Feb 18, 2007 5 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Rich Beem saw his 7-iron plunge into the cup for a hole-in-one and gave Riviera a celebration to remember. He scooted up the back of the red sports car behind the 14th tee and splayed his body on the roof, hugging his new prize. Beem only won a car Saturday. Thanks to a late stumble by Phil Mickelson, he and a half-dozen other players suddenly can think about winning the trophy at the Nissan Open.

Mickelson had a three-shot lead and looked unstoppable until a 30-inch par putt rimmed around the cup, the first of three straight bogeys on the back nine that brought him back to the field and turned the final round into a scramble that usually takes place at Riviera.

Lefty wound up with a 69, giving him a one-shot lead over Padraig Harrington (70).

Beem, who trailed by as many as seven shots on the back nine, finished with a 65 and was two behind at the end of a warm and wild afternoon. Five other players, including Ernie Els and Jim Furyk, were within four shots of Mickelson.

“It could have been a chance for Padraig and I to pull away a little bit there in the end,” said Mickelson, who was at 13-under 200. “Those three bogeys on the back let 12 to 15 guys back in the tournament.”

Harrington felt only six other players had a chance, but while they disagreed on the number, they shared disappointment. Scoring conditions were good in the sunshine and mild breeze, but the front-runners stalled on the back nine. Harrington, who made 10 birdies on Thursday and six on Friday, managed only two birdies in the third round, and he can only hope the sequence doesn’t continue.

“Whoever plays the best tomorrow will probably win the tournament,” he said. “But it’s a half-dozen guys instead of two.”

Mickelson birdied his first two holes on the back nine to reach 15 under and stretch his lead to three shots, and he looked every bit as comfortable as last week at Pebble Beach, when he tied a tournament scoring record and won by five.

With so much emphasis on his improved driving, the key has been making virtually every putt inside 6 feet. But that’s what cost him at Riviera, starting with a 30-inch miss on No. 12 for only his second bogey of the tournament, and a 6-foot par putt that missed so badly Mickelson slapped at his blade right after hitting his putt.

Still, it wasn’t hard to find the silver lining on a cloudless day.

“I was tied for the lead yesterday. I’ve got a one-shot lead today. So, it’s getting better,” Mickelson said. “It wasn’t the lead I wanted, but it’s getting better.”

Only later did Mickelson realize the reason for the roar ahead of him. From 179 yards, Beem hit a towering 7-iron that sprung off the green and slammed into the bottom of the cup.

He raised both arms in the air, then ran behind the tee and climbed onto the roof, hugging the top of the car before sitting on it like he was on a float in a homecoming parade.

“I didn’t know if he was going to fall through the window or what he was going to do,” Els said. “But he hit a beautiful shot.”

Beem was inspired from watching Peter Jacobsen make an ace on the 14th at Riviera in 1994, then run over to the car and sit in the driver’s seat.

“I wish I could take full credit for making a fool of myself,” Beem said. “I tell you what, though, the top of that car was pretty warm. And the back of that car is scratched up from my shoes.”

Robert Allenby (68) and Charles Howell III (69) were at 10-under 203, very much in the hunt. Allenby won in 2001 in a six-man playoff that he ended quickly with a 3-wood into a 5 feet in a driving rain for birdie. The sunshine is unusual, but not the bunched leaderboard.

“I’m happy to be three adrift,” Allenby said. “Three or four shots is not much around this place.”

SBS Open

KAHUKU, Hawaii – Paula Creamer won the LPGA Tour’s season-opening SBS Open for her first victory since 2005, holding off Julieta Granada by a stroke.

The 20-year-old Creamer closed with a 2-under 70 for a 9-under 207 total and earned $165,000 for her third LPGA Tour title. In 2005 as a rookie, she won two LPGA Tour titles and also took two tournaments in Japan.

Conditions were challenging at Turtle Bay’s oceanside Palmer Course, with occasional showers and tradewinds that shook the players’ pony tails and nerves.

Granada, who won the season-ending ADT Championship and helped give Paraguay its first Women’s World Cup title last month, shot a 69.

Karrie Webb closed with a 70 to finish third at 6 under.

Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am

LUTZ, Fla. – Andy Bean shot a 4-under 67 in cold and windy conditions for a share of the lead with Wayne Levi in the suspended second round of the Champions Tour’s Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am.

Levi shot a 69, finishing in near darkness, to match Bean at 4-under 138 on the TPC Tampa Bay.

Levi holed a pitching wedge shot from 118 yards for eagle on the par-4 10th – his first hole of the day.

Jacob’s Creek Open

ADELAIDE, Australia – American Scott Sterling shot a 6-under 66 for a share of the third-round lead in the Jacob’s Creek Open.

Australia’s David Lutterus also had a 66 and countryman Peter Senior shot a 69 to join Sterling at 11-under 205. American Brad Ott (70) was a stroke back in the event sanctioned by the Nationwide and Australasian tours.

Indonesian Open

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Frankie Minoza topped the leaderboard in the Indonesian Open before monsoon storms stopped play early for the third consecutive day.

Trying to become the first Filipino to win a European tour event, Minoza was at 8 under with a hole to play in the third round, one stroke ahead of the tight pack led by Finland’s Mikko Ilonen and South Korea’s Suk Jong-yul.