Then he hit a near-perfect sand wedge.

It should have been a 3.

"It just wasn't quite right," Tom Kalinowski said. "I caught the left edge it just wasn't quite right."

Little else went wrong for Kalinowski on Saturday, especially on the back nine. He birdied 1, 3, 6 and 8 and was at 5-under for the day when he stepped to the tee box on Hole No. 9.

Kalinowski, a two-time Navajo Trail Open champion, reared back with his iron and aimed for the pin green-right on the par 3 199-yard hole.

"Get out of that bunker," he screamed.

The ball found the bunker.

Left and just short of the green, Kalinowski, one stroke behind clubhouse leader and foursome partner Jay Osmon at the time, found himself exactly where he didn't want to be.

Furthest from the pin and first to his ball, Kalinowski quickly blasted out of the sand onto the green within three feet of the cup.

Now closest to the pin and last to putt, Kalinowski's par save lipped the cup then turned into a bogey.

"It's a shame after that bunker shot, because, of course, you hit the bunker then you're looking at 4," he said. "After that bunker shot, it should've been a 3."

The bogey was Kalinowski's first on the back 9 and second of the day. He finished a foursome-best 4-under par 67 and will play in today's lead group.

Osmon, who shot a 66 on Friday, got up and down 18 with five birdies, two bogeys and a 3-under par 68. After two days of the three-day tournament at Hillcrest Golf Club, the defending champion leads Kalinowski (68-67-135) and Ken Carpenter (68-67-135) by two strokes.

"It was an up-and-down day," Osmon said. "It was a different kind of day."

Osmon, from Alamosa, started birdie, par on the front nine then bogeyed No. 12.

"I started out well, and then I thought I had a good shot on 12," Osmon said. "Then it went over the green, and I ended up with bogey."

Osmon started 12 in the rough then his approach shot sailed long and ended up on the fringe of the green. He used his wedge to tap the ball off the fringe and run it up onto the green, but the par save stopped just short of the pin.

"I was able to follow it up with a couple of birdies," Osmon said. "That bogey on 18 hurt my confidence a bit, though."

Osmon birdied 14 and 17 and held a one-stroke lead on Kalinowski through the first eight holes. His bogey on 18 put he and Kalinowski at 1 under through 9.

Micah Rudosky, who teed off with Osmon, Kalinowski and Barry Milstead the first two days of the tournament, shared a first-round lead with Osmon after their twin 66s Friday topped the clubhouse leaderboard.

After his birdie on 10 to start Saturday's round, the 2005 Navajo champ went bogey, par, double bogey then closed out the front nine with five consecutive pars at 2 over.

Rudosky, the golf pro at Conquistador Golf Club in Cortez, shot even on the back nine and finished his day 2-over 73 and six strokes behind Osmon on the leaderboard.

Runner-up the last two years to Bob Kalinowski (2006) and Osmon, Rudosky will tee off from No. 1 at 2:22 p.m. today with his understudy, Shea Sena. He coached Sena to a Class 4A state championship in 2004, and Sena worked for Rudosky at Conquistador for eight years, including one as his assistant pro.

Sena, who won Thursday's pro-am with a 61, followed Friday's 73 with a Saturday-best 65.

The two will tee off with Bob Kalinowski (71-70-141) and Jason Allen (72-69-141) in the second group today.

Osmon, Tom Kalinowski, Carpenter and Boyd Summerhays (70-66-136) will tee off from No. 1 at 2:30 p.m. as the final group of the tournament.

For the third consecutive day, Tom Kalinowski will follow his younger brother off the tee box.

Originally from Durango, the two professionals now live and ply their trade in Scottsdale, Ariz. Their mother, Carol Ann Canzona, still resides in Durango and shares time in each son's golf cart - the front nine with Bob and the back nine with Tom.

When the course design allows it, she provides easy updates for each of her sons.

After the younger Kalinowski hit his final tee shot on No. 9, the elder Kalinowski was sizing up his birdie putt on No. 8.

The green and the tee box adjacent to each other, younger brother walked over to mom and asked where his older brother was at.

Mom held up four fingers, as in 4 under.

Make that 5 under.

Tom Kalinowski's approach from 125 yards out on the 404-yard par 4 landed within five feet from the pin, and this time he sank his birdie putt.

As he walked back to his cart, Bob, ready to motor up the cart path to finish his round, looked at his brother and mouthed the words: "Nice putt."

"I started scoring better on the back nine," the elder Kalinowski said. "I played well on the front nine at times, but I missed too many close putts. If I can clean those up, then I'll be in good shape.

"I'll go after it (today)."

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