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Wagner's round sets course record

US PGA Tour rookie Johnson Wagner took advantage of a soaked course and calm conditions to shoot a course-record 8-under 64 in the rain-delayed Houston Open on Saturday.

Wagner was 11 under, four strokes behind Bubba Watson. The big-hitting Watson was 9 under through 15 holes and 15 under overall when play was suspended because of darkness.

Watson was one of 27 players who were scheduled to complete the round yesterday morning.

Jeff Maggert, playing with Watson, was three shots back at 12 under. Adam Scott and Paul Stankowski shot 65s just ahead of the suspension of play and were tied with Wagner at 11 under.

Defending champion Stuart Appleby was 10 under through 15 holes. Appleby led from start to finish last year and shared the 36-hole lead heading into Saturday.

Thunderstorms dumped 4cm of rain on the 6,818m Tournament Course at Redstone on Saturday morning, postponing the start of the third round for six hours.

The players went off in threesomes in the early afternoon and were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls in the soggy fairways.

Wagner started the day at 3 under, three shots out a six-way tie at the top.

He teed off two hours before the leaders and made the most of the ideal scoring conditions.

He reeled off five straight birdies, including a curling 8m putt on No. 6, to finish a front-nine 30, then added two birdies on the back to beat Greg Owen's 65 in the second round of last year's Houston Open.

"It was an incredible run," Wagner said. "I kind of got in a zone."

He won twice on the Nationwide Tour last year and finished second on the money list to earn a USPGA Tour card.

He's discovering quickly how much more difficult it is to win on the USPGA Tour.

Wagner has shot at least one round in the 60s in seven of nine starts this year. But his final-round average is 73.5, including an 80 at the Honda Classic and a 76 in Tampa the following week.

"I just have not been able to get a good Sunday round," Wagner said. "I'm happy with the way I'm playing Thursday, Friday, putting myself in contention."

"I'm learning a lot out here," he said. "Hopefully, my experiences will help me this weekend."

Wagner came into the tournament ranked sixth on the greens in regulation.

He hit 16 of 18 greens on Saturday and needed only 26 putts, four of them from beyond 4.6m.

If only he can keep his touch for one more day.

"Going into the past few Sundays, I've always been five or six back and feel like I've had to press early," he said. "I know now I have a really good chance to win. I'm going to be real patient and not try to press from the beginning."
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