Ogilvie Shoots 66 to Lead Chrysler Classic

LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) _ Joe Ogilvie keeps selling himself short. After shooting a 6-under 66 Friday to go to 23 under in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he downplayed his round. <br/><br/>``I got lucky,

Friday, January 28th 2005, 9:15 pm

By: News On 6

LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) _ Joe Ogilvie keeps selling himself short. After shooting a 6-under 66 Friday to go to 23 under in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he downplayed his round.

``I got lucky, basically. The way I played, 66 was a gift,'' said Ogilvie, who holds a two-shot lead over Australian Peter Lonard.

A former Duke economics major who plays the market and lists among his heroes Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Ogilvie was asked how he would rate his stock through three rounds of the five-day Hope.

``Probably overrated,'' he said, laughing. ``I'd probably be a buyer if I was at even par, but not at 23 under.

``There's not a whole lot to go off if you're 23 under. I'd try to buy low and sell high.''

Ogilvie shot a 63 a day earlier and said then that, while he was leading ``score-wise'' with a three-shot edge over Phil Mickelson, he considered Mickelson ``technically'' in the lead. That was because Mickelson already had played the more difficult of the four courses used for the tournament.

Defending champion Mickelson, also the 2002 winner, wasn't in the lead technically or otherwise after 54 holes, with his 70 dropping him seven shots behind Ogilvie.

Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden remained close with a 67 that left him third at 19 under.

Craig Stadler, who won the Hope in 1980 for his first tour victory, shot his way into contention with a 65 that put him in a group with Mickelson at 16 under, seven shots behind Ogilvie.

Stadler said he probably would have skipped the Hope if his son, Kevin, wasn't also in the field. Kevin Stadler was 5 under through 54 holes.

``I think he's kind of hot that I keep scoring better than he does every day,'' Craig said. ``I'd much rather give all my birdies to him, though.

``Hopefully, he'll put six or seven (birdies) together tomorrow and be good enough to make the cut.''

Ogilvie made much of his own luck during the third round, rolling in birdie putts of 20, 15, 25, 18 and 22 feet on his first nine holes.

He began his round on the back nine at Tamarisk Country Club and had a 5-under 31 at the turn. He made two birdies and a bogey over his last nine holes.

``I easily could have shot 37 instead of 31,'' he said of the first nine, when his drives tended to stray. ``I could easily have bogeyed three out of my first five holes. On the back side of Tamarisk, they've got white soldiers _ out-of-bounds stakes _ on both sides of the fairways.

``Every time I looked up, I saw out-of-bounds stakes, so it wasn't the greatest mental picture I've ever had. But I got away with it.''

His only ``main hiccup'' during the round, he said, came on the par-5 No. 4, his 13th hole of the day.

``I had a bad lie and chipped it over and kind of three-putted from there,'' Ogilvie said.