Johnson seemed like he might be in trouble when he hit his second shot 256 yards and it bounced 37 feet past the green and into the rough. But he recovered with a clutch chip and made the nerve-racking putt.
"Coming down 17, I knew I had to go birdie-birdie," Johnson said.
Love, whose 66 on Saturday was the best round of the tournament and vaulted him into contention, bogeyed No. 2 and birdied the ninth hole to remain 5 under at the turn.
It could have been better for Love, who's trying to come back from surgery to his left ankle to repair torn ligaments suffered after stepping in a hole about a year ago. He missed birdies at Nos. 4 and 13, watching in amazement as his putts stopped at the lip and failed to drop, but finished his round with consecutive birdies for a nice payday.
There were nine players within two shots of the lead to start the day, and all felt they would have to make several birdies to have a chance.
Allenby was the only one to make an early surge. He birdied three of the first five holes, making a pretty 24-foot putt that curled in at the par-3 third hole and hitting inside 5 feet at the par-5 fifth hole to reach 9 under.
But seven players were still within two shots and Overton, who managed just one birdie on Saturday, tied Allenby with eagle at No. 5. After driving a fairway bunker and making bogey at the fourth hole, Overton hit his second shot to 16 feet and made the putt for a two-shot surge.
Overton's stay at the top was short-lived. He made a three-putt bogey from 50 feet at the par-4 seventh hole and watched his 7-foot par putt at the par-5 eighth hole lip out to fall two shots behind again.
Still, when Allenby teed off at the 12th hole, six players trailed him by just two shots.
The best conditions of the weekend were predicted for Sunday, and the weatherman was right. Although there was an occasional sprinkle early, the sun was shining off and on most of the day as temperatures moderated somewhat into the high 50s and the wind dissipated. The players also were allowed to lift and clean their golf balls for the second straight round.
The relative warmth allowed the players to ditch the many layers they had been wearing the first three days, when rain, winds as stiff as 20 mph, and even a brief hail shower made it difficult to get around the course.
Divots:@ Howell has held or shared the 54-hole lead four times in his career, most recently at the AT&T Classic in May, and has yet to win.
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