The Daily Wrap-up: Round 3, U.S. Bank Championship
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Frank Lickliter's career took a two-year detour through an arm injury that left him without a PGA TOUR card and forced him back to qualifying school.
The avid bear hunter's drive to win again never diminished, and now the results are starting to show.
Lickliter shot his best round in nearly three years, posting a 63 to surge to the top of the leaderboard at 11-under 199 after the third round of the U.S. Bank Championship on Saturday. He had two more birdies on the back nine with a chance for another on No. 18, but he missed an eagle putt, that would have set a personal best for him, and settled for a par.
"If people think I'm pretty intense, they're right," Lickliter said. "I've been working hard, extremely hard. And I knew I was doing a lot of good things."
Greg Chalmers, who led by two strokes after Friday's second round, was one behind Lickliter after shooting a 69. Jeff Maggert and Chris Riley finished two back at 9-under 201.
Lickliter, who last won on TOUR in 2003, started the day 4 under but birdied six out of seven holes at one point and was one putt away from his personal best round of 61, missing an eagle attempt and eventually settling for par.
Chalmers, a left-handed Australian nicknamed "Snake" as a play on words of his last name, doesn't know much about the man he'll play with in Sunday's final round.
"I know he owns a lot of guns, so I think I'll keep away from him," Chalmers joked. "Sometimes he can have that look of like 'Just get out of my way.' But I haven't had a problem. ... I think the sunglasses do it. I think you just can't see the guy's eyes and it makes him like, 'Don't mess with me.'"
Lickliter, a two-time TOUR winner who had the 54-hole lead heading into the final day in each, enjoys his time in Milwaukee, and he's the type of guy this blue collar town can relate to even if this tournament doesn't survive because it will need a new title sponsor to return next season.
Lickliter loves just about every type of hunting, a cold Guinness and chows down on two orders of fried calamari every night at a seafood joint that's near the course.
"It's little things like that," Lickliter said. "This place is like coming home. The people are so great and they love golf. It's just a great place to be."
Lickliter's family is traveling with him, including his 1-year-old fraternal twin boys -- Steele and Storm -- and he's played well at Brown Deer Park Golf Course in the past, including a fourth-place finish in 2006.
The best of Lickliter's birdies came on the front nine. He hit a short flop shot on the par-3 fifth that rolled in and sank a 21-footer from the fringe on No. 6. He also hit a 28-footer on No. 13 to move to 10 under.
Chalmers said his putting showed a bit of his nerves on Saturday. He had only led after 36 holes once before and fell apart in that tournament in 2000 by stepping on his ball and drawing a penalty on the first hole of that third round.
This time, he lost his two-shot cushion but stayed close after a rocky front nine with consecutive birdies at Nos. 14 and 15. He also ran into trouble on the par-5 18th with three shots in the rough but saved par.
"I didn't have a great idea of where the ball was going to go early until the mid parts of my round," Chalmers said. "I felt much better probably about 12, 13 onwards."
Less than a month after shooting a 62 at the Funai Classic in 2006, Lickliter went overseas for a USO/Armed Forces Tour and broke his right arm near the elbow while in Iraq. He spent seven weeks recovering.
Lickliter, who works extensively with the Wounded Warrior Project that helps injured soldiers, said he broke his arm when he "fell" but declined to elaborate. That drew a laugh from his fiancée sitting in the back of the room. He later said he didn't want his injury to cast a negative light on his visit with the troops.
"I didn't get to touch a club and when I got back out, I'd only been hitting driver for two days," Lickliter said. "I probably came back a little early."
Lickliter also struggled with his swing and tried to work around the injury with little initial success. Now, he's feeling good and having fun again and his recent scores show it.
"I made a bunch of birdies last week and made some birdies this week. And I'm going to try to keep making birdies tomorrow," he said.
| Other notables at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Saturday's Best |
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The par-5 18th hole was the easiest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.613.
The par-4 fourth hole was the toughest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.213.
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Jeff Klauk nails his approach on the par-5 finishing hole during Saturday's third round of the 2009 US Bank Championship in Milwaukee. 
Two men shot 7-under 63s Saturday -- Dicky Pride and Frank Lickliter, but Lickliter's was good enough for the lead, so he gets the nod. THIRD-ROUND NOTEBOOK
By Mark Stevens, PGA TOUR Staff
• Since more than 78 players (80) made the 36-hole cut, a second cut was made to reduce the field to 70 players and ties following the third-round, leaving 72 players at 1-over to return on Sunday for the fourth round.
• The cut at 1-over-par was the highest cut at the U.S. Bank Championship since an identical cut in 2004.
• Lickliter has not been in the top 3 after 54-holes at a tournament since 2006 when he was T3 at the U.S. Bank Championship, where he finished T4. He was T2 at the 2006 Valero Texas Open after 54-holes, but finished T5.
• Lickliter is looking for his first top-10 finish since the 2006 FUNAI Classic at the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort (T2).
• If he wins tomorrow, Lickliter will be nine days short of his 40th birthday. This season on TOUR, there have been 17 winners in their 30s, seven in their 40s and only four in their 20s. Last year, there were 15 winners in their 20s, 24 in their 30s and nine in their 40s.
• To read more of the third-round notebook, click here.
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