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Pettersen finds groove

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.--One of the big questions entering Saturday's third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship was, "What's wrong with Suzann Pettersen?" Apparently, nothing at all. Pettersen fired the low round of the tournament to date, a 7-under-par 65, to catapult all the way from a tie for 62nd to a tie for 10th place at 2-under par. She was only four strokes off the pace as the leaders made the turn in the third round Saturday afternoon.

Pettersen, who vaulted 51 spots in the Rolex World Rankings to No. 2 last year after winning five times on the LPGA Tour, entered this week's event without a top-10 finish in four LPGA starts in 2008. Her best finish was a T15th at the Fields Open in Hawaii, this coming after she posted top-10 finishes in seven of her last eight starts in '07, three of those victories.

As is the case any time a top player makes an equipment change, there was some speculation that Pettersen's early struggles in '08 were the result of the new Nike Golf clubs she's playing, but she's been absolutely murdering her SasQuatch Sumo driver. The real problem has been her health--Pettersen came down with the flu at the HSBC Women's Champions event in Singapore in early March and was bed-ridden for two weeks. Her putting has also been a problem. Pettersen seemed to rectify that on Saturday by changing her posture, moving several inches closer to the ball.

"It's all putts," said Pettersen. "The first two days I had 34, 35 putts, today I had 27. That's a seven-shot difference.

"I've been playing great for a couple of weeks now, just nothing happening. The putts I needed to make I haven't made. It's been grind, grind, grind, but nothing has gone my way. Today, I turned it around."

Teeing off in the second group of the day at 5-over par, Pettersen's goal was to get back to level par for the tournament. She did two better. An eagle on the par-4 7th hole got her to 1 over and birdies on 11, 12 and 16 put her in red numbers and in contention for her second major championship. Pettersen could very well be going for her third major title in two years but blew a three-shot lead with four holes to play at last year's Nabisco. Now, she's hoping she's the one who can rally from behind and steal the championship on Sunday.

"I played my myself into the tournament again," said Pettersen. "Seven under is pretty good on a Saturday in a major. So, I mean, I'm right there."