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GREENSBORO -- Blame it on the rain? Perhaps.

Maybe the brief shower that cooled the air at Sedgefield Country Club helped Webb Simpson heat up for a torrid back nine and a two-stroke lead heading into today's final round of the Wyndham Championship.

Simpson, the 26-year-old from Raleigh who starred at Wake Forest, shot 64 and is 15-under par through three rounds. He'll play in the final group today, looking for his first victory after 87 starts on the PGA Tour.

Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey scuffled to a 69 and dropped into second place. Grimsley alum Carl Pettersson, the 2008 champ, shot 63 and is tied for third with John Mallinger (65) at 12-under.

For Simpson, it's there for the taking. Thanks in part to a mid-round practice session.

He bogeyed two of his first four holes Saturday to fall off the leaderboard. While Pettersson and Mallinger were shooting low numbers, Simpson made the turn at 9-under, exactly where he started the day.

A sprinkle of rain. A rumble of thunder. A screech from an air horn. And -- presto! -- a 1 hour, 4 minute chance to regroup.

"I had really nothing going," Simpson said. "Then we were able to get on the range and work on a couple of things for 20 minutes. It helped. I was able to start hitting the ball where I was looking. Looking back, it definitely was a good break."

And how.

Simpson closed his round in style, playing the last six holes in 6-under par to rocket back up the leaderboard.

He was a stiff gust of wind away from 7-under in the final six: His putt for birdie on No. 18 stopped one revolution short of the cup.

"It's one of the top birdie-eagle streaks I've had," Simpson said. "It came at a better time than any other streak I've had."

The break helped Gainey, too. He had three birdies, three bogeys and three pars on his wild front nine. But he settled down for eight pars and a birdie on the back.

One of the pars, though, felt like a bogey. At the par-5 15th, Gainey blasted out of a bunker and two-putted.

Simpson eagled the hole.

"It was big," Simpson said. "&ellipses; Any time you're sitting in the same spot and you come off the green two strokes ahead of the other guy, it's a big swing."

They'll play in the final pairing again today.

"I'm excited," Gainey said. "I didn't make any putts until the last few holes &ellipses; but I'm excited because I'm hitting the driver better. When I can hit more fairways, to me that means more opportunities at birdie."

There are a lot of birdies out there. And a lot of players in contention.

In all, 21 golfers start the final round within six strokes of the lead.

There are four major champions in that bunch: Ernie Els (-10), Retief Goosen (-10), Jim Furyk (-9) and Justin Leonard (-9). And a pair of players ranked in the top 20 of the world rankings: No. 17 Paul Casey (-9) and No. 20 Kyung-Tae Kim (-9).

And then there's Pettersson, the Swedish Whirlie with the long putter who is a Sedgefield member. His 63 was the low round on the course Saturday.

"If you put it in play, there's a ton of birdies," Pettersson said. "The greens are good. It's hot. The ball is going a million miles. Just get it in play and make a putt."

Sounds easy enough. Just don't bank on another mid-round practice session.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com