Cal photo

ALAMEDA, Calif. (April 26, 2008)--University of California-Davis senior Michael Jensen caught fire when closing out the third round of the Alameda Commuters, carding birdies on four of the last five holes to grab the lead heading into the final round.

He currently sits 9-under-par 204 after notching six birdies and a single bogey (on No. 5, which gave several players trouble).

"I made a lot of par putts early on," said Jensen, who hit 16 greens on the day. "There were some tough pin positions, but my putts were dropping."

Heading into the final round with a two-stroke lead, Jensen said he is looking to keep the same mind set going into Round 4.

"I'm going to change anything, not really think about it too much," said Jensen.

Andrew Haggen currently sits in second place at 206 after notching a third-round 68, which could have been lower had he not double bogeyed the same hole Jensen struggled on.

"I've been putting pretty well all week, and I struck my irons well today," said Haggen, a senior at De La Salle. "Anytime I had a wedge in my hand from 130 yards in I made birdie."

Reigning amateurgolf.com California Mid-Am champ Chris Marin is three strokes off the pace at 207, followed by Freddy Wolfe at 208.

Emily Childs, the first woman in Northern California golf history to make the cut in a tournament of this size carded her best round of the tournament, even-par 71, putting her right in the middle of the pack.

The senior flight reads like a who's who of Northern California golf stalwarts. Mark Miller, Gary Vanier, Neal Pearson and Jeff Burda all carded 1-under-par 71's to take the early lead heading into the final round. Ten more golfers are within four strokes of the lead.

amateurgolf.com will provide video coverage of the final two rounds on Monday.

Full results from the Alameda Commuters Championship follow:

***** Senior Flight *****

***** Sunday Championship Pairings *****

***** Sunday Senior Pairings *****