Gore grabs lead in classic

Jason Gore shot a five-under-par 67 to take a two-shot lead after the third round of the 84 Lumber Classic in Pennsylvania.

Gore is at 12 under on 204, ahead of a group of five golfers, as he chases his first career PGA Tour victory.

Gore was a virtual unknown on the Nationwide Tour four months ago but burst into the national spotlight at the US Open, where he was paired in Sunday’s final group with Retief Goosen.

He returned to the obscurity of the Nationwide Tour but earned a “battlefield promotion” to the PGA Tour by winning three times in a five-week span.

And he fired a magical second-round 59 en route to winning the Cox Classic in August.

This is Gore’s fourth tournament since his promotion and by far his best showing.

His somewhat erratic play – which endears him to the fans – included a trio of bogeys but he opened with an eagle two at the first hole and added six birdies to move to the top of the leaderboard.

Tag Ridings had the best round of the chasing pack with a 67 that allowed him to keep pace with Gore, alongside Carlos Franco of Paraguay (68), Australia’s Rod Pampling (69), Carl Pettersson of Sweden (70) and Craig Barlow (70) two strokes back.

Chris DiMarco also fired a 67 and climbed to nine under with Justin Leonard (70) and Cameron Beckman (73).

Second-round leader Stuart Appleby of Australia faltered with a three-over 75 to drop into a group of five on 208.

Barlow shared the lead with Gore on the back nine but finished double bogey-birdie-bogey.

The third round featured a hole-in-one for Phil Mickelson at the par-three, 200-yard seventh.

However, the ace did little to help the PGA champion, who completed a 67 but is still six shots off the lead.

Defending champion Vijay Singh carded a one-over 73 to fall nine strokes behind the leaders.