(Reuters) - Two months after contemplating retirement, PGA Tour rookie Brett Stegmaier birdied the final hole to earn a one-stroke lead after the third round at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Stegmaier, in just his fifth start on tour, closed strongly to card a three-under-par 68 on the TPC Summerlin, which played unusually difficult due to firm greens.
He posted a 13-under 200 total, one stroke ahead of fellow American Morgan Hoffmann (71), who sank a 10-footer at the par-four 18th to salvage bogey after yanking his drive into a rocky lie in a desert hazard.