Pride Leads WinCo by 4; Herron Is 2nd

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. -- The Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club turned nasty on Saturday. Strong winds pushed blew away those low scores from the first two days of the WinCo Portland Open, the 62's, 64's and 65's, and in their absence, anything under 70 looked really good.

Dicky Pride's 5-under-par 66 looked great. It gave him a 54-hole total of 197 and put him in an advantageous position to return to the PGA Tour, where he has spent more than two decades.

The 46-year-old Pride has one PGA Tour victory to his credit, and more than $5 million. Now he's on the web.com Tour trying to work his way back up to the Big Show.

No matter what happens on Sunday, however, Pride will at the very least have a place to play next year. He's No. 40 on the web.com money list, and the Portland Open is the last tournament of the regular season. The top 75 on the money list Sunday night will be exempt for 2015. The top 25 will gain status on the PGA Tour for the 2015-16 season, which will begin in October.

Pride has made $109,057 so far this year. He needs about another $60,000 to crack the top 25. That means he probably has to finish solo third or better. 

Tim Herron is right behind Pride on the leaderboard.

Things didn't look good for him early in his round Saturday. He bogeyed the par-4 third hole at Witch Hollow -- and worse, he bogeyed the par-5 fourth. A birdie at the 211-yard, par-5 fifth turned his fortunes around, though, and he made four more birdies and no bogeys on his way to the clubhouse, capping his day off with birdies at the 422-yard, par-4 17th and the 545-yard, par-5 18th.

The resulting 68 was the fifth-best score of a very difficult day, and it moved him up from a tie for fifth into second place, all by himself, at 201.  

Herron, who's 45, has a more impressive resume than Pride's. He's won four times on the Big Tour and made nearly $19 million out there. But he's in a more precarious position than Pride this weekend. 

The former Minnesota State Amateur champion -- who played on the victorious 1993 U.S. team in the Walker Cup Matches at Interlachen CC in 1993 -- has made only $44,765 on the web.com this year, and he's No. 97 on the money list. If he can get into the top 75, he will at least be exempt on the web.com next year -- and will get to play in the web.com Finals, a series of four tournaments that have, basically, taken the place of the old Q-School. Nos. 1 through 75 from the web.com will be in the field, along with Nos. 126 through 200 from this year's PGA Tour money list.

In addition to the top 25 guys from the web.com regular season, the top 25 from the Finals will also get PGA Tour cards. (If this sounds like a convoluted system, that's because it is.)

Herron needs at least a fifth-place finish (roughly $25,000), in all liklihood, just make the top 75. To get into the top 25 would require more like $125,000. A victory would do that (Carlos Ortiz got $144,000 for winning this tournament last year), but second wouldn't work. 

Whereas there is some space between Pride and Herron, Herron has a lot of pursuers close on his tail. 

Shane Bertsch is alone in third, one behind at 202. But there are three guys tied for third -- Matt Fast, Aaron Watkins and Curtis Thompson -- at 203, and another three tied for seventh -- Tommy (Two Gloves) Gainey, Michael Kim and Adam Svensson -- another stroke back at 204. 

web.com TOUR

WinCo Foods Portland Open

At Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club -- Witch Hollow

Par 71, 7,015 yards

North Plains, Oregon

Third-round results

1. Dicky Pride                  65-66-66--197

2. Tim Herron                  68-65-68--201

3. Shane Bertsch            69-66-67--202

T4. Matt Fast                   71-66-66--203

T4. Aaron Watkins          69-67-67--203

T4. Curtis Thompson      62-70-71--203

T7. Tommy Gainey          69-65-70--204

T7. Michael Kim              65-68-71--204

T7. Adam Svensson       64-66-74--204

MIssed cut (140)

Bronson La'Cassie             73-69--142

Brady Schnell                     72-71--143