Pernice stays on top

Garcia's early charge faltered on the back nine

Tom Pernice continued to defy the odds by maintaining his lead after three rounds of The International in Colorado.

The little known American, who carried a two-point lead into the third round, emerged with a three-point advantage over Vijay Singh.

Defending champion Ernie Els and Spain's Sergio Garcia are also in touch.

Pernice, who won the 1999 Buick Open for his lone win in 10 full seasons on the PGA Tour, notched up five birdies and a bogey for nine points and a total of 33 points.

Defending champion Els is still in touch

Singh, the 1998 winner, fashioned a 12-point round that included seven birdies.

Behind the top two, Chris Riley lies on 29 points, Chris DiMarco at 28, and Woody Austin and Charles Howell were tied at 27. Els and Garcia were both at 26.

But it was another dismal day for Open champion David Duval, who never recovered from a double bogey on his first hole. He scored only two points for a total of 18.

Two-time International winner Phil Mickelson had a poor day, losing 11 points on the day with two double bogeys, seven bogeys and a birdie to fall to five points and miss the cut for the final round.

Garcia came close to the lead, accumulating 25 points through seven holes, but three bogeys and two birdies the rest of the way left him seven points behind Pernice.

The field, which was cut to the lowest-scoring 70 players and ties for the third round, was cut again to the lowest 36 players and ties for Sunday's final round.

Leading scores after the third round of the $4 million International tournament played on the 7,559-yard, par-72 Castle Pines course under the modified Stableford scoring system (U.S. unless noted):

Scoring format awards eight points for albatross, five for eagle, two for biride, zero for par, minus one for bogey, minus three for double bogey or worse.

33 points - Tom Pernice 12 12 9
30 - Vijay Singh (Fiji) 9 9 12
29 - Chris Riley 16 5 8
28 - Chris DiMarco 7 13 8
27 - Woody Austin 11 8 8, Charles Howell 11 8 8
26 - Ernie Els (South Africa) 9 7 10, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 7 12 7
23 - Stuart Appleby (Australia) 2 12 9
22 - Brad Faxon 8 10 4, Tim Herron 9 11 2, Justin Leonard 7 12 3, Ed Fryatt (Britain) 9 11 2
21 - Kenny Perry 0 10 11
20 - Steve Flesch 6 8 6, Jean Van de Velde (France) 8 2 10, Lee Janzen 17 -1 4, Kirk Triplett 10 7 3
19 - Mark O'Meara 12 3 4, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 14 0 5 Ted Tryba 3 12 4

Additional international scores

17 - Stephen Ames (Trinidad) 3 7 7, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 12 5 0
16 - Paul Gow (Australia) 7 8 1
13 - K.J. Choi (South Korea) 10 7 -4
11 - Greg Norman (Australia) 5 5 1
10 - Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 5 6 -1
8 - Mathew Goggin (Australia) 11 4 -7, Craig Parry (Australia) 1 6 1
2 - Steve Elkington (Australia) 1 6 -5