NEW ORLEANS (AP)
-- Chris Couch is on some kind of wild ride in the Big Easy.
When he arrived Sunday night, he got lost walking to his car in downtown New Orleans and asked a group of women for a ride. That turned into a "weird" situation, and they let him out in a seedy section of a town that made him so scared Couch ran barefooted for 20 minutes before ducking into a tattoo parlor to call the police.
Stranger still was the spot he was in Saturday.
One day after closing with two tough pars to make the cut on the number, Couch took on gusty conditions for an 8-under 64, which left him atop the leaderboard after a wacky, wind-swept day at the Zurich Classic.
The PGA Tour did not have records of anyone going from worst-to-first in the third round.
"I'm not sure I would have believed it," Couch said.
He finished at 12-under 204 and had a one-shot lead over Charles Howell III (66) and Joe Durant, the 36-hole leader was still warming up when Couch signed for his card.
Durant and the late starters got the brunt of gusts up to 30 mph and they paid for it. None of the final 16 players who teed off broke par, and Durant was happy to sneak in with a 73, a round that featured only five pars and a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
"It was very difficult from the very first shot," Durant said.
He had 115 yards to the first green and decided to hit a knockdown 7-iron. It never had a chance of reaching, and that's about the time Durant knew he was in for a long day. Three straight bogeys were followed by three straight birdies. A gust knocked his wedge down and into the water. Then came the birdie on the last hole, to get into the final group.
"I was trying to hold on more than anything," Durant said.
Dean Wilson (66) and Cameron Beckman (67), both early starters, were at 10-under 206.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson figured he would need a 64 to get into the mix, and all it took was a 68 marred only by a bogey from the bunker on the 17th. He was only three shots behind, along with six others.
"I thought anything under par would be a good round," said Mickelson, who teed off in the morning. "When I saw guys making birdies, I knew I had to make them, as well."
Couch, who turns 33 on Monday, has only led one other time on the PGA Tour, last year at the Western Open when he tied for 13th. He never imagined he would have such a good chance to capture his first victory the way his week started -- on and off the course.
Couch said he was drinking downtown when he got lost walking six blocks to his car. He saw some women who "looked normal," asked them for a ride and soon felt uncomfortable with where they were taking him. When he asked to be let out, he said another car pulled up, a man jumped out of the car and yelled, "What are you doing in this neighborhood?"
"I was scared in the part of town I was in," Couch said.
Couch lost his cell phone during the ordeal, unsure if he left it in the car or it was taken from him. Contrary to rumors that were swirling around English Turn, he said he was not robbed of any money. But he declined to say what was weird about being in the car.
"I was just uncomfortable -- that's as plain as I can tell you," Couch said. "I didn't like the situation, and I didn't like where we were going."
Even more bothersome were the stories he heard during the week -- that he was held up in front of an ATM machine, that he was robbed leaving a casino and one tale that he had been kidnapped and taken to Mississippi.
"I've been kidnapped every night and I'm playing pretty well," Couch said with a laugh.
It was a scary situation, although Couch said he tried to forget about it once the tournament got under way, and "I was more upset about the bogey on 18 than anything that happened Sunday."
The rest of his round was superb. He holed two long birdie putts on the front nine and attacked other flags with wedges, and he reached the island green in two on the par-5 15th. The only blemish was hitting into the bunker on 18th for his lone bogey.
"I had no expectations going out there," Couch said. "I knew it was going to play tough. I never thought about how many under (par) I was. I just wanted to get as many under as I could to give myself a chance for tomorrow."
The early starters were done when gusts up to 30 mph turned English Turn tough. The wind blew Michael Allen's ball as he addressed a putt on the 15th, turning par into bogey. David Toms, the local star because of the money he raised for Hurricane Katrina victims, was one shot out of the lead until struggling in the wind and dropping three shots for a 72.
Still, he was among 19 players within four shots of the lead.
Divots: Mickelson went with only one driver Saturday, although he trouble making up his mind. First, he told caddie Jim Mackay that with the wind, he probably wouldn't need the fade driver. Macka

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- Tony Stewart walked away unscathed from a frightening accident Saturday when his car flipped onto its roof during the Busch Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Stewart, the defending Nextel Cup champion, was running in third when he drove into Kenny Wallace's path and the two cars touched. The hit wasn't hard, but enough to send Stewart's car airborne.
"I take 100 percent responsibility for this one, I just drove in front of [Wallace's] nose," Stewart said. "I looked in that little side mirror and I thought I had enough room to get down, and I didn't. I just clipped him."
His Chevrolet landed on its roof near the start/finish line, and skidded several hundred feet toward the first turn. The car was also hit by rookie Danny O'Quinn, who couldn't avoid Stewart during the 10-second slide.
"All I saw was Stewart upside down," O'Quinn said. "I didn't really have anywhere to go."
It took medical personnel several minutes to get Stewart out of the car because it was upside down and at an awkward angle. Once out, he went to the medical care facility to be examined.
Stewart, making just his third Busch series start of the season, starts second in Sunday's Cup race.
"Anything will be better than this tomorrow," Stewart said with a laugh.

OTTAWA (AP)
-- The addition of Martin Havlat to Ottawa's already dominant lineup was too much for the defending Stanley Cup champions, and it might prove to be the difference in the Senators' bid to claim their first title.
Havlat helped Ottawa finish off Tampa Bay in five games Saturday night, scoring a power-play goal in the second period and adding an assist in the Senators' 3-2 victory over the Lightning.
Peter Schaefer and Andrej Meszaros scored first-period goals and Ray Emery made 26 saves for Ottawa, which won the series 4-1 to advance past the first round for the fourth time in nine straight playoff appearances since 1996-97.
"That's the first step," said Havlat, who scored in every game.
One day after attending his mother's funeral, Wade Redden assisted on both Ottawa goals in the first. The Senators defenseman�-- who missed Game 2, Ottawa's only loss, following his mother's death from cancer -- was hugged tightly by his father, Doug, and his brother, Bart, in a hallway outside the team's dressing room.
"You could see he was at his best tonight, I know his mother wanted that," said Doug Redden, who was embraced by several other Senators, including injured goalie Dominik Hasek.
"Everybody's pretty proud, and obviously me, too," Wade Redden said. "To finish it off tonight, that was such a good feeling, and to have Dad and Bart down, that was a great feeling."
Evgeny Artyukhin and Brad Richards scored in the second for the Lightning, who twice drew within one in the period, but were unable to tie it.
"I just finished playing them and I don't really like them but they have a lot of good players," Richards said. "Someone like Wade Redden, I hope he gets a chance to win it, especially with all the things surrounding him. He showed what kind of athlete he was in going through all that. They've got a great team."
Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle was penalized for tripping with 3:34 left in the third with 20 seconds remaining on a Tampa Bay power play. The Lightning got their fourth and final man advantage with 55 seconds left, but failed to generate the equalizer as the 20,004 fans came to their feet with an explosive cheer when Ottawa cleared the puck out of its zone with less than 10 seconds remaining.
"We didn't win many one-goal games all year so we had to find a way to win one tonight, and we did," Senators coach Bryan Murray said.
Havlat had a goal in every game of the series. Limited to 18 games during the regular season because of a groin injury and a dislocated shoulder, the Czech right wing had 10 points during the five-game series.
"Marty Havlat's the best pick up after the trade deadline," said center Jason Spezza, who had an assist and also finished with 10 points, recording at least one in all five games. "When you get a guy that explosive and he's playing on arguably our third line, teams can't match up against three lines like we have it."
Dany Heatley had two assists to give the Senators three 10-point scorers in the series. Emery made his fifth straight start of the series for Ottawa, the top seed in the East.
"Different guys were expected to step up on different nights and I think that's what we had, depth in scoring," Spezza said. "Three of us had a series like that and the other guys were great. The puck didn't go in for everybody but the next series the puck will go in for other guys. It was great to have that success early, we're going to have a good night tonight and celebrate a little bit, then move on."
With Dany Heatley's two-point game Saturday, the Senators had three 10-point scorers in the series.Matthew John Paul Murnaghan/Getty Images
The Senators, who won for the fifth time in 13 playoff series, will face the lowest seed remaining among Montreal (seventh), Philadelphia (fifth) and Buffalo (fourth) once the first round is completed.
Tampa Bay veteran Sean Burke stopped 35 shots in his first playoff start since April 26, 2002, when he and the Phoenix Coyotes were eliminated from the playoffs by San Jose. Burke replaced John Grahame in each of the previous two games -- both losses -- in Tampa Bay.
"They were a better hockey club than we were," Burke said. "They played with more confidence, they played with more poise, and we're not going to sit here and try to convince everybody that we got the raw end of the deal. They beat us because they did things better than we did."
The Lightning fell in their first playoff series since becoming Stanley Cup champions in 2004.
"They played like that tonight, I have to say that," Murray said. "They got the goaltending, their best players played terrific for them, Danny Boyle on the back end was all over the ice, I thought Lecavalier, Richards and St. Louis, the people that have to play well for an organization like Tampa Bay played well for them and there was a lot of pressure throughout the game.

NEW YORK (AP)
-- Without Patrik Elias, the New Jersey Devils were questionable to even make the playoffs.
Now that the Czech Republic star is on top of his game, the only question being asked is will anyone stop the three-time champions from hoisting the Stanley Cup again.
Elias scored two goals and assisted on Scott Gomez's power-play goal early in the second period that wiped out the Rangers' only lead of the first-round playoff series. That was enough to lift the Devils to a 4-2 win Saturday and a four-game sweep of New York.
"We put ourselves again in a good position to end the series," Elias said.
That wasn't the case for the first 39 games of the season when Elias was recovering from Hepatitis A, contracted during last season's lockout. New Jersey was 16-18-5 when the calendar turned to 2006, and Elias' teammates looked to him to help turn things around.
The Devils made up a 19-point deficit in the Atlantic Division and skated off with the crown on the final day when they won their 11th straight game.
"People don't realize when this guy is going, he's top five in the league," Gomez said. "He's that good."
Brian Gionta scored 4:30 into the third period with the Devils' third short-handed goal of the series after a terrible turnover by Petr Sykora, and Elias ripped in his fifth of the series, with 6:39 left to make it 4-1.
The Rangers scored only four times in four games, while yielding 17 goals.
New Jersey will have to wait to find out who it will meet in the second round, but will enter that series just as it did this one -- as the hottest team in the NHL. The workmanlike Devils stretched their winning streak to 15 games, tying the league mark for the longest run that spanned the regular season and playoffs.
Martin Brodeur made 31 saves and broke Patrick Roy's league record by playing his 137th consecutive postseason game. His 88th playoff win moved him into a third-place tie with Billy Smith and Ed Belfour on the NHL career list.
"It's pretty sweet for everybody especially in a season that the Rangers dominated all year long," Brodeur said. "It was a long time coming for the Devils fans. For myself it's been a long time, too."
The Devils, who turned sloppy Rangers play into goals throughout the short series, earned their third playoff sweep. They have won the Stanley Cup in the two other years they pulled off the feat.
New York was facing long odds at the start of the day, knowing that only two NHL teams have rallied to win a series after trailing 3-0. But things got much worse just 53 seconds in when team scoring leader Jaromir Jagr aggravated a serious shoulder injury and was forced out of the game.
The right wing, who posted team records of 54 goals and 123 points this season, went into the right corner in the Devils end when defenseman Brad Lukowich met him with a hit on the right shoulder. The force drove Jagr into the boards, leading with his left shoulder that is thought to be dislocated or separated.
"I was just playing the game," Lukowich said. "He was no target or anything."
Jagr crumpled to the ice and stayed down until he was assisted by New York's training staff. Jagr skated off, doubled over and with his left arm drooping, and headed straight down the tunnel to the dressing room.
"You lose a guy like him, it's not the same team," forward Martin Rucinsky said. "Throughout the course of the season, he took this team to a different level."
For the Rangers, it was a bitter end to a season that had so much promise but finished with a flameout in their first playoff appearance since 1997. New York led the Atlantic Division for most of the season but fell to third by losing the final five games. The Rangers enter the summer break on a nine-game losing skid.
"We started to feel insecure about ourselves in the last couple of games before the playoffs," said rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who never recovered his game after a late-season injury. "Stepping into this series, we faced one of the best teams in the league. It was a tough challenge for us."
Jed Ortmeyer gave his team and the frustrated fans in Madison Square Garden a lift when he charged in to Brodeur's right and put in a rebound of his own backhander with 18.6 seconds left in the opening period.
It was his first goal in 38 games and snapped a stretch of 367 minutes, 23 seconds over 18 periods since April 13 when the Rangers last held the lead.
Elias made sure it was gone quickly. That made summer vacation come early for his seven countrymen in the Rangers' lineup.
"I'm happy with the way I played and happy to help this team out," Elias said. "I'm glad I'm the one Czech staying."
After putting New York in a hole with two goals and four assists in the Devils' 6-1 win in Game 1, he struck again one week later to help New Jersey knock out its Hudson River rival for the first time in four playoff meetings.
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ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Leading off the eighth inning in a tie game, Albert Pujols was just trying to get something started.
Instead, he made history.
Pujols set a major league record with his 14th homer in April, sending the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.
St. Louis manager Tony La Russa appreciated the timing of Pujols' shot. After NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter and All-Star Livan Hernandez locked up in a pitchers' duel, Pujols broke a 1-all tie when he connected off Jon Rauch (0-1).
"It's always a thrill to see history," La Russa said. "But to see it in a game situation like that adds a little more to the story we're all going to tell some time."
Jason Isringhausen walked the bases loaded in the ninth before retiring Nick Johnson on a comebacker for the save.
Jose Guillen homered for the Nationals.
Pujols had been tied with Ken Griffey Jr. (1997) and Luis Gonzalez (2001) for the most home runs in April at 13. The St. Louis slugger greeted Rauch by driving a 2-1 pitch an estimated 411 feet into the Cardinals' right-field bullpen for his major league-leading 32nd RBI, matching the team record for April set by Mark McGwire in 1998.
"I made a bad pitch and he hit it," Rauch said. "That's what he does. ... It was a bad location. It came back over the plate, right in the zone where he can hit it."
Pujols said he isn't concerned with individual achievements.
"I don't play for records -- I play to win games," he said. "It definitely was good today to hit it and at the same time to win the game."
And he is ready to turn the calendar.
"We have another month after tomorrow," Pujols said. "Hopefully, we'll get 16 more wins."
Johnson finished 0-for-5, dropping his batting average to .352. Isringhausen earned his seventh save in nine opportunities.
"I think what's great about it is you got Johnson, who's having a great year and hit the ball hard all day long, and he just kept his composure," La Russa said. "In that situation, you make one good pitch and the game is over. But you can't get careless."
Braden Looper (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. The Cardinals set a club record for victories in April with 16.
"I made it interesting," Isringhausen said, "but at least there's a zero on the board."
Pujols and the rest of the St. Louis hitters were stymied by Hernandez. He allowed just three hits and one unearned run in seven innings.
Carpenter gave up nine hits in seven innings but only one run. The right-hander, who struck out three and walked one, has allowed just four earned runs in his last 35 innings.
"I did what I had to do to keep our team in the game," Carpenter said.
The Cardinals broke on top 1-0 with an unearned run in the first. With one out, Juan Encarnacion singled up the middle and advanced to second when Guillen dropped Pujols' fly to right for an error. Encarnacion scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott Spiezio.
Guillen, who snapped an 0-for-14 skid with a single leading off the second, tied the score in the fourth with a homer to left.
Notes: The Nationals franchise hasn't won a season series against St. Louis since 1999, when the Expos took five of nine meetings. ... Utilityman Damian Jackson was ejected with two outs in the third for arguing balls and strikes from the bench. ... RHP Zach Day, acquired on waivers Wednesday from Colorado, will start for the Nationals on Sunday. ... St. Louis' previous record of 15 wins in April was set last year. ... SS David Eckstein and Pujols are the only Cardinals to start every game. ... St. Louis RHP Jason Marquis was presented with his 2005 Silver Slugger Award before the game. ... Cardinals C Yadier Molina is hitless in the series (0-for-11).

DENVER (AP)
-- Forget their lousy playoff history. These Los Angeles Clippers push back -- and win.
The Clippers ended a 13-year road playoff drought and moved within one victory of the franchise's first series win in 30 years by beating the Denver Nuggets 100-86 Saturday night.
Corey Maggette finished with 19 points and Elton Brand had 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead Los Angeles, which flustered Denver into five technical fouls and a few shoving matches while swaggering through the Nuggets on their own floor.
"It's a great feeling, but we can't get lackadaisical. We have to come out with some fight," Brand said. "I don't know what else to say. When we get to the second round, it will be like, 'Welcome to the party."'
The Clippers shot 62 percent in the first half and matched the offense with stifling defense in the second as the Nuggets continued to struggle from the floor.
"Without a doubt we didn't do much different other than really start out quick. It was a great team effort. I love it," Brand said. "Everybody was sharing the ball."
Denver shot 42 percent, the Nuggets' best effort in the series but not nearly enough to match the Clippers. Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Anthony was stunned after the loss, staring at the back of his locker with a towel draped over his head.
"This right here really hurts, to lose on our home court the way we did," Anthony said.
The Clippers moved ahead 3-1 in the best-of-seven series and can clinch Monday night back home in Los Angeles. The Clippers haven't won a playoff series since 1976, when as the Buffalo Braves they beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round.
The last time the Clippers won a road playoff game was when they beat Houston 95-83 on May 1, 1993 -- before veteran point guard Sam Cassell even joined the league. The 36-year-old Cassell spent much of the game with an ice pack on his back on the Clippers' sideline, but waved towels and cheered his much-younger teammates on to a dominant victory over the dispirited Nuggets.
"They're not my concern. My only concern is about my ballclub," Cassell said. "We did an excellent job tonight."
"Ol' Pops" -- as Cassell called himself -- was no slouch, finishing with 11 points.
Chris Kaman, treated with IV fluids for a virus earlier in the day, scored 12 points and showed the Clippers -- who hadn't been in the playoffs since 1997 -- were hardly intimidated by the Nuggets, even in Denver.
Kaman thought Denver's Reggie Evans reached between his legs while going for a rebound and shoved Evans to the court at the whistle in the first quarter.
Denver's Ruben Patterson and Kaman were separated, but Patterson continued yelling and Kaman circled back toward Patterson before being led away again.
"This is great for this organization," Maggette said. "We have put in a lot of hard work to get here and it's great."
The Clippers had that swagger all night and outscored the Nuggets 50-40 in the paint. Shaun Livingston had 16 points and six assists and Cuttino Mobley finished with 12 points for the Clippers. Vladimir Radmanovic had 14 points, making four of five 3-pointers.
"It was great tonight, the guys were making shots from the outside, and our big men were in there passing out. That's a team effort," Maggette said.
Marcus Camby had 14 points and three blocks for the Nuggets, who held the Clippers without a field goal for the first 4:31 of the third quarter but struggled nearly as much from the floor. On one possession, Camby missed a layup and Anthony pulled down the offensive rebound, only to have his putback attempt also bounce off the rim. It was that kind of night for the Nuggets, who haven't made it past the first round since 1994.
"It's too early to go home," Camby said.
Any shooting droughts the Clippers had were short-lived. Los Angeles scored seven of the last 10 points in the third quarter and opened the final period by outscoring the Nuggets 9-1. Radmanovic opened the period with a 3 and Maggette followed with a jumper and the Clippers kept going from there.
Anthony had 17 points before fouling out in a dramatic way, grabbing Brand's foot and not letting go until several whistles later. Brand hopped a few steps on one leg to keep his leg muscles and tendons intact and had no hard feelings about the play.
Once Anthony finally released his leg, Brand said "It's all right" as he slapped Anthony's hand before the Nugget left the court.
Notes: The Clippers made 10 of their first 11 shots in the second quarter. ... Greg Buckner made Denver's first 3-pointer since Game 2 of the series when he hit from beyond the arc about 3 minutes into the game. ... Evans was called for a lane violation two straight times as Brand missed the free throw on a three-point play attempt. He finally hit the third and Maggette followed with another three-point play to put the Clippers a