Robert Allenby and Ryan Palmer avoided bogeys on a windy day at Waialae and made enough birdies today to share the lead at the Sony Open and give themselves a small cushion over a crowded leaderboard.

Neither of them were spectacular, although they didn't need to be.

With no one making a move behind them, Allenby made three birdies inside 4 feet for a 3-under 67 and his first time atop the leaderboard through three rounds on the PGA Tour in more than six years.

Palmer, who started with a one-shot lead, two-putted from long range on the last two holes - one for par, the other for birdie - for a 68 to catch the Australian.

They were at 11-under 199, three shots clear of Davis Love III (68), Troy Matteson (68), Steve Stricker (69) and defending champion Zach Johnson (70). Five more players were another shot back, including a pair of 50-year-olds in Tom Lehman and Michael Allen.

All their hopes start with the play of Allenby and Palmer, who have been steady throughout the week. The more surprising of the two is Allenby, even though he ended last year with victories in South Africa and Australia. He severely twisted his ankle Monday, and even now is walking gingerly on the relatively flat course of Waialae.

Instead of asking out of the pro-am Wednesday with his tender ankle, Allenby decided to play so he could learn how the ankle would affect his game and get used to hitting bad shots.

He hasn't hit too many of them when it counted.

Into a stiff breeze from just over 150 yards, Allenby hit a 6-iron that settled 4 feet behind the flag for a birdie on No. 2 to erase Palmer's small lead. He also hit a delicate pitch-and-run to 2 feet on the 10th, and a wedge to about the same distance on the 12th.

His best shot might have been a 5-iron around the trees on the 13th, which bounced onto the green for an easy par.

Palmer can relate, as his most memorable shot als o led to par.

His wedge got away from him on the 16th hole and landed on the back slope of a bunker, leaving him little room to bring the club down steeply to carry the clip. He thought about a putter to get into the middle of a bunker, a hit-and-hope sand wedge, even a utility club to slam it up the front of the bunker.

Palmer settled on a 7-iron that came out perfectly, caught a good bounce and settled 6-feet away for a remarkable save.

The birdie at the end gave him a share of the lead, which didn't hurt.