GOLF:Pat Perez produced a strong finish to his third round as he carded a 67 yesterday to remain top of the Bob Hope Classic leaderboard on 25-under-par with 36 holes to play.

After a consistent start on the back nine, Perez sank five birdies on the front nine in his five-under effort to hold a two-shot lead over fellow American Steve Stricker.

Two strokes in front of Briny Baird at the start of the day, Perez managed only one birdie over his first nine holes in stark contrast to his previous 36 holes, when he posted rounds of 61 and 63.

However, the 32-year-old soon rediscovered his touch and made birdies at the first, second, fourth and fifth holes.

After just his second bogey of the tournament at the par-four fifth hole, Perez responded with his 25th birdie of the tournament on the next.

“I hit it great all day and it was a little better for me on the front,” Perez said. “But I wasn’t really comfortable on the back.”

Despite his impressive form so far, Perez refused to contemplate a winning score as he closes in on a first PGA Tour title.

“No, I won’t think about that at any point,” Perez said. “I’m just going to try to go as low as I can and make a lot of putts. That’s all I’m going to do.

“I’m not going to worry about a number. If I play great and I come up short, I come up short. But I’m not going to worry about a number or anything the other guys are doing, I can only do what I can control. So I’m just taking it one hole at a time and we’ll go from there.”

Stricker, who was eight shots behind Perez at the start of his third round, played himself into contention with a bogey-free round of 61 to tie Charlie Wi for the best score of the day.

Vaughan Taylor (64) is three shots back while David Berganio (68), Chris Stroud (67), Richard Johnson (67) and Jason Dufner (67) are all four shots off the lead.