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GREENSBORO -- Nothing says Donald Ross like a tiki bar. OK, maybe not.

Let's try again. Nothing says Wyndham like a Tiki bar -- and umbrellas, a cabana, a couple of real palm trees and some bikini-clad girls catching rays on sugar-white sand.

That's the scene on the other side of the pond on the 15th hole at Sedgefield Country Club this weekend. Hoping to promote their business a little -- Wyndham Worldwide is one of the world's largest hospitality companies -- officials constructed a mini beach that looks out over the pond to the 15th green.

Tournament officials even threw in four models. The ladies spent most of the afternoon sitting under umbrellas seemingly oblivious to the golf going on around them. But they really were watching.

"It's great," said Anne-Marie Rhoades. "We're getting paid to lie on a beach and watch a golf tournament."

Even Mr. Ross would have a hard time arguing with that.

"There's a lot of energy when you've got girls sitting there in bikinis on the beach," said Scott McCarron, who stands two shots behind leader Carl Pettersson.

KEEPING UP WITH JONES: Kent Jones' third-round 65 moved him into a sixth-place tie. Jones has been here before, having won the Buy.com Greensboro Open at Sedgefield in 2000.

GOING LOW: In the first 22 PGA Tour events at Sedgefield, competitors played more than 9,200 rounds and recorded three scores of 63 or better. The 2008 field has beaten that total already, having combined for five rounds of 63 or better in 390 total starts.

Collectively, the field played the par-70 course in an average of 68.487 strokes Saturday.

POOLE PLAY: Stephen Poole, who made the field by winning Monday's open qualifier at Greensboro Country Club, is tied for 54th place.

Don't mock him. He's on track for a better payday than he'd have earned with a fourth-place finish at the Hooters Tour event in Dothan, Ala., the event he figured to be playing this week.

HANGING AROUND: Chrysler is out of the sponsorship business at Greensboro's PGA Tour event, but its parent corporation hasn't gone away entirely.

Some of the transportation for tournament volunteers has been provided by Thomas Built Buses, a corporate sibling of Chrysler that is based in Thomasville.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Absolutely Tiger. Longevity. Nothing against Michael Phelps. It's easy to say Michael Phelps because it's the in thing to say. Michael Phelps is a fantastic athlete, but I've got to look at someone who has done it way longer."

-- PGA Tour pro Briny Baird on whether golfer Tiger Woods or swimmer Michael Phelps has had the more impressive career.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com