Rachel Teske shot an even-par 72 on Saturday and extended her lead to four strokes after three rounds of the Rochester LPGA.

　　"I was kind of surprised - I thought somebody would be making a move but the conditions were pretty tough," the 31-year-old Australian said. "I guess any time you shoot even-par and are still leading, it's a good day."

　　Teske, looking for her second straight win, opened with two sub-70 rounds and was at 7-under 209 after a round that was played in a drizzle early at the tree-lined Locust Hill course at Rochester, New York.

　　Stephanie Louden, Brandie Burton and South Korea's Pak Se-ri and Kang Soo-yun were tied for second at 213. Meg Mallon, the 2000 champion, was in a four-way tie at 214.

　　Pak, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour this year, struggled on the greens and shot a 72.

　　"I'm hitting a lot of fairways; I was great on the tee and now I just have a problem on the green," Pak said. "My ball never found the cup, I don't know why."

　　Teske, who beat Annika Sorenstam in a playoff last week, made a 20-foot birdie putt at No 4, but gave that stroke back when she missed the fairway at No 6 and two-putted for a bogey.

　　She saved par on No 13, chipping to 5 feet from deep rough behind the green. She made a 15-foot par putt on the last hole after failing to get on the green with her approach shot because of a "shocking lie."

　　"I hit the ball pretty well," Teske said. But "a couple of times there was mud on the ball and I kind of hit some funky shots."

　　Defending champion Karrie Webb, a six-time major champion who also won here in 1999, shot a 73 and was at 218. First-round leader Tina Barrett shot a 75 and was at 215.

　　For the third straight year, Sorenstam skipped the US.2 million tournament.

　　At Harrison, also in New York, Tiger Woods playfully slapped a ball at Shigeki Maruyama's feet and planted himself next to leader Briny Baird on the driving range.

　　That was as close as the eight-time major champion got to Baird on Saturday in the rain-suspended third round of the Buick Classic.

　　Winless since late March, Woods had a bogey and six pars in seven holes before play was suspended, leaving him six strokes behind Baird - 11 under through six holes on the saturated Westchester Country Club course.

　　Play was suspended for the day at about 3 pm after a two-hour delay, the second of the round. The round began on schedule at 8:10 am, but was delayed for 1 hour, 16 minutes because of lightning before the leaders teed off.

　　Baird, the son of Champions Tour player Butch Baird, is trying to win for the first time in four seasons on the PGA Tour. He birdied the par-5 fifth hole to reach 11 under, putting him two strokes ahead of playing partner Skip Kendall.