Golf Roundup : Nelson, 21 Under Par, Leads by 4 at Atlanta

Larry Nelson had one of those days when he thought he could birdie every hole. He almost did.

Despite taking a bogey on the final hole Saturday, Nelson still carried a four-shot lead into the final round of the $700,000 Atlanta golf tournament at Marietta, Ga.

“I felt I would birdie every hole on the back side,” Nelson said after shooting a 6-under-par 66 that gave him a 54-hole total of 21-under-par 195 on the Atlanta Country Club course.

The PGA record for 54 holes is 22 under par, set by Gay Brewer in the 1967 Pensacola Open.

Nelson birdied the 4th, 5th and 8th holes on the front side. He sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 11th, then put together three birdies in a row beginning at No. 13 with putts of 10, 4 and 9 feet.

Nelson said: “I got into a rhythm. I thought I had a chance to get 30 (under par for four rounds) when I stepped up to the 18th tee.”

Instead, Nelson hit his worst shot of the day, pulling his tee shot into a ditch on the left side of the fairway, and took his only bogey of the day and second of the tournament.

Paul Azinger was in second place at 199 after a 66 that included a birdie on No. 18.

Patty Sheehan shot a 2-under-par 69 for a 54-hole total of 203 to lead the $500,000 McDonald’s tournament by two strokes at Wilmington, Del.

In second place at the DuPont Country Club was rookie Dottie Mochrie, who shot a 70.

Harold Henning, the third-leading money winner on the PGA Seniors Tour, shot a 6-under-par 66 to take a two-stroke lead at 129 in the second round of the $250,000 Southwestern Bell Silver Pages tournament at Oklahoma City.

Gary Player was in second place after shooting a 69.

Britain’s Denis Durnian eagled the 18th hole for the second straight day to finish with a 1-under-par 69 and take a four-stroke lead into today’s final round of the $540,000 French Open at Paris.

Durnian, a 39-year-old former merchant seaman who has never won a major event, was at 202 entering the final round on the 7,096-yard Chantilly golf course.

Britain’s Nick Faldo, who shot a 68, and Australian Wayne Riley, who had a 67, were tied for second.

Curtis Strange, who beat Faldo in the U.S. Open playoff Monday, dropped 11 shots off the pace at 213 after shooting a 70.

Pearl Sinn of Bellflower advanced to the semifinals of the 12th U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at Tulsa, Okla.

Sinn defeated Kim Saiki of Redwood City, Calif., 7 and 6, and will face Stacy Arnold of Glen Ellyn, Ill. Arnold advanced by beating medalist Lee Ann Hammack, 1 up, on the 19th hole.

Today’s semifinals will be followed by the final later in the day at the Page Belcher Golf Course.