FORT WORTH, Texas — With the focus back on the leaders after Annika Sorenstam missed the cut, Kenny Perry didn't go unnoticed again as he ran away from the rest of the field at the Colonial.
Perry matched the Colonial record with a 9-under 61 in the third round Saturday. He was at 17 under and led by eight strokes — the largest lead after 54 holes on the tour this season.
On target from the start, Perry birdied his first three holes and then made three straight birdies to end his front nine. With three more birdies on the back nine, he finished his best round in 17 years on the PGA Tour.
"I can't remember holding it together that many holes in a row consecutively," Perry said. "I've had stretches of six, seven, eight holes pretty good. But I don't remember having this many."
Perry was also the leader after the second round, but his 64 Friday was basically a footnote with Sorenstam wrapping up her historic appearance on the PGA Tour.
"They have never paid attention to me anyway, so it doesn't matter to me," Perry said.
Still, the media workroom with more than 200 work spaces was only about half-full Saturday. A couple dozen media attended his post-round news conference in the same room that was filled with more than 300 people the previous three days for Sorenstam.
There was a more-traditional feel around Colonial a day after Sorenstam finished her historic appearance as the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour. She missed the cut by four strokes at 5 over.
Thousands of spectators were still on the course, as would be normal for a weekend round. But they were spread throughout the 7,080-yard layout, and not crammed 10 to 12 deep along the ropes.
"It was completely different," said ex-BYU golfer Dean Wilson, who was at 3 under and played with Sorenstam the first two rounds. "There was not as much of a gallery, and not as much excitement in the air. It's kind of what I'm used to. A lot of people were asking me where my gallery went."
When Wilson went to the 10th hole, the same place where Sorenstam started her PGA Tour experiment Thursday, less than 50 people surrounded the tee box. Only a handful of those followed after Wilson and Dallas resident Harrison Frazar hit their shots.
Rory Sabbatini was the closest to Perry at 9 under after his third-round 67 that started with an eagle. Jim Furyk (69) was nine strokes back.
"Kenny definitely seemed like he was playing a different golf course than the rest of us," Furyk said.
"I got off to a good start and thought, 'OK, here we go.' That put me back to level with him," Sabbatini said. "And I go to the fifth hole and I looked at the scoreboard, all the work I thought I had done the first five holes was just obliterated by what he was doing."
Perry's score is already one stroke better than Fulton Allem's record-low 16-under victory in 1993.
Perry started with a tap-in birdie after his first putt from more than 50 feet on the 565-yard opening hole. Perry made a 12-footer at No. 2 and put his approach 3 feet from the pin at the 476-yard third hole, the longest par 4 on the course.
He finished the front with birdies of 3, 10 and 12 feet.
Perry, who has only four wins on tour, just missed several other birdies. Another putt from more than 50 feet at the 433-yard 12th stopped just inches short, an 8-footer at the 188-yard 16th curled past the edge of the cup and a 17-footer at No. 18 rolled just past the hole.
"My rhythm is better this week than I've ever had it in my life," he said. "I feel like I'm swinging real easy at it and the ball is really going far. It was just very simple out there for me today."
Nick Price, who came to the Bank of America Colonial to defend his only win since 1998, had been overshadowed by Sorenstam and his known objection to her playing in a PGA Tour event.
"It's been frustrating. People had me as a target trying to get me to say something bad," Price said. "I wasn't going to say bad things. I was against it, but I have absolutely nothing against Annika Sorenstam. She's a great person and a great player."
Price shot a 65 early Saturday, including an eagle at the 393-yard No. 6, to get to 5 under, but was nowhere near contention by the time Perry finished.
Hal Sutton, who had a hole-in-one with a 6-iron at the 188-yard 16th hole, also shot a 65 and was tied with Stewart Cink (66) and Jeff Sluman (67) for fourth — 10 strokes behind Perry.
Provo's Dan Forsman shared the second-round lead with Perry, but bogeyed the first two holes on his way to a 73.
LPGA CORNING CLASSIC: At Corning, N.Y., Scotland's Catriona Matthew shot a 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead over Canada's Lorie Kane into the final round of the LPGA Corning Classic.
Matthew, who started the day tied with Kane at 12 under, was at 17-under 199 and easily within reach of the tournament record of 20-under 268 set in 1998 by Tammie Green. Kane was alone in second after a 69. Meg Mallon (69) and Hall of Famers Juli Inkster (68) and Beth Daniel (67) were another shot back at 202.
COLUMBUS SOUTHERN OPEN: At Columbus, Ga., Jim Thorpe shot a 6-under 64 and Morris Hatalsky had a 65 to share the second-round lead in the Champions Tour's Columbus Southern Open. Thorpe and Hatalsky had 9-under 131 totals on the Green Island Country Club course for a one-stroke lead over Doug Tewell (64), Tom Jenkins (65), Allen Doyle (66) and Ireland's Des Smith (66).