Byron Nelson Championship has a strong Canadian flavour

Maybe it was best that Mike Weir didn't hear one television commentator's reference to his solid performance at the Byron Nelson Championship on Saturday as ``a blast from the past."

After all, it's not as if the Canadian lefty had dropped off the face of the Earth or been in the witness protection program for the last decade.

But Weir was probably enjoying his return to rarefied air at the top of the leader board too much to worry about anything like that.

It's too early to say that Canada's most decorated golfer is back, but he's giving every indication that the dark days of the past few years may be at an end.

Weir shot a solid 67 despite a balky driver to finish the third round at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Tex., in a three-way tie for third place only one stroke off the lead. He joins Gary Woodland and James Hahn behind co-leaders Louis Oosthuizen and Brendon Todd.

For a guy who hasn't had a victory in seven years and sunk to the bottom of the PGA rankings, thanks mostly to a serious elbow injury, this tournament must indeed be feeling like a blast from past.

A solid third-round 67 had to be a relief for the 44-year-old native of Brights Grove, Ont., after what happened at this year's Masters. Weir started out strong at Augusta National and had people thinking he was ready to erase the woes of recent years.

But he blew up to a 79 on the third day to once again cast doubts on his golfing future. Those doubts were strengthened when he missed two of the next three cuts.

But he was in control from the start on Saturday. After pars on the first seven holes, he birded four in a row to briefly take the lead. But a bogey on the 12th and another on the 15th knocked him down the ladder a step.

The one on the 15th hurt most because it looked like Weir had made a great shot to save par. He blasted out from a greenside bunker to within five feet of the pin. But his par chance slid by the hole to drop him back to 9 under. He then missed a birdie chance from about the same length when it lipped out at the par-5 16th.

But he's in great shape heading into Sunday's final round. And right behind him is fellow countryman Graham DeLaet, setting up the possibility of a rare one-two Canadian finish.

DeLaet, who started the day tied with Weir for second place, ended up tied for sixth only two strokes behind the co-leaders.

DeLaet shot a 68, recording three birdies and a bogey. He narrowly missed moving into a tie for second when he failed to connect on a long birdie putt on the 18th.

Earlier in the tournament, Weir talked about his struggles.

``It's been tough, and it's been difficult to play and not be in contention," he said after the second round. ``It's tough when you're missing a lot of cuts and you're on the road and things aren't going as well it makes the game -- you don't love it as much, I guess, and I think now that I'm starting to see some signs, the enthusiasm gets greater and you grind it out a little bit more.”

DeLaet concurred.

“He had to struggle through the past couple of years, but the one thing about Mike anyone who knows him, he works harder than probably anyone out here and you gotta appreciate that," DeLaet said. "He was my hero and idle growing up so it's cool to see and maybe something special could happen and we could be paired together late on Sunday, it would be a lot of fun."

That could have happened had DeLaet sunk that putt on the 18th.

But it still leaves open the possibility of only the second one-two Canadian finish in PGA history. The first came in 1981, when Canadians Dave Barr and Dan Halldorson finished in a five-way tie at the Quad Cities Open. Barr won it in a playoff.