Pebble Beach: Charlie Wi keeps lead; Tiger Woods four back

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Charlie Wi, who was openly concerned about how he would hold his nerve and his lead after being in first place alone after two rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Friday, seems as if he’ll be alone in first place after three rounds as well.

Wi, a 40-year-old making his 163rd PGA Tour start and still looking for his first win, shot a three-under 69 on Saturday on the Spyglass Hill course and has a three-day total of 15-under-par 199. Wi, who played a year of college golf at California and would be the first Cal Bear to win a PGA Tour event, holds a three-stroke lead over Ken Duke, a 43-year-old veteran from Hope, Ark., who has also never won on the tour. Duke is working on a round of five-under par through 17 holes Saturday at Monterey Peninsula.

Tiger Woods just finished his third round of five-under 67 at Pebble Beach and he is tied for third, four shots behind Wi, who used to play local Southern California courses with Woods when the two were growing up.

Woods is playing his first 2012 PGA Tour event of the season. Woods had a round of six birdies and one bogey, and Woods’ amateur partner, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, seemed to keep Woods in good spirits. ‘It was key for me to get off to a good start and settle Tiger’s nerves,’ Romo said with a straight face to CBS/Golf Channel interviewer David Feherty.

Woods said, ‘I’ve hit the ball better the last two days, putts went in and that always makes the round better. This is going to be fun.’

Also in contention going into Sunday’s final round, where everybody plays Pebble Beach, is three-time winner Phil Mickelson, who shot a two-under 70 at Pebble Beach and is nine under for the tournament.

Joining Mickelson at nine under is 2009 and 2010 champion Dustin Johnson as well as Kevin Na and Ricky Barnes (who is through 15 on Pebble Beach). Brendon Todd, a 26-year-old from Pittsburgh who has made only five cuts on the PGA Tour and who played the Nationwide Tour last year, is alone in fifth place, at 10 under through 15 on Monterey Peninsula.

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-- Diane Pucin in Pebble Beach, Calif.