Baryla of Canada charges to lead at Nationwide Chattanooga Classic

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Canadian Chris Baryla took charge of the Chattanooga Classic with a bogey-free 65 in the third round Saturday to get to 17 under, two shots ahead of Kyle Reifers in second at 15 under. Justin Bolli, Hunter Haas and Josh Teater are tied for third at 13 under.

The second round was suspended Friday evening due to inclement weather with 50 players still on the course. It was completed Saturday morning and the third round began just after noon.

"I'm very happy with today, obviously," said Baryla. "First of all, I'm just glad we got 18 holes in with all the water we had. Then I managed to play a real solid round, so that makes it even better. When you get rolling, you get you can make some birdies on this golf course."

Baryla, the 26-year-old out of the University of Texas at El Paso, made his first start of the season in May after recovering from a back injury that kept him off the golf course for nearly a year. He open qualified for the Rex Hospital Open, finished tied for fourth and kept the momentum going.

He went on to make the next nine cuts in a row, notch two more top-10s and has worked his way up to 57th on the money list.

"Today was just a really solid day," he said about his 7-under performance. "The first day I made a triple bogey and shot a 66 and then I made a double bogey and shot 68 in the second round, so there was a lot more action then."

Baryla will be in the final group with Reifers on Sunday, who won here in 2006 after open qualifying in his first start on Tour.

"I'm just going to play shot by shot tomorrow," said Reifers about his approach for the final round. "That's what I did when I shot 61 here a couple years ago and when I made six birdies in row earlier in the week -- consistency is the key."

At 58th, Reifers is one position behind Baryla on the money list. The $90,000 first-place check would position both players well to finish in the top 25 on the final money list and earn PGA Tour cards for the 2010 season.

The top 60 players after next week's Miccosukee Championship are eligible to play in the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island.

Overnight leader Todd Demsey struggled to a 1-over-par 73 and fell into a tie for sixth with seven other players at 12 under.

The final round will begin at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday with twosomes going off the first tee. Baryla and Reifers will be the last pairing at 1:00 p.m.

Notebook: In the second round, Jim McGovern followed a triple-bogey 7 on No. 13 with a double-eagle 2 on No. 14, a 526-yard par 5. ... Skip Kendall fired the low round of the day with a 9-under-par 63. ... Preferred lies were in effect for the third consecutive day.

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