Fort Worth, Texas ? With the focus back on the leaders after Annika Sorenstam missed the cut, Kenny Perry didn’t go unnoticed again as he ran away from the rest of the field Saturday at the Colonial.

Perry matched the Colonial record with a 9-under 61 in the third round. He was at 17 under par and led by eight strokes — the largest lead after 54 holes this season.

On target from the start, Perry birdied his first three holes and later made three straight birdies to end his front nine. With three more birdies on the back nine, he finished his best round in 17 years on the PGA Tour.

“I can’t remember holding it together that many holes in a row consecutively,” Perry said. “I’ve had stretches of six, seven, eight holes pretty good. But I don’t remember having this many.”

Perry also was the leader after the second round, but his 64 Friday was basically a footnote with Sorenstam wrapping up her historic appearance on the PGA Tour.

“They have never paid attention to me anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me,” Perry said.

Still, the media workroom with more than 200 work spaces was only about half-full Saturday. A couple dozen media attended his post-round news conference in the same room that was filled with more than 300 people the previous three days for Sorenstam.

Kenny Perry reacts to missing a birdie putt on the 18th green. Perry matched the course record with a 9-under 61 during the third round of the Colonial Saturday at Fort Worth, Texas.

There was a more traditional feel around Colonial a day after Sorenstam finished her historic appearance as the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour. She missed the cut by four strokes at 5 over.

Thousands of spectators were still on the course, as would be normal for a weekend round. But they were spread throughout the 7,080-yard layout, and not crammed 10 to 12 deep along the ropes and following Sorenstam for every hole.

“It was completely different,” said Dean Wilson, who was at 3 under and played with Sorenstam the first two rounds. “There was not as much of a gallery, and not as much excitement in the air. It’s kind of what I’m used to. A lot of people were asking me where my gallery went.”

Rory Sabbatini was the closest to Perry at 9 under after his third-round 67 that started with an eagle. Jim Furyk (69) was nine strokes back.

Nick Price, who came to the Bank of America Colonial to defend his only win since 1998, shot a 65 early Saturday, including an eagle at the 393-yard No. 6, to get to 5 under, but was nowhere near contention by the time Perry finished.

Hal Sutton had a hole-in-one with a 6-iron at the 188-yard 16th hole.