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CHULA VISTA, Calif. (Aug. 9, 2007)-- Cameron Tringale of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., who has hovered at the top of the leaderboard for three rounds, and Mike Knight of Calgary, Alberta, who tied the tournament's low round today, are deadlocked for the lead heading into tomorrow's final round of the 41st Pacific Coast Amateur Championship at San Diego Country Club. The 19-year-old Tringale, a rising junior at Georgia Tech, shot a 2-under-par 70 today while the 21-year-old Knight, the 2007 Alberta Golf Association Match Play champion, had six birdies and just one bogey today for a 5-under-par 67. Each are at 210, 6-under-par over the 7,033-yard layout. They are two shots in front of 2005 Pacific Coast Amateur champion Alex Prugh of Spokane, Wash., who raced across the country Monday from the Western Amateur to compete here, and three mid-amateurs: Three-time Southern California Golf Association Amateur champion Scott McGihon of Bermuda Dunes, University of San Diego golf coach Tim Mickelson and 33-year-old Brett Martin of Phoenix, a former mini-tour player who just got his amateur status back in May. Prugh, a graduate of the University of Washington with an outside shot of making the U.S. Walker Cup squad, shot 70 today. The 39-year-old McGihon, a middle school teacher and high school golf coach in Southern California's Coachella Valley, had a 3-under-par 69. Martin and Mickelson, 29, also shot 70 today. Tee times for the final round begin at 7:30 a.m. with the leaders going off the first tee at 9:27 a.m. Tringale, the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference champion who shared the first-round here after shooting 67, was philosophical about today's round. "It was pretty boring," he said. "Which is a good thing on a tough course. The front nine seemed like it was always fairway, green, a long ways from the pin, two putts. I tried to stay patient and figured that eventually I'd start to play well, and that's what happened because I made three birdies on the back." Tringale might have held the outright lead were it not for a bogey 5 on the 18th hole. "I caught a flier lie and hit it way over the green," he explained. "I was happy to make bogey from there." For Knight, the key was putting, as it has been all week. "The greens weren't as fast as the first round,"he said. "But they still get your attention. "Making par putts was a key for me, I hit 13 greens in regulation today, but every time I missed one, I was able to chip to within five feet and make the putt." McGihon was bemoaning what might have been. "I shot 69 but it could have been so much better," he said. "I had three 3-putts from inside 20 feet today and had to make a downhill 10-footer on No. 18 to stay under 70. I'm amazed I'm as close as I am." Martin, who won 10 times on minitours but returned to the amateur ranks this year, is just happy to be playing well. "Every night," he said with a wry smile, "I go home and say to myself, 'I have no chance against these kids because they hit the ball so well,' but here I am." He brings a gentler attitude to the course these days. "Now it's just for fun and I'm enjoying myself," he said. "I expect to hit a bad shot or two but I don't care. If I can figure out how to not bogey nos. 9 and 18, I might have a chance." He's made two bogies on the ninth and gone bogey and double-bogey on the 18th hole. "These greens will leave you talking," he said with a chuckle. Third-round leader Keegan Bradley of Jackson, Wy. suffered a quadruple-bogey 9 on the eighth hole today and also had four bogeys to end up tied for 15th at even-par 216 after skidding to a 77 today. A shot in front of him is defending champion Patrick Nagle of Pacifica, Calif., who posted a 75 today after consecutive rounds of 2-under-par 70. Nagle is bidding to become just the third player to win consecutive titles, joining Mike Davis in 1969-70 and Billy Mayfair in 1987-88. --Story by Robert D. Thomas, SCGA

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