VERONA - Tag Ridings stood over his ball at the final hole and gently tapped a short uphill putt for par. When he pulled it and his ball stopped just shy of the cup, he found himself tied for the lead in the Turning Stone Championship.

Seeking his first PGA Tour win, Ridings wasn't dismayed as he pondered playing the final round in a twosome with Charles Howell III.

“I putted really well, especially the first two rounds,” Ridings said Saturday after shooting a 1-under 71 to match Howell (69) at 8 under. “Today, I made a couple that kept me hanging in there.”

Ridings has missed 12 cuts this year, including six in a row, and entered Turning Stone winless in 130 PGA starts.

“I've been in position a lot out here and haven't gotten it done,” Ridings said. “But a lot of times I have gotten it done on other tours, so it's not quite an alien experience.”

Jeff Overton (73), who led both the first and second rounds by one shot, was tied for third at 7 under with Brian Davis (69), Jason Day (71) and Kyle Thompson (69).

Another shot behind were Dustin Johnson (70) and Robert Allenby (71), while Davis Love III (66), Charles Warren (67), and Mark Hensby (72) were tied at 5 under.

Because of two weather delays on Friday, 23 players failed to finish the second round and had to complete it Saturday morning. Love, coming back from an ankle injury suffered a year ago, then reeled off four straight birdies on the back nine to start the third round and move into contention, an early indication the 7,482-yard Atunyote Golf Club course might be playing easier because the weather wasn't quite so harsh. The players also were allowed to lift and clean their balls.

Ridings trailed Overton by one shot at the start of play and played the front nine to even par with a pair of birdies and two bogeys. He sank a 23-foot birdie putt to reach 8 under at the par-3 11th hole and gained a two-shot lead with a 16-foot birdie putt at No. 15 as the sun broke through and the temperature rose into the mid-50s.

Overton never mounted a charge. He bogeyed No. 1, reeled off 13 straight pars, and made bogey at 15 to fall to 6 under as he sputtered with his putter for the second straight day. Overton, who needed 34 putts on Friday, had 32 on Saturday but rallied with birdie at 16, his only birdie of the day.

“It'd be nice to be in the clubhouse and put some pressure on the other guys,” Overton said. “I can't really dwell on the bad putts. I felt like I hit a lot of good ones. Sometimes you just have those days they don't drop.”