In classical literature, the albatross is considered to be a harbinger of bad luck.

Albatrosses in golf, however, do not share any of the same negative association.

Chris Ross, who made the third albatross of his career last Tuesday at Orange County National in Orlando, Fla., believes that you cannot pull off the feat without a significant amount of luck on your side.

“I know people that have four and five and seven and the reactions are all the same,” said Ross in an interview with Golfweek, after holing-out his 3-wood from 241 yards. “It’s a lot of luck. It was a good shot, too, but it’s a lot of luck.”

The miraculous shot completed a trifecta of albatross hole-outs in 2014 for the PGA Tour Canada rookie.

Formerly a member of the Canadian Men’s Development Team in 2008, the 27-year-old made his first ever albatross at Reunion Resort’s Palmer Course in January.

Then, less than a month later, Ross found the bottom of the cup with a perfectly placed hybrid shot on a par 5 at the Forest Lake Golf Club in Ocoee, Fla.

Formerly a member of the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, the newly coroneted Albatross King is the son of Stephen Ross, past executive director of the Royal Canadian Golf Association and proprietor of the Oak Gables Golf Club and Learning Centre in Hamilton, Ont.

Trying to add to an already stellar year, the Ontario native will compete in the second stage of the Web.com Tour Q-School in Brooksville, Fla. later this month.

If successful, the former Eastern Michigan Eagle could be dropping albatrosses on national television next year.

More on Christopher Ross:

Life is a highway for PGA Tour Canada golfer

Christopher Ross racks up third albatross of 2014

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Tom Pernice Jr. won the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday, beating Jay Haas with a birdie on the fourth hole of a playoff.

The 55-year-old Pernice got up-and-down from the left bunker on the par-5 18th, holing a 6-foot putt after Haas made a 12-footer for par.

“I just said, `He’s going to make it, so you need to be prepared to play it on the right edge. And it rolled right in,” Pernice said. “It was pretty scrappy. I hung in there. Short game is part of it as well and my short game held up and carried me through.”

Pernice closed with a 3-under 67 – also making a 6-foot birdie putt on 18 – to match Haas at 11-under 269 on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course. The 60-year-old Haas had a 66.

“Jay and I have become good friends,” Pernice said. “I’ve gone back and played in his charity event in Greenville. I hate for anybody to lose.”

Pernice earned $440,000 in the event limited to the top 30 on the money list. He also won a playoff in Iowa in June and has four career victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning twice on the PGA Tour.

“I was just thinking last night, it’s such a privilege to be able to be out here, first and foremost, to be out here playing with Freddie Couples and Jay Haas and Kenny Perry and Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin and Tom Watson,” Pernice said. “To be able to do that and compete and do what we do at our age is pretty amazing that this is here for us.”

Haas had birdie chances to win on the second and third playoff holes, but missed both to the right.

“It was a long day, longer for the team that loses in extra innings,” Haas said. “Tom’s such a beautiful bunker player and pitcher of the ball and everything. I knew I was going to have to make a birdie to beat him.”

On the third on the par-3 17th, Haas missed a 15-foot birdie putt. Pernice made a 6-footer after missing the green to the left and hitting a flop shot.

On 18 on the second extra hole, Haas’ 8-foot birdie also slid right, and Pernice made a 4-footer for a scrambling par. He drove right into a narrow wash channel in the desert, slashed backward to the fairway, hit his 246-yard approach to the right of the green and set up the par putt with a long pitch.

“Just hit a bad drive,” Pernice said. “I had been aiming down the left side and kind of cutting with the wind and came up and out of it and blocked it and so the wind got it. …. Luckily, I had a shot, but I had to go backwards quite a ways because I was going in the direction of the washout.”

Haas made a 6-foot birdie putt on 18 on the first extra hole after Pernice’s two-putt birdie.

In regulation on 18, Haas holed a 35-foot birdie putt from the fringe to take the lead at 11 under. Pernice – playing a group behind – forced the playoff with his 6-foot birdie putt.

Haas opened with rounds of 66 and 62 to take a four-stroke lead and break the tour record for consecutive rounds of par or better at 38, then shot 75 on Saturday to fall a stroke behind Pernice and Perry.

Haas won two weeks ago in North Carolina to become the 18th player to win a Champions Tour event at 60 or older. He has 17 Champions Tour victories after winning nine PGA Tour titles.

“It’s been a wonderful year and, you know, just a shot here or there,” Haas said. “Yesterday just was pretty awful, but today came back on a pretty tough day to have a chance there.”

Perry eagled the final hole for a 68 to finish a stroke back.

Langer closed with a 65 to tie for fourth with Colin Montgomerie at 9 under.

Langer wrapped up his second Charles Schwab Cup points title last week and earned $158,000 on Sunday to break Hale Irwin’s tour record with $3,074,189. Irwin made $3,082,304 in 2002.

The 57-year-old Langer topped the money list for the sixth time in seven years. He led the tour with five victories, two of them majors, and had 12 top-three finishes in 20 starts. He also won the season points title and $1 million annuity in 2010.

“It’s still mind-boggling just to reflect on my year,” Langer said. “When you think about it, you play golf from January until now, it’s 10 months, and to have played as consistently well as I’ve done in 20 tournaments is hard to believe really.”

Montgomerie finished with a 67.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Ryan Moore knows how to finish a tournament, and how to start a season.

For the second straight year, Moore won the CIMB Classic on Sunday, and for the third year running he won on the PGA Tour’s fall schedule to get a flying start to the season, having also won the Shriners’ Hospitals for Children Open in October 2012.

Moore shot a 5-under 67 for a three-stroke win, beating fellow American Gary Woodland for the second straight year. He finished on 17-under 271 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club to become the first player to defend a title on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitation in 2013.

Sergio Garcia (69) and Kevin Na (70) shared a three-way tie for second with Woodland (67).

Moore had eight birdies against three bogeys in the final round, and earned his fourth PGA Tour title with superb approach shots at the 14th and 17th holes for birdies, and some nerveless putting on the back nine.

“It was incredible to finish the way I did coming down those last few holes,” Moore said. “I like to tell myself all the time that `I am a closer. Let’s just do what we can, hit good shots and let’s close this thing’ and I was able to do that.”

What he wasn’t able to do yet is work out why he wins tournaments early in a new season and not after.

“I’ve been thinking about that for a while trying to figure out why,” Moore said. “Maybe it’s because the end is near. I see that I’m going to have six or seven weeks off pretty soon and it’s like `it’s the home stretch, just play some good golf and finish off the year’.

“I’ve got to figure that out and try to approach every tournament that way.”

Woodland, who lost to Moore in a playoff at this tournament 12 months earlier, threatened to reverse that result by firing six birdies without a bogey over the first 15 holes to move within a shot of Moore.

He had a birdie putt at 16 for a share of the lead that lipped out, and at 18 he had the chance for another birdie that would have upped the pressure on Moore, but missed it, and the close-range par putt.

“The par fives cost me all week,” Woodland said. “I played beautifully outside the par fives.”

Na birdied three of the first four holes to take a two-stroke lead and still led by a stroke after 12 before his round began to unravel.

A bogey on the 13th dropped him back into a share of the lead; at 14, a downhill eagle opportunity slid past the hole at pace and turned into a three-putt for par; and at 15 he missed a birdie putt, leaving him two shots behind.

With Moore taking a bogey at 16, Na looked like getting back a share of the lead with a birdie putt from two feet. Distracted by some cameras, he had to back off the putt, and missed it. After tapping in for par he waved his finger to the gallery in frustration.

Things went from bad to worse at 17 when he put his tee shot into the top of a palm tree. With the ball irretrievable, he took a penalty and returned to the tee, finishing with a double-bogey six that ended his challenge.

“It’s my fault hitting a bad putt and it’s hard to recover from that late in the day,” Na said. “I never got it together before I hit the next shot and you saw what happened.

“It’s disappointing when you know you had the lead and it’s yours, but Ryan did step it up in the end.”

Another palm tree proved Garcia’s undoing on the par-5 10th, also having to take a penalty and return to the tee and the double-bogey seven dropped him from two shots off the lead to four.

“After nine, I thought I had a chance because I finally got some things going after two or three lip-outs early in the round for birdie,” Garcia said. “But unfortunately that double bogey kind of stopped me.”

South Korea’s Bae Sang-moon (69) was tied for fifth with 21-year-old Australian Cameron Smith (68), who vaulted up from 13th to fourth on the Order of Merit in the Asian Tour, which co-sanctioned this event.

Canada’s Mike Weir finished at 7 under after a final round 68 to tie for 21st, his best finish in six months.

Last season’s FedEx Cup winner, Billy Horschel, finished at 4-under in joint 37th.

SHANGHAI – Marcel Siem took the lead for the first time on the 16th hole Sunday and figured two pars would be enough for him to win the BMW Masters.

He should have known it would never be that simple.

A relentless wind at Lake Malaren turned the final round into a wild ride for just about everybody, and not even Siem was immune. The German finished the final round with two bogeys instead of two pars. And then he won a three-man playoff over Alexander Levy of France and Ross Fisher of England by chipping in for birdie from the collar of the 18th green.

“The course was a real monster, and I’m super pleased,” Siem said. “Still can’t believe it. I’m over the moon.”

Siem felt more pressure over an 8-foot par putt on the 18th to win in regulation. Facing the tougher situation – his shot with a 5-iron came up just short and hung in the collar – he felt he had nothing to lose and wound up winning.

“I thought just to stay in the playoff, I have to hole it,” said Siem, who closed with a 1-over 73. “I was expecting one of the guys to hole the putt. It’s just fantastic. A chip-in is always cool, but to have it in a playoff is even cooler.”

Levy had a four-shot lead to start the final round. He had to scramble for bogey on the 18th hole for a 78 to join the playoff. Fisher had a chance for the biggest comeback in European Tour history. He was 11 shots behind going into the last round, closed with a 67 and was the first to post at 16-under 272.

Levy and Fisher both had birdie putts in the playoff on No. 18, the toughest hole at Lake Malaren. After watching Siem chip in for birdie, both missed their putts.

The fourth victory of Siem’s career sends him across town to the World Golf Championship next week. The timing could have been better. Siem was expecting a week off, so his wife flew to Thailand to join him for a holiday. Trophy in hand, he was trying to arrange a visa to get her to Shanghai for the next tournament.

“Would have been the first time in five years on a holiday on our own,” he said. “But I think she will be still happy not to do that.”

What had been an easy week for scoring on a soft, benign golf course turned into a test of survival in the 25 mph wind.

Levy stopped hitting short irons at the flag, and when he closed out the front nine with back-to-back bogeys, his four-shot lead was gone. He built it back to two shots when Siem made a pair of sloppy bogeys, but then the Frenchman drove into the water on the par-5 13th and made double bogey. Levy then missed two short putts – for par on the 14th and birdie on the 15th – that would have allowed him to regain the lead.

He was fortunate just to get into the playoff. Levy’s approach on the 18th in regulation went left toward the water, crossed the hazard line and stopped a foot short from a splash. He chipped over the green and had to make a 5-foot bogey putt to keep playing.

“He deserved to win today because he played fantastic in the wind,” Levy said. “It’s nice for him. And I’m not very disappointed because I played three days of amazing golf and I think I need to keep that in my mind.”

Fisher had the low score Sunday, making six birdies against only one bogey for his 67. Only three other players broke 70, while eight players were in the 80s. That included Miguel Angel Jimenez, who hit four shots into the water on No. 9 and took a 13. He shot an 88.

“You never expect to have a chance,” Fisher said, referring to his 11-shot deficit. “I’m thinking, `Just go out there and shoot a good score. If it gets me a top 10, that would be great.'”

It almost was better that that. Paul Lawrie (1999 British Open) and Jamie Spence (1992 European Masters) share the European Tour record by rallying from 10 shots behind in the final round.

Jamie Donaldson of Wales, who won the clinching match for Europe in the Ryder Cup, put two balls into the water in the round and closed with a 75. Donaldson had a chance to get into the playoff with an 18-foot birdie putt on the last hole. He left it short.

“Concentrated so hard on the line and don’t hit the putt. But there you go – that’s golf,” Donaldson said.

Justin Rose also could have made the playoff, except that he put his approach into the bunker left of the 18th green, blasted out to 18 feet and narrowly missed his par putt. Rose closed with a 72.

“Playing from 13 onwards, it was hang on for dear life,” Rose said.

The BMW Masters is the first of four tournaments in “The Final Series” that wrap up the European Tour season. Siem moves all the way up to No. 4 in the Race to Dubai.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Six days after taking the No. 1 spot in the world from Stacy Lewis, Inbee Park was a notch above the American again at Miramar.

Park won the LPGA Taiwan Championship on Sunday for her third victory of the year and 12th tour title, holding off Lewis by two strokes.

The 26-year-old South Korean player closed with a 1-under 71 in light rain to finish at 22-under 266. The victory capped a hectic Asian trip centered around her marriage last month to swing coach Gi Hyeob-nam.

“I think this will be my wedding gift for myself,” Park said. “It’s a good feeling and maybe people who said, `She’s not going to play as well as when she was not married.’ I think we can put that wrong.”

Park shot 64-62-69 to take a four-stroke lead over Lewis and China’s Shanshan Feng into the final round.

“I think playing with Stacy, I really wanted to play well,” Park said. “Obviously, being able to win the tournament was a great accomplishment. It was a tough day and I got nervous on every hole today, even on the 18th hole.”

The second-ranked Lewis, also a three-time winner this year, shot 69.

“I hung in there all day and just made Inbee work for it,” Lewis said. “That was the goal. You give Inbee four shots, it’s a tough task to overcome. She hit the shots when she needed to coming in.”

After Lewis birdied the par-4 16th to pull within one, Park birdied the par-3 17th to regain her two-stroke lead. Her only other birdies came on the first two holes and she bogeyed the last two holes on the front nine.

“I don’t think this is the last time we’ll be battling at the end of a tournament,” Lewis said. “I think we’re both playing some really good golf right now. It’s unfortunate, I guess, for the fans it’s the end of the season, but we have a few tournaments left and hopefully we’ll do it again.”

Park won the LPGA Manulife Financial in June in Canada and took the LPGA Championship in August for her fifth major title. Last year, she swept the first three majors and won six times.

Third-ranked Lydia Ko was third at 17 under after a 66, the best score Sunday. The 17-year-old New Zealander won the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters in December at Miramar.

“I think I played really well here in Asia,” Ko said. “I’ve enjoyed it and I’m excited for a week off next week.”

Spain’s Azahara Munoz had a 69 to finish fourth at 16 under

Feng closed with a 76 to drop into a tie for sixth at 13 under.

Michelle Wie had weekend rounds of 72-72 to tie for 20th at 6 under in a group that included Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and Taiwan’s Yani Tseng. Pettersen, the winner the last two years at Sunrise, finished with a 71. Tseng, the winner of the inaugural event in 2011, shot 70. She won the last of her 15 LPGA Tour titles in March 2012.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Kenny Perry and Tom Pernice Jr. shared the lead Saturday in the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, taking advantage of Jay Haas’ third-round collapse in difficult conditions at Desert Mountain.

Perry shot a 2-under 68, and Pernice had a 70 to finish at 8-under 202 on the Cochise Course.

“Just a battle out there,” Perry said. “Greens are so hard, you really can’t control with the wind and altitude and the greens where you cannot fly the ball, you have to play everything 20, 30 feet short, bounce it up. With some of those pin placements, very tricky. I feel like I’m at a U.S. Open. It’s very hard to fit the ball near the holes so that’s why you see nobody really running away with it.”

The 60-year-old Haas, four strokes ahead after opening with rounds of 66 and 62 to break the tour record for consecutive rounds of par or better at 38, had a 75 to fall a shot behind.

“I wasn’t sharp, obviously, and it was a tough day weather-wise,” Haas said. “The wind was blowing a little bit harder coming from a different direction. I was just off just a little bit and that showed.”

Haas, the oldest player in the field limited to the top 30 on the money list, had a double bogey, six bogeys and three birdies. He hit a female spectator with a shot en route to a bogey on the par-5 eight.

“I felt awful, obviously,” Haas said. “I understand that she’s doing OK, but you know, if you’ve done it, you know what it feels like. It’s not a good feeling when she’s laying there bleeding and everything. … If I had been sharp, I would have hit the fairway there and not bothered her. So it’s probably her first and last time she’s ever been to a golf tournament.”

Haas won two weeks ago in North Carolina to become the 18th player to win a Champions Tour event at 60 or older. He has 17 victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning nine times on the PGA Tour.

“Frustrating that a good one would have given me a nice cushion,” Haas said. “It was a hard day. … Just one of those days.”

The 54-year-old Perry has seven Champions Tour after victories, winning the Regions Tradition in May for his third major title and the 3M Championship in August. He won 14-times on the PGA Tour.

“I hit the ball fine,” Perry said. “Didn’t make many putts, but I think the greens have a lot to do with it. All in all, I’m tickled to shoot 68. I’m just playing steady golf, hitting lots of fairways, lots of greens. … I think it will be exciting tomorrow. It’s anybody’s day tomorrow. I mean, you’ve got probably eight to 10 guys who have a very realistic shot of winning this golf tournament. It’s just one hot round.”

The 55-year-old Pernice won the Principal Charity Classic in Iowa in June for his third tour victory.

“We had a different wind,” Pernice said. “Obviously, brought a little bit of intrigue into most people’s game. You get a little bit of wind blowing and firm greens, it’s always going to be tough. Jay and I both struggled a little bit today, didn’t help each other out much, not much momentum going there. I played good at times. I had my opportunities, I just didn’t convert very well.”

Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie were tied for fourth at 6 under. Couples, the winner last year at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, followed his second-round 64 with a 69. Montgomerie had a 66.

Bernhard Langer was tied for 10th at 4 under after a 70. Langer won the Charles Schwab Cup points title last week, has a tour-high five victories – two of them majors – and also has wrapped up the season money title with $2,916,189.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Defending champion Ryan Moore will draw on the experience of last year’s narrow victory when he enters the final round of the CIMB Classic on Sunday tied for the lead with Kevin Na.

Both Americans shot rounds of 5-under 67 on Saturday. Moore had seven birdies against two bogeys while Na had a bogey-free round with five birdies to move to 12-under 204 in the jointly sanctioned PGA Tour and Asian Tour event at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

They were a shot clear of the field’s top-ranked player Sergio Garcia, who repeatedly scrambled from difficult situations to salvage pars on the back nine and finished with a round of 68.

Garcia was level on 11-under with second-round leader Billy Hurley III who had a 71 on a day that included a 2-1/2 hour rain delay.

They had a two-shot break on the next group of four players at 9-under: American trio Gary Woodland (66) – last year’s runner-up – Kevin Chappell (70) and Kevin Streelman (71) plus South Korea’s Sang-moon Bae (68).

Moore said last year’s playoff victory over Woodland gave him the belief that he can do it again Sunday and become the first player to defend a PGA Tour title since Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2012 and 2013.

“It can only be a positive,” Moore said. “I’ve been here and done it on this course, so that should give me that little extra confidence going into tomorrow.”

Na has one previous PGA Tour title win, at the Shriners’ International Hospitals for Children Open in 2011. He pulled out of that same event last month due to illness and a back injury, but has shown no sign of discomfort here.

He does have a previous tournament win in Malaysia on his resume, taking out the Volvo Masters of Asia as an 18-year-old in 2002. Na forecast that 17-under should be enough to win the tournament, but faces stiff competition in a tightly-packed field of leaders.

“Sergio, Ryan Moore, Kevin Streelman, Chappell – any of those guys can get out there and play well,” Na said. “You can’t set yourself an opponent, you have to play the golf course.”

Neither leader has a great record at defending leads on the final day. Moore has led or been tied for the lead five times previously, converting into wins twice while missing out three times, including the Travelers Championship earlier this year.

Na has been in that situation three times before and the Shriners’ was his sole victory.

Garcia has the edge on both for experience of title showdowns and kept himself in contention again with some impressive scrambling. The Spaniard repeatedly found trouble off the tee, twice having to take penalty strokes yet salvaging par.

“I’m not trying to hit shots like that but sometimes it happens,” Garcia said. “After the rain, the greens were much slower, and I three-putted on 11 for bogey and then I made some nice saves.”

The round of the day belonged to Brendon De Jonge, who had a 7-under 65 to move within four shots of the lead. The Zimbabwean lost the playoff at last week’s McGladrey Classic.

Former top-ranked Lee Westwood was hurt most by the rain delay. He was in contention at 9-under when the course was cleared for a thunderstorm, but had four bogeys in eight holes after the resumption.

Each of the first three days have had long delays due to storms, and more are expected Sunday, with a potentially critical effect on the title contenders.

“It’s tough on all of us, starting and stopping,” Moore said. “It’s like another round of golf. You are starting again and you don’t have that rhythm and momentum of your round.”

Mike Weir carded an even-par 72 Saturday to slip into a tie for 29th at 3-under 213.

SHANGHAI – Alexander Levy sent his 40-foot putt across the sixth green and down a steep ridge toward the cup, and when it curled in the left side, he turned toward his caddie with arms raised and a smile that lit up Lake Malaren on an overcast day.

Just about everything is going right for Levy at the BMW Masters.

The Frenchman piled up nine more birdies Saturday on his way to a 9-under 63, giving him a four-shot lead over Jamie Donaldson of Wales and leaving him on the cusp of his third victory this year on the European Tour.

“I play good golf and it’s true, I am confident,” Levy said. “You don’t have that (confidence) a lot of time, and I need to enjoy this moment and do my best tomorrow.”

He had no choice but to keep making birdies. So was everyone else on an extraordinary day of scoring.

Donaldson holed out for eagle on the tough 16th hole in his round of 62 and he barely made up any ground. Justin Rose followed a 65 with a 64 on Saturday and actually lost ground to Levy.

“I think I’ve done my part, but I didn’t bank on everyone else going as low as they are,” said Rose, who was seven shots back. “Obviously, Mr. Levy is going ridiculous out there. I would have thought I’d be in a bit better shape going into Sunday than I am, but obviously every credit to the lads that are keeping it going.”

Marcel Siem of Germany shot a 65 and still was five shots behind. He lost more than just a few strokes to Levy. He also lost some money. They have been betting 200 euros (about $250) each round on who has the better score. Levy got him twice in the 36-hole event he won in Portugal three weeks ago. The only round Siem didn’t lose money was on Friday when both shot 66.

“I think I chose the wrong opponent,” Siem said. “But it’s crazy when you’re 17-under par and you lose every round against him – yesterday I tied. But it’s good for him. He’s a great lad and he’s playing unbelievable golf at the moment. Tough to beat him, and I’ll try my best tomorrow. we’ll see.”

About the only one who didn’t keep pace was Nicolas Colsaerts. He missed an 8-foot birdie attempt on the first hole and kept falling further behind until he finished with a double bogey out of the bunker on the 18th hole for a 73. Colsaerts went from a one-shot lead to nine shots behind.

Levy was at 22-under 194 as he goes after his third title of the year on the European Tour. He already is the first Frenchman with multiple wins in one season.

“I played an amazing round,” Levy said. “I enjoy a lot the way I played the first three rounds, and it was a good, good game. And I look to do my best tomorrow and try to play the same golf and to be aggressive like the first round.”

The BMW Masters is the first of four tournaments in “The Finals Series” that wrap up the European Tour season.

The conditions have been soft and overcast all week in Shanghai, with players allowed to lift, clean and replace their golf balls within one club because of the wet turf. Levy likes to take dead aim – he calls it “target golf” – and the soggy turf of Lake Malaren suits him perfectly.

He opened with a 9-iron to about 6 feet for birdie, stuffed a wedge in close for birdie on the second and hit another wedge close on the par-5 third. Even though Colsaerts was some 40 yards beyond him on the par-5 seventh, Levy hit his approach 10 feet closer and both made two-putt birdies.

Levy played with Colsaerts and Romain Wattel of France, with whom he is sharing a room this week.

“Impressive game,” Wattel said to him after the round, and there was no denying that.

Siem was alone in third at 17-under 199. Rose, who opened with a 72, was at 15-under 201 and trying to figure out how he can make up so much ground with one round remaining. His only hope was for Levy to come back to the field.

“If Alex has a bad day, then you look at the second guy – Jamie at 18 (under) and maybe I’m three behind,” Rose said. “I always try to look at it like that because you never know what the leader is going to face on a Sunday, so you always have look at second and go from there. So in with a half-chance.”

Colsaerts and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina (69) were nine shots behind. Graeme McDowell, needing two good finishes during the Shanghai swing to become entrenched in the top 15 on the Race to Dubai, had a 68 and is playing for position.

Levy has not shown any signs of cracking.

“You’ve got to go out there and play well to catch him,” Donaldson said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Inbee Park shot a 3-under 69 in windy conditions Saturday in the LPGA Taiwan Championship to increase her lead to four strokes.

Playing her first event since regaining the No. 1 spot in the world from Stacy Lewis on Monday, the South Korean newlywed had an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys at Miramar in wind gusting to about 30 mph. In calm conditions the first two days, she shot 64-62 to take a three-stroke lead.

“It was quite different situation with the wind,” Park said. “It was playing a lot tougher. The downwind holes, it was tough to stop the ball on the green. We have quite tough holes out there, but I think I managed myself quite good.”

Park had a 21-under 195 total. She won the LPGA Championship in August for her second victory of the year and fifth major title. Last year, she swept the first three majors and won six times.

The second-ranked Lewis was tied for second with China’s Shanshan Feng.

“We’re going to have a good competition tomorrow and, obviously, four strokes around this golf course, it’s not impossible,” Park said. “I just need to putt like the way I did for the last couple days and control the ball really good in the wind.”

Lewis birdied four of the last five holes for a bogey-free 64, the best round of the day.

“I kind of got things together there. Played really good,” Lewis said. “The wind started blowing on 7, and my caddie kind of made a comment about it and I said, `Good.’ That was my response. I knew I needed some help with the weather to get a little bit closer and played some great golf there coming in.”

The American has a tour-high three victories this season.

“You go into this golf course thinking it’s going to be windy and you kind of have it set in your head that that’s the way it’s going to be,” Lewis said. “When it’s not windy you have to change the game plan a little bit. Didn’t quite adjust the last two days.

“But I love it when it’s like this. When it’s windy and hard, I think it brings the best out of me and the big thing today was I made some putts there at the end and got me close enough for tomorrow and in the last group, so good spot to be in.”

Feng had a 70.

Spain’s Azahara Munoz was fourth at 13 under after a 69, and South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu was another stroke back after a 68. Third-ranked Lydia Ko shot 71 to fall into a tie for sixth at 11 under. The 17-year-old New Zealander won the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters in December at Miramar.

Michelle Wie had a 72 to drop into a tie for 27th at 6 under. Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, the winner the last two years at Sunrise, was another stroke back after a 74.

Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, the winner of the inaugural event in 2011, was tied for 39th at 4 under after a 69. She won the last of her 15 LPGA Tour titles in March 2012.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Jay Haas birdied four of the last six holes Friday for an 8-under 62 and a four-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

“I thought much harder today than yesterday,” said the 60-year-old Haas, the oldest player in field limited to the top 30 players on the money list. “The wind was difficult, the greens are still very firm. I honestly said if somebody was giving me even par before I played, I would have said, `OK, that sounds pretty good, I’ll take that.’ But I played extremely well.”

Haas had his 38th straight round of par or better to break Loren Roberts’ tour record.

“It was a pretty error-free round,” Haas said. “Disappointed that I didn’t birdie at least the last hole or at least get kind of an opportunity to shoot my age today, but it was a special round. Hit a lot of good shots and didn’t make a lot of long putts. They were all, you know, 15 feet and in probably for birdie. So it was solid golf today. I don’t know what got into me, but it was a lot of fun.”

Haas won two weeks ago in North Carolina to become the 18th player to win a Champions Tour event at 60 or older. He has 17 victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning nine times on the PGA Tour.

Haas had a 12-under 128 total on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course. He shot a 60 at the course in the second round of the 2012 event.

First-round leader Tom Pernice Jr. was second after a 67.

“I played pretty well,” Pernice said. “The conditions were obviously a little more difficult with a little bit more breeze blowing today, so it was a little bit trickier. I struggled a little bit on the speed of the greens, I left several putts short.”

Kenny Perry was third at 6 under after a 68.

Fred Couples, the winner last year at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, was 5 under along with Michael Allen and Olin Browne. Couples shot 64, Allen 66, and Browne 67.

“I haven’t putted like this or made this many putts in a long time,” Couples said. “But I didn’t hit the ball so bad on the front nine, shot even par and I got it going, and as you saw, some of these putts are crazy. Just one of those things. … I might go dressed as a putter tonight for Halloween.”

Allen won the AT&T Championship last week in San Antonio for his second victory of the year.

“My God, it’s a war of attrition out here,” Allen said. “But overall, it was a fun day. I played well and kind of hung in there.”

Bernhard Langer was tied for seventh at 4 under after a 70. Langer won the Charles Schwab Cup points title last week, has a tour-high five victories – two of them majors – and also has wrapped up the season money title with $2,916,189.