Golf | Mark Calcavecchia whiffs, but is tied for lead at Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Luke Donald made a quadruple bogey in the second round. Mark Calcavecchia whiffed on a chip during the third round Saturday.

Bad mistakes? Absolutely.

But to succeed at PGA National, one must overcome blunders, which Donald and Calcavecchia have done.

Donald shot a 4-under-par 66 Saturday, Calcavecchia finished with a 67 and the two former champions of The Honda Classic wound up tied with Matt Jones (71) atop the leaderboard entering today's final round in the PGA Tour event.

All three were at 6 under, one shot better than Brian Davis (73) and Jose Coceres (68).

Calcavecchia's drive on the second hole ended up in the rough, so close to a palm tree he decided to attempt to hit the ball left-handed.

"I'm pretty good at chipping it left-handed, so I just took a few practice strokes," he was quoted as saying on the Tour's Web site. "I only had to hit it [five yards] and stone-whiffed it, right on the inside of it."

Calcavecchia, who connected on his next left-handed swing and wound up with a bogey on the hole, estimated he has at least five whiffs in tournaments.

"And I've hit myself," the 47-year-old added. "I've pretty much done everything imaginable in my career. But you know, whiffs are not good."

Calcavecchia won the Honda title in 1987 and 1998. He has 13 victories on the Tour.

Donald, meanwhile, took an 8 on the 14th hole Friday.

In 22 holes since taking the quadruple bogey, he has had five birdies and no bogeys.

"There's a lot of danger out there," 2006 Honda winner Donald said. "There's some very daunting shots, a lot of scary shots with a lot of water around. So you have to really stand up there and hit good, solid shots."

Jones, a Tour rookie from Australia, has made the cut in each of his six events this year.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said of the final round. "It'll be exciting. If I hit the ball the way I did today, should be fine."

Ochoa excels

SINGAPORE — Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa of Mexico had five birdies for a 3-under 69 to extend her lead in the HSBC Women's Champions to eight strokes entering the final round.

Ochoa, an eight-time winner in 2007, was at 16-under 200.

Paula Creamer (70) and Annika Sorenstam (70), who already have won LPGA Tour tournaments this year, are tied for second place.

Ochoa, playing in her first Tour event of the year, opened with a 66 and added a 65 in the second round to lead by seven shots after 36 holes.

"It was a tough day today, it started in the morning with some rain and I didn't feel as good a rhythm as I had the first few days so it was difficult for me out there," Ochoa said.

Sorenstam made five birdies but also had a bogey and a double bogey.

"I was kind of disappointed to lose a shot or two shots back there, particularly when I made a good start and made the turn at three under," Sorenstam said.

"You kind of like to continue the momentum."

Jimin Kang (76), a graduate of King's High School in Shoreline, was tied for 23rd place at 2 over.

Other tournament

• Taichiro Kiyota of Japan shot a 5-under 67 to lead by one stroke over New Zealand's Mark Brown (64) and India's Jyoti Randhawa (68) after three rounds of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Gurgaon, India.

Kiyota was at 14-under 202.