeem myself. I was kind of embarrassed about last year,” Beckman said.

Tim Petrovic, only a stroke off the lead going into the round, quickly fell off the pace with three bogeys in his first six holes – the same holes he played in 4 under on Friday. He had only one bogey the first two rounds. His 74 dropped him six strokes back.

Petrovic, the former pizza and newspaper deliverer whose 2002 entry on the PGA Tour came 14 years after he turned pro, putted in from off the green for a birdie at the No. 8. He made another birdie at No. 9, only to follow with three more bogeys in the next five holes.

Toms, who ended a 20-month victory drought last week in North Carolina, had six birdies in his last 13 holes after a bogey at the No. 4.

Divots: Robert Gamez was only two strokes off the lead going into the third round, then had a 5-over 40 on the frontside that included five bogeys in his first seven holes. … The third-round scoring average was 71.213, the fourth straight year the Saturday average was above par. There were no bogey-free rounds. … Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, who has a minicamp with the team’s veterans next week, sat in the TV booth with commentator Jim Nantz.

AP-ES-05-17-03 1941EDT

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