Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (30 October) – Spencer Levin birdied three of his last four holes to shoot 67, which tied for the day's lowest round, and lead the USA to a 9-stroke advantage over Spain after three rounds of the 2004 World Amateur Team Championship at Rio Mar Country Club.

College All-Americans Levin and Ryan Moore, who shot 72, combined for a 5-under-par 139 to give the USA a 54-hole total of 407.  Spain is second at 416. Sweden moved to third outright at 417 and Canada made the largest climb of the day, with an 8-under-par total, to share fourth with Switzerland and Italy at 422.

"I have seen a lot of amateur golf since my time working with the USGA,” said USA captain Trey Holland , who was the USGA president four years ago. “I don't believe I've ever seen a guttier performance than the one (Saturday) by Spencer Levin .”

Spencer Levin of the USA, who lost his ball in the palm tree, walks back to the site of his second shot. (John Mummert/USGA)

Levin overcame a lost ball on the 11th hole when his second shot remained lodged in a palm tree and he still managed to make a bogey 6.

"A bogey was pretty good there,” said Levin. “I was still 2-under at the time and I birdied 15, 16 and 17 and finished strong.”

Moore, a winner of two USGA titles as well as the NCAA individual title and the Western Amateur this spring and summer, was buoyed by his teammate's performance.

"I was ecstatic when I saw Spencer 's score,” said Moore . “I think we were ham-and-egging it pretty well. Spencer stepped it up and played a good round when we really needed it.”

Spain, the 2003 European Amateur Team champions, made a run at the USA and moved to within four strokes at one point on the second nine. However, putting did not allow them to close any further.

"I think the result is quite good,” said Spanish captain Santiago Olle . “But, it could be better. We played wonderful the first nine holes but then we begin to miss small putts. But, the final result is quite good.

Alvaro Quiros , a two-time runner-up in the Spanish Amateur, shot 69 and Alfredo Garcia , the reigning Spanish Amateur champion, shot 71.

"Our worst problem is not competing against the States,” said Quiros . “It is to compete against yourself. We are playing from tee to green perfect but on the green we are not putting well. It's a pity, we could probably be 20 shots less”

Alvaro Quiros of Spain finishes an iron shot.  (John Mummert/USGA)

When asked what the Spanish team needs for victory in the final round, Garcia was quite frank: “If we shoot 62 and 63, we will be expected to win. We will try to do it.”

Fending off the field will be the USA 's task, as it tries to win its third consecutive Eisenhower Trophy and match the 2000 USA squad which was the last wire-to-wire leader in the championship.

The USA also won four consecutive titles from 1968 through 1974 and three consecutive from 1978 through 1982.

Canada, which won the inaugural Copa de las Americas at Rio Mar last year, made the most significant leaderboard move from 12 th to a tie for fourth on a 67 Craig Doell and a 69 from James Lepp .

Intermittent showers and clouds prevailed for most of the day and made for softer playing conditions.

Bolivia 's Fernando Gonzalez made a hole-in-one on the par-3, 174-yard 4 th on Ocean Course with a 6-iron.

For complete results, visit www.internationalgolffederation.org and click on the Golfstat icon.

Conducted by the International Golf Federation, which comprises national governing bodies of golf in more than 100 countries, the Women's World Amateur Team Championships are a biennial international amateur competition, which is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, American and European-African. This year the event is hosted by the Puerto Rico Golf Association .

Each team, which has two or three players, plays 18 holes of stroke play for four days. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores by players from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72 holes) total is the team's score for the championship.

Rio Grande, Puerto Rico – Results of Saturday's (30 October) third round of the World Amateur Team Championship, played at Rio Mar Country Club (Ocean Course=1: par 36-36—72, 6,807 yards, 6,222 meters; River Course=2: par 36-36—72, 6,873 yards, 6,282 meters):